by: Trish Cantillon By the fall of 1980, my dad had died of cirrhosis of the liver. In the last year of his life I felt angry, sad and guilty. I did whatever I could to avoid seeing him and barely tolerated him when I did. He was bottoming out in his disease and at only fifteen, I was ill-equipped to manage those complicated feelings. His death brought relief and I was immediately grateful to be out from under the…
by: Veneranda Aguirre You’re a 16-year old girl who lives between the middle class American and upper class Mexican cultures that exist in your border town of Nogales, Arizona. You’re on the pretty side, 5’6” and 150 pounds. You’ve always been a giant compared to the kids your age, which is just one of myriad ways that you don’t fit in. Not even to your own family. Your family nicknames are Thunder Thighs and Bubble Butt. Because you’re a Latina….
by: Kim O’Connell My mother’s kitchen is small and worn, like she is. Splatters from long-ago meals speckle the walls, in the places her arms can’t reach. The cupboards are packed with impractical pots she never uses, ones she got on sale in the back row of the Asian market years ago. Every counter is covered with sauces and spices, utensils and bags. In the middle of it all is my mother, her back curved like a spoon, her black…
by Lauren Jonik Warm amber light filtered through the trees creating a dappled pattern of light and dark on the road. The surface of the street was no longer smooth—I could never remember a time when it was. My feet had memorized every nuance of these back country roads that I had been traversing since I was a small child. My dad frequently had taken my younger brother and me for strolls after dinner. He pointed out the shape of…
by Fahrin (FAH-reen) Kermally “What was that? FEY-rin? Fey-REEN? Fah-RIN? Can you repeat that, please?” I always hated the first day of school. Not because I was worried about having friends. Not because I was scared I would flunk out. But because I dreaded listening to the teacher mispronounce my name. And then continue to mispronounce it, not trying to get it right, and just settling on saying it wrong for lack of effort and interest. I danced this dance…