I’d been recommended this book about a thousand times before I finally picked up a copy from Barnes and Nobles. I was drawn to the title of the book, “On Earth, We’re Briefly Gorgeous” by Ocean Vuong, but even after reading the book three times already, I couldn’t tell you…

My favorite word is compromise. One of my most significant leadership experiences in high school was the opportunity I was given to attend a week-long summer program where the word “compromise” was the guiding principle for everything we did . Through an application process, I was selected to be a…

My first poem came to me in a dream. For a third grader who had only ever written short stories in English class and read poems for friendly competitions, it was my own version of the Great Enlightenment. Overnight, ten stanzas and countless rhymes seemed to appear out of nowhere.…

7 out of 11 of my college applications asked me which religion I chose to follow. To the credit of whichever nosy person came up with that question, the options were endless. In fact, if I was ever confused about which religion I should follow, I now had a variety…

“Hey, Dorothea, do you ever stop and think about me?”- Taylor Swift I met my best friend when I was 4. I don’t remember how we met or what the first thing she ever said to me was. Given the nature of our friendship, it was probably something along the…