Middle school was a difficult time for me, let alone 6th grade, a brand new place to get used to. How overwhelming. I struggled with immense insecurity and lacked an understanding of social cues. in a...

My world turned around on Sept. 27th, 2021 at 6:54 P.M. As I read over the singular text from my mother sent 10 minutes prior, a familiar feeling in my gut grew while I frantically asked my closest...

What is feminism? It seems the line is blurred on what it is and what it isn’t. Nowadays feminism has been defined as a girlboss queen that doesn’t need a man and doesn’t dream about love. Someone...

An old woman sat behind the camera of the most watched news network in the country, holding a deck of cards. Beside her, Fox News host Jesse Watters explained the segment. The old woman, Paula Roberts,...

Growing up, I always had representation. My friends and I would sit looking at magazines of Marsai Martin and Beyoncé wishing we would become them one day. We would share a laugh while going to the beauty...

My eighth grade self stood quietly as I struggled to find the answer to my parents’ question: “Why do you have anxiety?” I didn’t know what response would be correct or acceptable. A thousand words...

The room was blurry. My mind was spinning. The projector board was a series of indecipherable tasks  to accomplish. My eighth grade self sat awkwardly at my desk, palms sweating, legs shaking.The counselors...

Growing up, my family and I would take evening trips to the playground and  duck pond behind Timber Creek Elementary. Over the years, these places have lost their allure, but now I get to watch my brother...

Change: a six-letter word I despised.  My whole life, I’ve hated change. The smallest amount of change would send me into a panic. I could never accept it, rather I would whine and complain until normalcy...

Be advised that the content in this story contains self-harm and suicide, and may be triggering to some readers.    My mom cried when she saw the scars littering my arms and stomach for the...

Hundreds of people cram into the small, humid Granada Theater in central Dallas after standing outside in the blazing Texas heat for hours on end. I’m next to all the other teenage girls packed together...

Editor’s note: This story won third place for personal column in the 2024 ILPC contest.  “If you don’t convert to God, you’ll be sent to hell after you die.” Religion had never played a...