Literature Therapy
Hey APC fam! My name is Genesis Johnson and I am nineteen years old from Miami, Florida. My heritage is Jamaican, Bahamian and African American. As a woman of color, highlighting the emotional and radical journeys of young and old people of color propels my work to a level I can’t even describe. Literature Therapy was published in February of 2018 and an experimental movement show based on the book was produced during the same year. Literature Therapy is an empathy practice I created which involves active listening and creating a poem based off of another person’s experience. After publishing my first book, I realized that true art is an…
Growing Up Adopted
Hi APC, my name is Jasmine Rose Martin & I’m a junior at West Orange High school. I was adopted at a young age by a Caucasian gay couple. My family also consists of my un-biological sister. My godparents are lesbian, and they also have two children three years apart from one another. Living with too males has its ups and downs. For example, the fashion talk and fun gossip talk is so fun, but when it comes down to female needs it’s not all that fun; however, my fathers do a good job at understanding. I personally would like to have a female figure in my life to talk…
Vibrant Colors
Q xopa mi gente! My name is Saray Bedoya and I am an 18-year-old Afro-Latina from Omaha, Nebraska. This fall I will be a freshman at Stanford University with the desire to major in public policy (specifically in the immigration field) and minor in Portuguese. My goal is to help those who have been barred and deprived of the rights and opportunities this very country was founded on, as well as study race relations in Brazil and in the Dominican Republic. I am a daughter of Mexican and Panamanian immigrant parents. Hopefully, that brings light to everything I just said. So what do I bring to the table you may…
A Unique Combination
Hello APC! My name is Myrthe Nymph and I’m a Dutch filmmaker and writer of Chinese origin. At the moment, I am 21 years old and study at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Filmmaking and psychology. I often get questioned about this odd combination. I was born April 1st 1998 into a musical family. My dad and mom love making music and even used to be in a music band before they became social workers. I had the privilege to learn as many musical instruments, dance styles and other art forms as I wished to. I was just 12 years old when my passion for filmmaking and photography…
High up in the Ivory Tower
Hi APC! I’m Francesca, and I live on College Confidential. You laugh, but it’s true: the uncharted wilderness of this website is like when the ruthless contributors of Reddit meet a Wikipedia wormhole. Specifically, I find myself drawn to the terrifying, mesmerizing, and strangely addictive world of the Ivy Leagues. I am awed by how videos of Harvard acceptance letters go viral on YouTube, how celebrities pay small fortunes to ensure their childrens’ admission, and how those infamous single-digit acceptance rates haunt thousands of high schoolers every year. Now, let me first make a disclaimer. I neither love nor despise the Ivies; I’m just… fascinated by them. If the college…
Who I Learned to Be
What’s up, APC! My name is Chelsie Nacelus, a rising junior at Kent Place School, and I am thrilled to be a part of this amazingly inclusive family! I have been dancing since I was about nine years old, and despite how annoyed I was that one summer day to have to sign up for dance classes when my mom and I could have been devouring cold sundaes and comparing creamy mustaches, I am forever grateful to her and have loved doing it ever since. I’ll be the first to admit, however, that the road has not always been smooth. The late-night dance studio sessions where I learned to embrace…
The Cycle
Hey APC! I’m Isabella Calix and I am a staff writer for APC; I’m actually responsible for translating all the articles on APC to Spanish! I’m a first-year at Smith College, a women’s college in Northampton, Massachusetts and I’m 17 years old. I hope to study public health, biology, sociology, and Latin American Studies in college (I’m undecided on majors). I’m a New Yorker and Latina. My ethnicities, more specifically, is Honduran and Italian. Writing is my favorite hobby. I grew up bilingual and speak both English and Spanish. I spent high school writing and translating my own pieces for my newspaper. Also, I am excited to translate more APC…
Across the Sea
Hi APC! My name is Ariella Delapena. Most of the time I just go by Ari. I’m 17 and Filipino. I’m Christian and I’m a military child, so obviously I move around often. With that being said, it’s kind of hard for me to explain where I’m from. I was born in Bremerton, Washington and soon after my family and I moved to Temecula, California. I stayed there for half of 3rd grade. For the rest of elementary school, I moved to San Diego, California. I spent my middle school years in Guam. Essentially, I really feel like I grew as a person on that island. Even though it was…
Whole
Hey ladies! It’s Brooke Solomon! Intersectionality is defined as the “complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups” (Merriam-Webster). It is a term recently coined by activist and lawyer Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw but its meaning and history are not new.The ideas surrounding intersectionality have existed for as long as social constructs have; however, I was first introduced to the term my freshman year of high school when my English class was reading Octavia Butler’s book Kindred and I was assigned to explore the elements of Black Feminism…
Melanin Mystique
Hi APC, my name is Dulanda Saintcyr! Although “Melanin Mystique” is a poem I wrote in the seventh grade, it is a piece that holds true to me today. It has taken me years to love, accept, and cherish my melanin. With this piece, I hope to inspire and encourage other Black women and girls to do the same. I am a melanin mystique. I live in my skin without fear of critique, for my skin glistens in the sun like an autumn leaf. I love my skin beyond belief. I am a melanin mystique. My skin can be as light as graham cracker crust to as dark as the…
Brown-skinned Girl
My name is Victoria Martinez, and I am a Mexican, female, pansexual, 21-year-old multidisciplinary artist. This piece titled “Cafe: El Color de la Tierra” is centered on the beauty of brown skin and femininity. It has become so important to me to show the world how beautiful brown skin is and how magical women are. For the majority of my youth, I struggled with self-hatred. The media and everyone around me made me believe that beauty was defined by white, European features. I hated my brown skin, my round nose, my puffy hair. Even within my own Mexican culture there was racism. Mexican’s themselves favored the “weritos”. (blonde/light-skinned person) There…
Rise
Hi! My name is Anna Miramontes. I’m a 21-year-old Afro Filipina, and a 4th-year college student at the University of California, Berkeley— go bears! My story and my identity are intricate and complicated, but that makes for a good story, right? My father was a black veteran in the marines that suffered from PTSD and my mother was a differently-abled Filipina woman that migrated to the United States in pursuit of the American dream like many others. I grew up in an abusive environment. My father was constantly letting out his frustrations on my mother through physical and verbal abuse. We never had a stable living situation because neither of…
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