It was Friday, November 7th, 2013. My alarm buzzed; it was pitch black outside and the taste of morning breath consumed my mouth. I had been through this routine of waking up early to catch a flight several times, but this was different. I was excited, threw my blankets off and hopped in the shower. […]

I walk into the gym; all eyes turn to me. I am the only white person in the inner city community center. I feel like an outcast. The man at the door takes my bag as I walk through the metal detector. He gives me a hand shake, like those I had only seen in […]

Will Rogers once said, “If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.” When determining the laws of life that appealed to me, this quote emerged in my mind. The rising generation has the potential for great […]

“Anya* is not good… But she wants it.” A pretty harsh line for a twelve-year-old to hear, but this moment helped in my development of how I deal with life’s persistent challenges. Some people see sports as an outlet, a tactic to release energy that has been bundled up for too long, a way to […]

Humans are born saplings. Vulnerable at first, we begin to grow and branch out. Each person is different; they could be a vibrant spruce or a steadfast sequoia. Together we grow up in communities and with institutions or, in other words, forests. Other trees that influence our growth surround us. I fancy myself as an […]

As the plane lands, I look out the window to see a poor excuse of a runway; it was a deserted wasteland. I had been to Jamaica before but only the tourist section of Ocho Rios, my only experience was getting off a cruise ship onto a bus and then climbing up a waterfall followed […]

Of all the things I inherited from my father (a passion for the eighties, a deep appreciation of garlic, the knowledge to pop perfect stovetop popcorn), his most influential gift came as a shock. I never imagined that my large, Hispanic father with scars on each eyebrow and a scrutinizing intense stare would share with […]

What do you do when you are at the supermarket doing your weekly shopping and you encounter someone with special needs? Do you stare at them uncomfortably, turn around and walk the other way, or talk to them? I used to do everything in my power to avoid eye contact, afraid that I might upset […]

Masisi. The short, three syllable word has always provided me with a deep-rooted sense of discomfort and self-hate. It is a word I’ve heard roll off the tongues of so many family members time and time again, one that I learned to associate with shame. When I think of this word I see my grandmother […]

I remember a day in eighth grade when our science teacher, hoping to kill some time at the end of the school year, showed the class a video attempting to explain String Theory. As one might expect, the vast majority of the 14-year-old class found the experience thoroughly confusing and was quite bored within the […]