There’s a popular cliche that goes “time heals all wounds.” That’s either a complete lie, or never enough time comes to pass.
Nathaniel, Andrew, little Nathan and Alex — it’s been about a year since the four of them perished in a car accident. It’s amazing to try and recreate a scene in your head when you weren’t even there....
Whether it's 30 miles or 300 miles, living away from home for the first time can be a frightening experience. However, living away from home isn't quite the same as living on your own. For many college students, the experience of living away from home for the first time begins on move-in day, when it is time to pack...
From the moment I stepped onto UC San Diego’s (UCSD) campus, I did not feel the butterflies that I thought I was supposed to feel. Every book I had read described a feeling of joy, of feeling at home, of possibility. All I felt was a deep dissatisfaction.
Six months later, I was again on UCSD’s campus, but now as...
I was scrolling through Facebook the other day when I happened upon a short video that was supposed to open up dialogue about the “Chicano identity.” The video was no more than a minute long and the text that flashed across the screen read, “Newer generations (of Mexican Americans) often don’t identify as Chicano and view (the term) as...
Whenever I pictured graduate school, I imagined myself driving to campus in a flying car, sporting a tweed overcoat, smoking a cigar Tony Soprano-style. I’m not quite sure where this image of a graduate student emerged, but it’s a look I’m confident I could rock.
Now that I’m a third-year who plans to attend graduate school the fall following my...
Being born in a developing country, my parents never put a premium on having a skinny child. In fact, I think having a chubby kid was a source of pride for them. In a world where food was scarce, I was a statistical anomaly. Their encouraging attitudes toward my eating habits resulted in me growing up treating eating as...
My screen time totaled over 12 hours a day before I went to college. I was the definition of a person being “chronically online.” It all started when I created my first social media account at 14-years old. At the beginning, I was not as addicted, but it eventually got to the point where I would feel embarrassed about...
Almost as soon as Republican nominee Donald Trump was announced as the president-elect, America was gripped with fear and a sudden realization of how racism still actively rules our society. While the white majority may be rejoicing Trump’s election, this year’s presidential campaign has taught me to be afraid of Trump’s policy promises, especially because Trump’s racist rhetoric echoes...
For as long as I can remember, my parents have been divorced and this consequently has resulted in separate events for virtually everything. Thanksgiving Day had to be split in two — lunch at grandma’s and dinner at mom’s. The same went for graduations and birthdays. Given my family’s Catholic background, there has always been some awkwardness, as divorced...
“What are you?” These three words compose the single most-heard question I am asked by the people I meet. Despite hearing it so often, I am still slightly insulted time after time. Isn’t there a better way to ask me what my ethnicity is?
Understandably, I am aware that my face is quite racially ambiguous and rarely have people assumed...