High school was a challenge for me. I failed to learn enough English, which made it seem impossible to acquire a profession after graduating. However, these experiences helped me to mature and take better decisions. I arrived from Mexico without knowing the native language and with a different school system that made everything complicated for me...
I traipse in the dark silence to my designated spot. My hair is tamed back and my eyes are dressed with liner and lashes. The stage lights illuminate the rosin coated marley as the music notes begin to course through my limbs. The butterflies that inhabited my core off stage have dispersed. The nervous stiffness that clung to my muscles releases instantly as I dance in woven time with the counts...
It's seven pm on Christmas Eve. My sister and I have baked the cookies, poured the milk, and set them out on the coffee table next to the bag of oatmeal and glitter. We say goodnight to mom and dad and run upstairs to our separate bedrooms, a whole three hours before bedtime. As excited as we are for morning to arrive, we struggle to fall asleep...
It was the first day of my freshman year of high school and I felt petrified. Not of starting a new school really, or the mountain of work just ahead, or even the fearsome reputation one of my teachers had, instead I was afraid of being alone in a giant fishbowl of judgmental teenagers. Anxiously walking to my second class that morning, armed with a notebook in my trembling left hand and a pale expression upon my face, I was definitely not expecting what was about to happen next...
I began actively pursuing colleges the summer of my sophomore year. Carefully researching and reviewing all of the possible options for me was quite an intimidating task for sure, especially considering I my plan to attend undecided. However, what I gained from the experience was clarity and insight into what I wanted the school I attended to offer...
It was the evening of my Bar Mitzvah reception, and I had just made Kiddush when the “Horah” began to play. I found my way to the center of the dance floor where a small armchair was waiting for me. I sat down and held on for dear life. Four burly men raised me into the air as other party guests danced in concentric circles around us...
As I awake to the shrill sound of my alarm early Saturday morning, the snooze button calls my name. With a great deal of willpower, I resist. After washing my face and eating a bowl of cereal, I get in my car and drive to my local Jewish Community Center. “If God rests on the seventh day, I should too” I tell myself in the car, but all thoughts of ambivalence fade as soon as I arrive...
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