Growing up as a kid, I always seemed to draw more attention than my peers. I didn't act terribly different than others. In elementary school, when everyone spoke in class, often I would join in. I was the sole student to draw the teacher’s scorn. In middle school, this scorn escalated. I often found myself sitting in the principal’s...
You know, I thought the #BlackLivesMatter versus #AllLivesMatter debate was over. I really did. But, then Beyonce’s Formation music video and Super Bowl performance happened and I found myself talking about it, because people are saying the same ignorant things they did when the hashtags first came out. I found myself wishing I really could be like the “Be...
Sometimes I thought of the other children in my kindergarten class as colors of the rainbow. Of course, I knew at the time that all of my classmates had their own distinct combination of hues, whether they be different shades of hair color, skin color or eye color. However, for the most part, all of my kindergarten peers were...
Social media is undeniably one of the most powerful resources at our disposal. One of the lesser known, though still quite popular, of these platforms is Tumblr. You can find fan fiction, references to all of your pop culture favorites and some of the funniest GIFs on the Internet.
I’ve been “tumbling” since 2011, which also happened to be...
As I write this, digging up my memories of him, recalling virtually almost every instance I had in his classes, I realize that even though I miss him, he had lived a full life. And I believe he was aware of this, as he stressed the importance of having us, the future generation, keep Shakespeare alive.
I remember the first...
In the second episode of the Netflix original comedy “Master of None,” the characters Dev and Brian realize that their parents experienced a lot of hardships as first-generation immigrants. To express their gratitude, they treat their parents out to dinner and listen to stories from their parents’ difficult childhoods. Dev even buys his father a guitar and a series...
Today, like every day for the last 18 years, I woke up white.
I sat through class today without being looked at as being the “positive” exception to my race, and was able to contribute effectively to classroom discussions without feeling like I was speaking on behalf of all white people. I walked back to my residence hall without being...
This past winter break, I held high hopes for my family vacation. This would be the time that my brother and I got along, my mother would be open to opinions not similar to her own and my father would listen attentively to topics beyond the military, work and cars. With my parents moved out of state and my...
Whenever people ask me what show I’m currently watching, I always feel hesitant to reply that it’s “Gilmore Girls.” The last time I told a stranger that, they scoffed at me as if I had just told them I believed the Earth was flat. They never talked to me again, and it led me to wonder what was so...
Being stuck in a rut is not an ideal situation to be in. Especially when it has to deal with your major. You know you are in the wrong major when the courses are either too difficult, unappealing, boring or you are looking for excuses not to go to class. But hey, if you make it through your grueling...