Introspection
The Little Black Room: Navigating US Customs as an International Student
Entering American customs is a game of chance. The officers hone in on seemingly arbitrary factors: fidgeting, nervousness, hypervigilance. Yet, warned about the risks of failing to pass immigration, aren’t we all nervous?
Contingency
Most predictions are contingents: over a hundred species will go extinct tomorrow; Mexico City will run out of water in the next decade; I will witness climate collapse within my lifetime. All statements about the future, neither inevitable nor impossible.
Four
Slowly, her hum has started to dull and although sometimes the bleating anxiety she inflicts causes me to fall at her hands, I realize her power is waning.
What If?
In the New York Times’ building in Times Square, there is a front-page story that will never see the light of day. All that was left was the headline: “Madam President: Clinton Defeats Trump In Historic Victory.”
Pinching Paper: On Self and Medium
Nothing weighed down dust besides what it symbolized to me.
On My Admissions File
When I learned that I could request to view my admissions file, I seized that opportunity. Amid the whirlwind of settling into life at a new college in a new country, I hoped that the comments on my file would help me make sense of my place here.
A Hurricane From Here
When the news announced that Hurricane Milton’s landfall would be “catastrophic,” I was far from the storm. I’ve never worried much about incoming hurricanes, and I’m still not sure that I do.
‘Deal or No Deal’: Learning How to Follow My Intuition
“Deal or No Deal” has become a mantra, an ideology that governs what I — and others — accept or reject.
