Living Within the Pages
Hi APC, my name is Ines! I am 16 and I am a senior in a French high school. I am Moroccan on my father’s side, and French on my mother’s, but I have spent my entire childhood in France. Writing is a tough exercise, especially when you have a lot of ideas in mind. I have decided I would use this white page to talk to you about literature, and about how I discovered my-feminist-self through reading. I guess I can only consider myself a lucky person when it comes to books: my mum is a literature teacher, and I remember spending hours as a kid in front of…
Who is Morena?
Hey APC! My name is Brianna Slaughter! Here is a piece I wrote about my Afro-Latin identity, family, mental health and general experience. Check it out below. Who is Morena? Morena is not who she presents. Morena means brown-girl in Spanish. It is not the name she chose. Her Nana, pale, with her hair, neatly brushed, screams when her granddaughter plays in the sun for too long, her hair is in all different directions. “Pareces a Celia Cruz. Tu cara parece muy sucia, mija” [You look like Celia Cruz. Your face looks so dirty, my girl] Her mother, with tight lips and a tender voice, forcibly brushes Morena’s hair back…
My Existence Is Intersectional
Hi APC! My name is Nya Etienne, and I hail from the D(M)V, but currently live in New York City and am a freshman NYU. ✨ I plan on co-majoring in Journalism and (hopefully) Media, Culture, and Communication. Through my passions for storytelling, social justice, & sustainable fashion, the goal of my work will always be to voice underrepresented experiences and issues. As an 18-year-old Haitian-American girl, growing comfortable within my skin has been something I struggled with for a long time. For years, I yearned to look, talk, act, think–BE someone else. Anyone but me. But now I am finally growing to love the individual I am, and out of…
Broken Words
Hey APC, my name is Tiffany Jacome and I am a senior at an all-girls school in NYC. I am Latina, born and raised in Ecuador, having come to America to pursue a future for myself. I am 18 and if my life could be described in one quote, it would be: what is said can be done. If you say you can’t do it, then you’re most likely right. In this piece, I could talk about all the struggles I’ve gone through as a teenager. The heartbreaks, lost friends, insecurities, fears and more, however, if we went into that, I’d never stop writing. Instead, I’d rather share with you…
Moment Captured
Hey APC! My name is Sokhna Samb and I’m an aspiring cinematographer. When it comes to my work, I am constantly inspired by vibrant colors, symmetry, and most importantly by what’s being captured and what’s not. In my future work, I would like to explore how detached the camera is as a tool of photography and cinematography. Inspired by watching movies as a kid, as a teenager, I began to make my own short films. I hope that in my life I’ll be able to both create and participate in spaces where black women are directing films and creating stories that are universal yet very specific to poc experiences. I’m…
“Oreo”
Hey APC! My name is Karla Sterrett and I am a 16-year-old from New York. You’re not black enough! You “talk white”! You’re an Oreo, white on the inside but black on the outside! Hearing these comments from the age of 11 to 16 hurts. How am I supposed to respond to a comment so degrading? Words such as these make me feel powerless, tearing down my confidence, enlarging the insecurities I already have about myself. Being black is apart of who I am, so for another black person to say that I’m not “black enough” is worse than a slap in the face. It’s as if your own pride…
A Well Penned and Equally Well Deserved Letter to my Genius, Idiot, Self
This is staff writer Emily Diaz here, back with a letter to all those men and women out there who doubt themselves, myself included! Hello. I am something of an intellectual. Well, I’d like to think. You see I’ve read Macbeth and I’ve taken AP Literature and AP US History and well, I work damn hard in my academics. I work so hard sometimes I forget. Sometimes I forget that on top of being someone who is considered by some (here’s me hoping) to know quite a few things and have good insights and yada yada yada… I am profoundly lost in life. When I say lost, I mean that…
A Splash of Color
Hi, I’m Maria Perez and welcome to the Colors Project! I believe that dress is an unspoken language that many of us are unaware of. The idea of what people choose to wear and the different colors they pick, coincide with certain personality traits they may have. With the help of my friends, I have collected a series of photographs depicting the colors of the rainbow through different fits. Join me and learn more about the inspiration behind my project! Yellow is bright and eye-catching. Those who wear yellow are known to be creative. Wearing yellow helps us get a boost on those extra hard days and it sparks cheerful…
Mi Calle – Joven, donde vives?
It’s me, Emily Diaz, back again with another story! Below is a creative piece I have written called, “My Street – Young, where do you live?”, which depicts my childhood struggle to identify my home. I was constantly asking myself the question: Do I belong in the Dominican Republic or in New York? Join me in my journey to find the answer. Motocicletas zoom up and down the streets as I travel down the block to my cousin’s home. Anthony Santos’ finest record is flowing through the streets from the Volvos parked along the block, and my neighborhood is filled with sabrosura. I am greeted by the staccato bangs of…
Pride
What’s up APC? My name is Jos and I’m from New Jersey! Below is a personal essay I wrote about growing up lesbian in my hometown. Growing up in a homophobic city and going to a school in which the teachers, disciplinarians, and principals were all homophobic made my life pretty difficult. The year I came out was 2013. 2013 was a year of pride, loneliness, awareness, and personal growth. The city that I was raised in was a city full of crime and violence. If you were not what society deemed “normal,” you had to hide who you were. I came to terms with my sexual orientation when I…
The Lives I See
Hello APC! My name is Amy and I live in Shanghai, China. I have loved taking photographs since I was very young. Photography allows me to record the authentic moments of life. Photography is about creatively revealing my values through my use of different subjects in my photographs as well as in the finished product as a whole. I believe that photography can harness the emotions of an audience and spur a deeply resonating impact. Follow my Instagram, @smokeshell, for more awesome photos!
The Story Within
Meet Grace Rivera, musical enthuiast and acting powerhouse. I was simply blown away hearing Grace’s music; read her story below to be awed by her talent too! Music has and forever will be my favorite form of storytelling. We are constantly surrounded by it. The day I discovered theatre, my perspective on sharing stories changed. Not only can you use music and dance, but you can also use acting to tell your story. The first musical I ever saw was The Lion King. To me, it wasn’t just the famous animated Disney movie we all know and love, but it was about discovering your true potential and immersing yourself in…
