Variety is the spice of life – as someone who lives in Miami, I’ve always been surrounded by a wide variety of cultures, constantly being exposed to new ideas. My neighborhood is equal measures Jewish and Haitian; I have often been surrounded by immigrants, and many of my peers are from Hispanic countries. As for myself, I am Indian, Guyanese, and African-American. When I think of the phrase “variety is the spice of life”, I think about everything I’ve learned from the cultures around me and how that has expanded my worldview. I remember I once was talking about how much I missed curry chicken and roti– and someone told me they had no idea what that was! The look on my face must have been comical. I couldn’t fathom the idea that someone may not be as exposed to culture as I was. After all, it was not only a major facet of my surroundings but also a large facet of who I am as a person. This made me think, though– how often is it that other people get to experience being surrounded by such a wide variety of cultures? Or even further, experience these cultures as their own? In my opinion, it’s important to surround yourself with unfamiliar ideas and people, if only to expand your worldview. The metaphor sounds simple — but ultimately getting to interact with many cultures over the course of your life is a privilege not many have. Exposing yourself to the unfamiliar takes a certain courage. There is always the fear that you may do something potentially offensive. The important thing in my opinion is building community and cohesiveness between different cultures to encourage others to “spice up their life” by taking the dive into other cultures! I hope to promote a forward thinking mind. I don’t want to be that student with an inability to understand or have a discussion with others due to disagreements. Even when you disagree with someone, there is always something to be taught. Variety also dissects stereotypes. When you don’t understand a community, there’s the potential for generalizations that prevent important dialogue from happening. Variety allows a space for questions to be asked and harmful stereotypes to be reworked. That’s the spice! The shock of learning something new can be equally as shocking as biting into spicy curry – but at the end of the day, and at the end of that meal, you learn something new. I want to create spaces that encourage learning by showing how variety improves your life. My goal is to experience a community that challenges my thinking in an intellectually stimulating setting. The hope is that college will continue to challenge and enhance my thinking. I couldn’t do that by experiencing the same types of people over and over. The path to growth is paved with learning from others and becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. I have always loved experiencing things through a different lens. The ability to dissect what you think is “normal” and come out with a different worldview doesn’t come from mundanity. To do that, a person needs individuality, creativity, and variety. You could think of these as the big three - sugar, spice, and everything nice. Whether it be through a hearty meal or an interesting discussion, variety adds spice to your life that improves on your thinking and adds a flavor that strengthens people’s compassion and intelligence. A small meal, a small conversation, and a simple metaphor are all the ways you can improve how you think about yourself and others.

Literature has always been my biggest interest, specifically studying how culture affects and has been affected by literature. Reading is another version of breathing in my eyes. What is most intriguing to me is how books can cause changes or cultural phenomena such as happened with Common Sense by Thomas Paine and the Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois. Literature has the ability to affect people even hundreds of years later. Art creates a cohesive understanding of what life was like for people. It provides the future with the ability to understand the past. I want to be able to understand those who came before me and also gain the ability to provide connections between the past and the present. While literature can be divisive and contrary to unity, this leads to another point: perspective. Perspective allows me to understand others better and the reasoning behind mindsets, which can expand my knowledge and enhance my own arguments. Perspective and connectivity is something you can find in equal measures in literature. Being able to explore how different people believe and process things, especially in an intellectual setting, has always been important to me. Furthermore, being able to share my thought process with other people in an intellectual setting and having the ability to grow and change with a new perspective is something meaningful to me. Literature has gateways to new conversations. To this day, people argue on the meaning of Frankenstein and the fate of the creature. I want to study why that is. Modern literature is just as important. Works such as Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan tackle issues that hold a deeper meaning to me as a transgender person in the 21st century and will provide a glimpse into our culture for future generations, just as past works have helped me understand how culture shaped literature. Culture is a big part of my life– my family is multifaceted. I have always been surrounded by different cultures (Indian, Guyanese, African American) and books provide a way for people to understand and look deeper into cultures now. I have a small disconnect from my Indian culture and literature and history give me the ability to understand and research that culture. Books provide a gateway into other cultures as well. I have always been fascinated with Chinese culture, their different eras and empires, and historical literature gives me a way to explore the culture despite the fact I am not from it. Overall, I believe being able to explore literature in an academic setting with others is an intellectually stimulating experience that I would love to be able to explore – acknowledging different perspectives, cultures, and arguments and therefore strengthening my ideas or even learning and internalizing new ones that would help make me a stronger speaker and person. It has led to my journey towards law school, a career that would require constant analysis and reading, because of the skills I've picked up over the years through my interest in reading. To defend others with my literary skills is the ultimate goal I've picked up over the course of every book I've read.

