“What are those?” As the little boys and girls pointed out the holes on my shoes every second of the day.  The children stood there and laughed at me, I felt like a freak! I was so ashamed that my mom was not bringing enough income to buy me new shoes like all of the other kids.  I wish they knew how I felt, but it didn't seem like they even cared about how I felt. I went home and cried in my pillow so that my mom wouldn't hear me. I felt like I was mad at the world.  I felt the rush of blood running through my veins of so much anger. The kids never stopped pointing out my shoes until I was in highschool. Now I don't feel ashamed anymore because I know it was just a test from life that I needed to get through and that kids are just dumb and mean.

“Your eyebrows look like sasquatch.” Growing up with bushy eyebrows was definitely a struggle, I was picked on for my eyebrows.  I've been called all the names in the book, I would go home begging my home to pluck my eyebrows. She always said no, I didn't understand why couldn't she just do it so i'll stop being picked on? One day she got tired of me begging her and she turned to me and said “Aryanna those dumb kids are just jealous, so next time they say something else you have to stand up for yourself and if that doesn't work then I can talk to them myself!” Well they never stopped and well.. lets just say she gave them a piece of her mind.  2017. Bushy eyebrows was the big trend, everyone wanted bushy eyebrows. People were filling in their eyebrows so they can keep up with the new trend. So ha take that, stupid kids that bullied me for bushy eyebrows.

I am a daughter of a Mexican and an African American and white.  So that makes me a mixed kid. Growing up as a kid of many races is a struggle.  I have curly hair and light colored skin like a latina. Although I don't speak Spanish.  Currently I'm in a ethnic studies class, most of the children find it so relatable. But for me it's a different story, because i'm not just one race like most of the kids.  One day the teacher gave us a warm up question that said, “What is your ethnicity”? I just sat there staring at the screen because like what do I say? Do I pick just one of my races or do I just explain to the teacher how its so difficult for me to answer the warm up.  For example, when we took the PSAT it asked to bubble in your race and ethnicity, it listed “African American, Hmong, Mexican/latino or other” I didn't know what to fill in so I said “Other”. This is so tuff, but hopefully one day we will live in a world where everyone is mixed with many races and then maybe everyone would understand.