May 1, 20208 minTo Fight with Every StepI grew up in the late ’90s with the life that most people would dream about as a kid. My house was a few blocks from the best beaches...
Apr 17, 20207 minTrapped in Gray Skies: A COVID-19 Story Life is unpredictable. People understand that now more than ever. But we also know that every situation occurs for a reason...
Apr 1, 20208 minThe Choice You MadeMy family was not too poor, but we most certainly weren’t rich. We lived in a joint home with my uncles who were illiterate farmers...
Mar 25, 20208 minEven When the Waves Crash, the Mountain StandsWhen looking back at those days, I marvel at how far I have come. Maybe it was luck. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe I will never find out..
Mar 17, 20206 minThe Girl Who Fought Her Own BattleI remember the fear in my mother’s eyes...I remember the pounding of my heart. It was the first night my father came home drunk...
Feb 7, 20208 minTo Learn of FreedomThe country of my mother tongue, my family, a great deal of my childhood, and my culture actually isn’t where I was born...
Jan 15, 20208 minLife Is What You Bake ItAs the positive comments rolled in at the potluck, I could feel myself begin to float. Maybe I really could do this...
Nov 22, 20196 minDo Not Lose Heartmy father was a poor shopkeeper with little earnings to feed, clothe, and provide for my mother, my four siblings, and me...
Nov 21, 20195 minSoon I Will DreamMy childhood was a distressing one because we never had enough to eat or spend on ourselves. Since I could remember, my father...
Nov 14, 20198 minA Light at the End of the Tunnel...Lagos, Nigeria, a sparsely over-populated city with a mix of lifestyles and cultures. It was like the America of Nigeria...
Oct 28, 20197 minI Feel My RootsMy city, Karachi, is simply magical. It’s one of the largest, most populated cities in the world and it is the economic hub of Pakistan...
Oct 27, 20197 minWhere Do I Belong?I, on the other hand, couldn’t focus on academics and seemed to always fall behind my peers. My teachers were telling me...
Oct 25, 20196 minThe Reconstruction of My LifeWhen one of them disappears, it threatens the whole system, and in my case, my entire being. I was forced to rebuild my life and myself...
Oct 22, 20198 minAgainst the OddsI’m sure my mother didn’t like being away from me, but at the time, the northern region of the country was the only place a woman of color..
Oct 17, 20197 minTo Find HappinessWhat makes a happy life? Wealth? Success? Passion? For many years, I tried to figure out how to be happy. Turns out...
Oct 16, 20198 minOnce Lost, Now FoundBut no matter where we lived, I was a smart high achiever. No kidding. We were a family of hard-workers and I loved going to school...
Oct 11, 20198 minFighting FreeMaybe it would have been a lot different if life had stayed peaceful and carefree like when I first came into this world...
Oct 7, 20197 minWhere We LandGrowing up, I spent countless hours playing the game, “Operation,” meticulously navigating the clip to avoid touching the metal...
Oct 6, 20197 minWhat Lies Within UsWhen the going gets tough, the tough get going. This sentence pretty much sums up my whole life...
Sep 30, 20196 minLife Is for the TakingIn the early 1990s, my father and his brother left their home in Macedonia to pursue their dream of opening a restaurant together...