Big or small, everyone makes plans for their future. As a girl who loved to dream, I had made plenty. Whether we lose ourselves in...

After trying to have a child for fifteen years with no success, my parents had grown desperate and immigrated from Britain to the state...

When I think back on all the ups and downs of my time on Earth, I’ve come to know one thing: we don’t get to plan our lives. We can’t...

When my mother was pregnant with me, all the family had been expecting a baby girl. Though when the morning came, they were quite shocked...

I weighed a little over two pounds. I was so premature that no one thought I would survive, but God had different plans for me...

Most of my fond memories were spending time with my parents and two younger siblings: putting up the Christmas tree together; enjoying...

I used to think that my stutter would limit me, but now I see that it is all a matter of perspective and choosing not to worry...

I’ve worked many jobs in my 92 years of living. I’ve been a sailor, an aircraft engineer, an experimental designer for a college...

HIV/AIDS infiltrated my family, first taking my father when I was three and then my three-month-old brother soon after. After my father...

I have always been an easy-going person. Most of my life, I had basically had one mood: happy, more than able to roll with the punches.

For years after I came out, I identified as a lesbian, but over time I came to realize that I was bisexual. The time I spent with men...

I grew up in a very close-knit family in Kisumu, Kenya. We were like a big team because we knew we could always rely on each other...

I’ve been playing in metal bands since I was in high school. From the moment I heard the thunderous fast-paced chug of the melody, I was...

Though the city was tinged with gang violence, I roamed the neighborhoods without fear; a free-spirited soul I was. After playing outside...

Despite being the nation’s capital, the city was very poor. I saw beggars in the streets every day, and my own neighbors could barely...

As a child, it seemed like the world around me inspired the power of creativity flowing into my hungry, curious mind. Filled with...

When I was born, I was assigned male. I grew up in a conservative, Christian suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the 1970s. In those Triassic...

Nothing melts my heart like watching the little smile on a baby’s face. The clutched tiny hands, the feet kicking freely in the air—just...

At this point, the band had been on the road for days. Our clothes were glued to our bodies with sweat and our muscles winced from nights...

Loud voices painted the walls of my family’s house in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We shared laughter and home-cooked meals at our large...