I was an alien. Simultaneously trapped in two different worlds that loved and hated me. My feelings were a puzzle I could not put together. Perhaps I didn’t belong in this world. Perhaps the world didn’t belong to me. I remember hearing the judgements and looks from across the room. They snickered at my mother […]

My work deals with my ADHD that I live with on a day to day basis. It makes a lot of things difficult for me. Expressing my thoughts and feelings through words is something I have never been able to do well. Once I found photography, it made things somewhat easier for me. I celebrate […]

I remember your eyes like juniper and mint leaves, the eyes you said held me when I was just a twinkle in your mind. Narrowing at the girl who refused to sit on my bed because I was too dark, and brown paint stained. The first moment I remember looking up at you, your hair […]

                Just as women are put under a lot of pressure to act feminine, men are put under even more pressure to act masculine. Usually, if a man/woman doesn’t conform to the stereotypical behaviors and image of a “manly man” or “girly girl” then they are ostracized or […]

Five, six, seven, eight: a count off before you begin a dance. This was screamed every time we’d start a dance at a theatre company I’d lost interest in two years ago. The wood floor was pulled up in some spots, the walls were a dirty color of salmon and the wide mirror in front […]

“Wow, your hair is so weird! Elliot, feel this!” Though I did not know what it was at the time, I first experienced what can be called a microaggression on my first day at the Maret School, where I am currently in 11th grade. I was a 6th grader at the time and I was […]

                This work deals with women’s inner conflict with body image. The figure refuses to look at herself, disinterested in her appearance and unwilling to accept it. But she spots an escape to her conflict – she spots knowledge and wisdom, a book at her feet. I believe […]

Knowing who you are comes from knowing your past.  That’s what most people think, though not everyone leaves their homeland as a baby.  In the spring of 1999, when I was six months old, I traveled from China to the United States with my adoptive parents.  Raised in New Jersey, I tried to absorb life […]

My name is Naomi and I am 14 years old. I just made the varsity tennis team which is great because I love tennis. I also love my toy poodle, Rocky, and hanging with my friends. When I was in 4th grade I was diagnosed with celiac disease which means if I ingest gluten it can […]

Time and time again, I’ve grown up hearing that my teenage years are supposed to be the best years of my life. It just so happens that they were also the years in which most of my “differences” manifested. Like many teenagers in my generation, I play host to a small group of mental disorders, […]

While to some people this piece may seem like a disarray of chaotic doodles, to me, it is an illustration of me and my personality. Every character is unique and individual, and all of them coexist to display who I really am, no matter how unorganized, weird, and strange it may seem.  

  RBC Flaunt It Award: Writing Finalist     Statement   My piece deals with the struggles of a young girl growing up, trying meet her father’s expectations in every way and pushing herself until she cannot do anymore. She’s different than what her father wants her to be like, a different daughter than who […]

This piece was created to show that a victim can overcome bullying even if it’s relentless. I was bullied in High School and now that I’m a senior I have changed my outlook on people. I will no longer allow myself to be a victim, and I don’t let bullies bother me anymore. This piece […]

I was born with a brown birthmark on my left ear lobe. When I was little I didn’t mind it and didn’t think much of it. But that changed one day in kindergarten. I remember one girl from my preschool told me I had brown paint on my ear and another one said I had […]

“Self-Portrait in Door Mirror” is a piece about understanding and reconciling the disparities between my own gender expression and identity.  The pink skirt the subject is wearing in the painting is a powerful symbol–pink–generally a color symbolizing Barbie princesses and being “girly.” This is something I was ashamed to admit any preference for a long […]