To the people who don’t know they saved me To the people who don’t know they saved me, I thank you. You knew I wasn’t doing the best ive ever been, But you loved me through it. You didn’t know it at the time, But I was thinking about suicide. I knew I would never do it, But I was terrified to tell you anyway. Facing thoughts of self-harm every time I closed my eyes, Terrifying images I couldn’t leave behind. I hid behind a facade I didn’t let many see through. Every hug, hand that got held, every positive message, You helped me walk through the darkest parts. The people that saved me probably know who they are, And I am so thankful that I have you in my life. Without you, I'm not certain I would have a life to live. Thank you. Thank you for being you, For being kind, For loving me for who I am, For everything you've ever done. I love you with everything I have, So, To the people that didn't know they saved me, I hope you know how lucky I am to have you. I love you, and I'm grateful I am lucky enough to know you.

When I was younger, I always had a strange connection with Mulan, both the movie and the character. At the time I didn't understand why I felt this connection, but as I grew up and came to understand myself a lot more, I realized it was because of what she did. She took so many steps to pass as a man in the Chinese army, essentially defying all odds to become the best she could be to protect her village and her country. More than just admiring her for going against the rules to protect what she loved, she became an icon for the transgender community, of which I am very much a part. Now when I look back at my childhood, there were so many signs that I was not the gender I was assigned at birth that I simply missed because I did not understand myself yet. I've also always felt a special connection to the songs "Reflection" and "ill make a man out of you" for similar reasons. Reflection is very powerful for me and the feeling that who I am on the outside does not yet match who I am on the inside, and that I do not know or understand how exactly to go about changing that so that they match for once in my life. On the other side of the same coin, I'll make a man out of you helps ease dysphoria by describing what a man can be in ways that society hasn't learned to accept yet. The song eliminates traditional gender roles by pointing out the attributes that may be perceived as masculine, without having anything to do with gender or sex or anything of the sort. I know that I am not alone in having a special connection to Mulan and these two songs in particular, and I strongly believe that young me knew I was transmasculine all along but was not able to express that at the time.

Tired_for_eternity on instagram I have had 14 seasons of "back to school" so far in my life, and so far the best tip I could possibly give is to both ease yourself into it and not be afraid to talk to new people. If you jump into every possible activity all at once, you are going to end up burnt out and rather upset, likely with little desire to continue doing things. Easing yourself into new clubs and activities is easier on your brain and also makes it easier to talk to only a few new people at a time and make friends versus throwing a ton of new names and faces at yourself only to not remember very many of them.

I am currently pursuing a career in restaurant entrepreneurship, hopefully fulfilling my long-time dream of owning a food truck where I would be able to produce twists on classic foods. Throughout my time at the Culinary Institute of America, the lack of sustainability in the food industry has been drilled into me since the beginning, and I want to do what I can to change that. I plan on only using local farms, donating all non-usable food scrap back to the farms to compost, and using every part of the produce, meat, or other products I would use. There are many ways to be far more sustainable than the industry currently is. In the fundamentals course here at the CIA, we were told to compost what we could, and if food scraps were considered aromatics, they could go in the bin to use for various forms of stock that we would then use for future projects. This ideology is how I plan to run my business in the future. Stocks and broths will always be made in-house, using every usable part of the food items to the best of my ability. Sustainability is not the only thing I will focus on in the future. I also intend to advocate for and support minority groups, especially those that are specifically a minority in the food industry. my restaurant will be a safe space for everyone and will strive to keep a balance between men, women, and those who lie between or outside of the gender binary. As an LGBTQ+ individual myself, I feel that this is particularly important. I have worked alongside mostly men so far, and I regularly felt like I blended into the background no matter how hard I worked. I also fully intend to provide every form of mental health support that I can because I know how prevalent depression, anxiety, substance abuse, addiction, and suicide are in this industry. I hope to help to change this statistic in the United States, even if it is just by a little bit. I too have dealt with most of the aforementioned mental health conditions and at times each and every one has greatly affected my life, with some much more prevalently than others. If I can make a difference in the world for one person, whether that is the owner of a small farm, a coworker struggling with addiction, or an LGBTQ+ person facing adversity, I will consider my goal complete no matter what happens.