YouthComm Magazine - Youth Communication

YCM Story of the Week

Face to Face With Grief

Avoiding my sadness over my grandmother’s death slowed down my healing.

by Sonia Fung

I heard my mom talking on the phone to my uncle, her brother. Her voice was quiet, a cracked whisper I had never heard her use. “When?” Then she turned to me and switched to Cantonese: “Mommy died. She died last night.

Recent Stories

The Best Form of Validation

by Kai Arrowood

It was a typical winter Saturday in the 8th grade, and my family and I were walking home from dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I was wearing an oversized gray knit sweater, a hand-me-down from my grandpa. I was obsessed with oversized clothing that hid any curves.
Taylor Swift: Vulnerability and Power

by Jaya Arellano

One of my first memories is watching Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” music video on MTV. I was 4 and my sister was 3. On the screen, a blonde girl wrote notes to her friend in her bedroom window and sang, “She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts…” The reserved girl who doesn’t wear fancy clothes and isn’t popular reminded me of myself.
Beautiful Now

by Jaya Arellano

I’ve always thought that I was too fat, in part because my parents told me I was. My sister was also “chubby,” and my mom encouraged me to get her to diet with me. She’d say, “Let’s get our summer bodies ready!”
More Than Surviving

by E.G. Grodzki

Being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 3 years old meant I never knew a life without the disease. I thought my experience was universal until one day in the third grade. As my best friend and I ran laps during recess, I was stunned by her effortless endurance.

3d illustration of sickle cells in blood

Represent Magazine

Stories by Teens in Foster Care

Something Good Out of Something Bad

Sickle cell disease is painful and scary, but I try to make the best of my circumstances.

by Janay Collins

I don’t remember my first hospitalization. I was either too young to understand it or too high off the five milligrams of morphine. But for as long as I can remember, I’ve gone to the hospital for extreme pain about 10 times a year.

Youth-written stories in Represent give inspiration and information to teens in foster care while offering insight into those teens’ struggles.

More Recent YC Magazine Stories