A short personal narrative reflecting on my lifelong love-hate relationship with fear and horror.
At its core, this is a story about a boy and his family who lost everything during the Great Depression and were saved by the wrong person. That experience is what determines how you see the world for the rest of your life.
Moving is a difficult thing, no matter the age. This story recounts my experience saying goodbye to my best friend as I moved just after the 9th grade.
A woman attends the wrong funeral, stays when a eulogy about an immigrant mother mirrors her own mother's story, and leaves changed, reminded that strangers' grief can illuminate our own.
Three simple words of observation from my father changed me from an insecure, approval-seeking youngest sibling to the happy, secure person that I am today.
What is love? What does love mean to me? An introspective look at the emotion, concept, theory, and/or experience of love. Hope you enjoy! *Prompt: Describe an idea you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? How do you learn more?
A moment with my mother sparks an imagined memory of my grandmother. Reflecting on said memory, I touch on how I am intergenerationally shaped by the women in my family and their grief. Hope you enjoy! *This piece is inspired by Maxine Hong Kingston's memoir, The Woman Warrior
A woman clearing out her mother's storage unit finds a shoebox containing a photograph and a letter that reveal her grandmother had a secret life in Colombia before she immigrated, a baby boy named Daniel that no one in the family ever knew existed.
My first time as a paid writer.
After my father’s sudden death and my mother’s transition to hospice, my brothers and I gathered in Portland to begin closing his life. This story captures the first morning after—when grief disorients, responsibility arrives without instruction, and love shows up quietly.
A new pair of running shoes leads to an obsession with bicycle commuting.
When I realized I needed help. Real help. This is a story of the day I lost my children because my drinking had reached a level that I could no longer ignore. I had gotten in trouble with the law before, but it was nothing like this.
An ordinary day becomes an extraordinary moment, changing the course of my life forever! This is a tale of love and romance, of tiny little whispers that keeps us dreaming with the stars.
The School Mami Built tells the story of a Nigerian Igbo woman who left a 15-year teaching career, built while raising five children, to pursue a deeper calling of founding her own school. A Daughter's Story of Faith, Sacrifice and the School That Started as a Dream
This adapted excerpt from the upcoming book Wisdom in your Carry-On shares a witty and insightful narrative of an unplanned adventure and the poignant lessons derived from the story of a lifetime.
A spiritual seeker encounters an intersection between dream life and waking life and questions her reality.
I thought my father's secrets had died with him, until a DNA test changed everything...
A raw, darkly honest memoir of growing up in a home where love was demanded, not given. Amid chaos, fear, and confusion, a child learns to survive, question everything, and ultimately redefine what love truly means—on her own terms.
A random bike choice on a typical 80s summer afternoon ended up being most likely the reason I’m still here. The Day I Ruined My Sister's Brand-New Bike is a snapshot into 1980s childhood freedom, luck, and how there's no better place to be than in a mother's safe arms.
This story starts with a trip to church and ends with a police escort, just another weekend at the grandparents' house!
One panic attack in a college Spanish class set off 17 years of anxiety that slowly swallowed my world. I'm still fighting - and learning that vulnerability might be the closest thing to a cure.
An 85-year-old woman in the US drives a Uber, while an 87-year-old woman in China passes away leaving behind savings she couldn't bring herself to enjoy. Neither of these two perspectives on money escaped the shackles of wealth.
Life, messy&raw—memoir, love story, travelogue, philosophy. Germany ’50s, parents broken, maps traced on carbon. Youth spent smoking, drinking,dreaming, chasing Afghanistan, learning kindness, evil, love, loss. India, Sri Lanka—home is where you’re met. Getting lost is the point.
My husband and I bought our first home, and this story talks about the fixes we had to do.
Biographies of Working Men (1884) celebrates self-made workers, engineers, and inventors who rose from humble origins through perseverance and talent, honoring the dignity of labor and the power of human ingenuity in shaping the modern world.
"Good things happen when you meet strangers." Yo-Yo Ma
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin reflects on his early life, voyage on the Beagle, development of evolutionary theory, and personal beliefs, offering a candid look at the scientist’s thoughts, struggles, and the making of On the Origin of Species.
Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography recounts Roosevelt’s energetic life—his childhood struggles, rise in politics, presidency, and passion for reform, conservation, and public service—offering insight into the ideals that shaped his dynamic leadership.
Up from Slavery is Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, tracing his journey from enslavement to becoming a leading educator and advocate for Black advancement through hard work, self-reliance, and education.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin tells the story of Franklin’s rise from a poor printer’s apprentice to a leading inventor, writer, and statesman. Written with wit and wisdom, it reflects his values of hard work, self-improvement, and civic virtue.