Get that cap and gown
In moments of darkness, I invite you to utilize the same grit, tenacity and determination that has coursed through your family’s veins for generations.
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Mixed feelings
All of my mixed friends can relate in one way or another to this pressure to choose — the pressure to act or present themselves a certain way when with certain groups or this general sense of nonbelonging.
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The myth of a work-life balance
Cal in Color
But the campus and its gatekeepers of all colors still seem to be failing to understand that no amount of special grants for student-parents will make the campus more diverse if the culture around supporting parenting people does not also shift in practice.
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A year of indak: Dancing my way through my Pilipnx culture
Cal in Color
Through dance, I’ve learned to appreciate the nuance of the Pilipinx and Pilipinx American experience, slowly and surely ridding myself of my preconceived notions of Pilipinxness.
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My color among white flowers
Cal in Color
Seeking help or working together does not make me any less successful than my peers. I am graduating for myself, for other Chicanx students, for other students of color, for womxn
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An unfulfilled dream
Cal in Color
I took all the depression, guilt and anger that I had constantly built up within me and took it upon myself to accomplish my father’s unfinished mission. It wasn’t easy to get back on my feet, and I worried that I would fail my father because even though I had a lot of passion and determination, I felt completely lost.
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My diaspora
Cal in Color
A new day begins with a warm, citrus tint cast above the city. I can see it clearly with all its lurid delights. The soo’q (market) is busy with mothers bargaining for lower prices on cabbages and eggplants while children stray further down the marketplace, toward the livestock. They race
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Somewhere in between Nigeria and America
Cal in Color
I’ve often been told, “You look Black American, but I figured you weren’t. You don’t sound like them.” This statement, along with comments referring to my accent, my ability to speak English well and much more are what my life has been since I moved to the United States. I
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Model Minority
Cal in Color
Seared into my memory is the first time I fought with my friends. We were in ninth-grade world history when my friend offhandedly joked, “Yeah, but Rona’s Asian and has a big house, so she wouldn’t get what we’re going through.” “Excuse me?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
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Learning my ABCDs
Cal in Color
For most people, ABCD is the beginning of the English alphabet. But for American-Born, Confused Desis like me, it’s an acronym, an insult, a joke and an identity, all wrapped up in four letters. Calling me an ABCD invalidates my experience of being Desi, or a person of South Asian
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