Voices

No one should have to explain themselves to gain legitimacy. If we spend all of our time flashing our cards to get a pass into the queer club, we’re screwing ourselves over. At the end of the day, who's in charge of the gates? The white cis men who currently dominate the queer narrative?

[CN: alcoholism, drug addiction, mention of rape] I want them to know that alcoholism and drug addiction is a disease that they are predisposed to. That it can seriously mess up your life and turn you into a person you don’t want to be. I want them to understand that I am one of the lucky ones to make it out alive, who didn’t have to suffer any major repercussions...

The signs are so clear to me now. Yet a month ago, if you had told me I was drifting too close to that edge, I wouldn’t have believed you.

At age 25, I'm hardly an adult. But boy am I grown up compared to who I was in college. If I could go back in time, I'd have quite a few things to tell my former self, and save a lot of stress, time, and energy.

Immigrants are pushed out of their home countries due to social, political, or economic forces beyond their control — poverty, genocide, wartime.... I doubt many Salvadorans of my mother's generation fled El Salvador to go “find themselves.”

When you hear stories of students spending time abroad, it’s usually rife with the rich experiences, stories of the amazing people met, and endless adulation about their adventures. What you don’t always hear about is the homesickness that can pervade.

My mother saw in my brother a carbon copy of herself; every side-eye and negative comment was an echo of offensive remarks made about her own behavior as a child. Whenever my brother got into trouble for his disregard for authority or bad attitude, my mother saw it as a victory: My brother wasn’t just sticking up for himself, he was sticking up for my mother.

I have never judged Kimberly for her decision. After all, I too have found myself at a point where I was not immune to such thoughts. I may not have delved into the same level of heaviness she did, but I have brushed up against it. I