Being nonbinary has led my mind to expand beyond two simple choices in life. There is always a more interesting path, a path that may be harder but it is the path that makes me the happiest and the most excited to live life. When I am so often misunderstood by others (the amount of “What bathroom do you use?” questions I receive gives me a headache), it has made me more patient with people. I invite people into the “otherness” corner where understanding is expanded and empathy is more likely to be received. Being nonbinary makes me more involved. Whereas others can ignore the politics of transgenderism, I have a strong desire to advocate against the hatred the world gives. Usually, it is not even hatred and is more heavily related to the misinformation spread about the community. My favorite one was when transgender people were apparently using litter boxes in public schools. The ridiculousness of bigotry has never ceased to amaze me. In general, being nonbinary has burdened me with systemic oppression but given me the privilege of openness and communication with society’s most ignored and to learn about how those ignored are often the ones who have the most interesting things to say. My bonds with people have both fizzled and strengthened due to my identity. I will not lie and say that I am not more likely to befriend those who are in the LGBT+ community. The ones who also decided two options for gender were just not enough and I am so inclined to agree. Most people react to my (occasionally) feminine presentation with smugness, with an air of “you’re turning back into what we want.” Others understand and explore the nuances of gender expression with me and through that expression, I learn more about others. Transgender men who love makeup and dresses, transgender women who wear suits and refuse to put on makeup. The beauty of gender is that it is a made-up role. It has no space in the infinite expanse of the human mind’s creations. My family is a mixed bag. My father, with all the love in my heart, I can still say that I think he would rather not talk about it. His now ex-girlfriend had asked me my pronouns while he was in the next room and it felt like my heart had seized. I don’t talk about these things with my dad, I am simply his daughter in his eyes, despite the fact I have come out to him twice. My adoration for my father comes at the cost of myself. I pay it and I still don’t know if I should do so. My mother, she tries her best. She wants to protect me from the outside world and the hatred. She is so scared, terrified even, of me (who she still sees wrapped in a pink bundle with tiny pigtails) being hurt by the outside. There’s too much variety in the responses: Cousins, aunts, uncles. I've been told to my face, "I will never call you that" by plenty people in my family. Hurt is however an inevitable part of the human experience. It is even more inevitable as a transgender teenager who lives in the hellish confines of Miami, Florida. Resilience rises in the ashes of the flames of my hurt, however, and it brings me the strength I need to pursue his passion.

When I was in middle school, I was outed to my entire school. What I thought was my private information was shared among my peers like I was an anomaly and not a person sitting right next to them. I thought that my status as “the gay one” would somehow disrupt my life. While it did come with its own challenges, I also gained a lot of perks. I remember a specific incident: a girl came up to me and asked if she could draw me and what I was writing in my journal. Then, she told me how cool it was that I was out and came out to me. I realized then I gave that girl the courage to tell someone else her secret. That while I was an anomaly to some, I was an inspiration to others. This incident gave me the courage to remain unapologetically kicked out the closet– because it provided others with the knowledge that I was someone safe, and there’s nothing I loved more than being someone who gave others courage to be honest about who they were. The clothes I wear, the way I act, and how I present myself is a message to others – “you’re safe with me. I won’t judge.” While I may not have had that person within my experience, I get to be that person to others. While I may have struggled in school due to this, there came the beauty of discovery as well-- it led me towards books, my personal form of escapism. Literature became my biggest interest, specifically studying how culture affects and has been affected by literature. What is most intriguing to me is how books can cause changes or cultural phenomena such as happened with Common Sense by Thomas Paine and the Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois. Literature has the ability to affect people even hundreds of years later. Art creates a cohesive understanding of what life was like for people. It provides the future with the ability to understand the past. I want to be able to understand those who came before me and also gain the ability to provide connections between the past and the present. While literature can be divisive and contrary to unity, this leads to another point: perspective. Perspective allows me to understand others better and the reasoning behind mindsets, which can expand my knowledge and enhance my own arguments. Perspective and connectivity is something you can find in equal measures in literature. Literature has gateways to new conversations. To this day, people argue on the meaning of Frankenstein and the fate of the creature. I want to study why that is. Modern literature is just as important. Works such as Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan tackle issues that hold a deeper meaning to me as a transgender person in the 21st century and will provide a glimpse into our culture for future generations, just as past works have helped me understand how culture shaped literature. This led to me choosing an English major while hopefully minoring in women, gender, and sexuality studies. I want to still be able to study the LGBTQ+ community and pursue these complex issues. However, literature remains my biggest interest. Books have been there with me since the beginning and I intend to take books with me to college, scouring page after page, and unlocking new perspectives with each book I consume.

Many people do one thing for all their lives and I can’t fathom that. Just the simple thought makes me nervous – especially because I have a dual interest in law and creative writing! My interest in writing started at a young age in a computer class where we were told to make a story. I was completely invested and continued the story even after finishing class. That was the spark; from then on, I would continue to create draft after draft of story after story, exploring the many genres until I found my voice in writing. Writing became my means of escape. It provided a coping mechanism for mental health struggles and gave me the tools I needed to combat depression and anxiety. I have always struggled with pushing myself to be more involved with others; I was fine fading into the background. Yet the more I wrote — the more I studied interpersonal relationships – the more I realized how much I desired to make a larger impact by serving others. My interest in law started later. During the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, I became deeply disturbed by the way police seemed to target people who looked so similar to me. I started to research how much harm the law has caused towards communities with “good intentions” and how that is woven into the system even to this day. This research pushed my desire to a career in law to provide minority communities with protection when it comes to laws that unfairly target unprotected people. What these two careers have in common is my desire to build a community. By writing stories, I hope to bring people together and share a creative community. I want to create a space that doesn’t shame someone for creating “weird stories” and where beginner writers are welcome to use my writing as a means to jumpstart their creativity. With law, I hope to create a team of lawyers who can provide help to impoverished and overlooked communities who may not otherwise be able to afford the tools needed for justice. Feeling like the odd one out mixed with the controversies of the attacks on the black community uncovered the realization that I would have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to make a larger difference. My newfound confidence is because I want to protect others from those feelings by strengthening unity despite what might separate people. The most important thing to me is providing a safe space to those who need it. I want to become a figure who oversees a unique community that fosters creativity and one people know will defend them against an unfair world, securing a spot in the future not just for myself but for everyone who feels like society has pushed them into places where they feared they could not succeed.

Many people do one thing for all their lives and I can’t fathom that. Just the simple thought makes me nervous – especially because I have a dual interest in law and creative writing! My interest in writing started at a young age in a computer class where we were told to make a story. I was completely invested and continued the story even after finishing class. That was the spark; from then on, I would continue to create draft after draft of story after story, exploring the many genres until I found my voice in writing. Writing became my means of escape. It provided a coping mechanism for mental health struggles and gave me the tools I needed to combat depression and anxiety. I have always struggled with pushing myself to be more involved with others; I was fine fading into the background. Yet the more I wrote — the more I studied interpersonal relationships – the more I realized how much I desired to make a larger impact by serving others. My interest in law started later. During the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, I became deeply disturbed by the way police seemed to target people who looked so similar to me. I started to research how much harm the law has caused towards communities with “good intentions” and how that is woven into the system even to this day. This research pushed my desire to a career in law to provide minority communities with protection when it comes to laws that unfairly target unprotected people. What these two careers have in common is my desire to build a community. By writing stories, I hope to bring people together and share a creative community. I want to create a space that doesn’t shame someone for creating “weird stories” and where beginner writers are welcome to use my writing as a means to jumpstart their creativity. In law, I hope to create a team of lawyers who can provide help to impoverished and overlooked communities who may not otherwise be able to afford the tools needed for justice. Feeling like the odd one out mixed with the controversies of the attacks on the black community uncovered the realization that I would have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to make a larger difference. My newfound confidence is because I want to protect others from those feelings by strengthening unity despite what might separate people. The most important thing to me is providing a safe space to those who need it. I want to become a figure who oversees a unique community that fosters creativity and one people know will defend them against an unfair world, securing a spot in the future not just for myself but for everyone who feels like society has pushed them into places where they feared they could not succeed

When I was a freshman, the way I would describe myself is I was a total walnut. I stayed within in my shell and wasn’t typically interested in getting involved beyond putting effort into getting all A’s. High school wasn’t exciting for me… until I was placed in a theater class with some encouragement from my AP Capstone teacher. It was there I met Ms.Smith. She was a whirlwind of a woman. The drama club president would always remind her to grab her keys, wallet, and phone like a drilled routine. I immediately grew fond of her antics because I was similar – I am a forgetful, clumsy mess of limbs. During the club rush, I found myself drifting to the drama club table. Soon enough, I was joining. Ms. Smith would always point out how I always had a book – always acting amazed and proud, even as a new addition to the club. I remember I brought Invisible Man by Ralph Elisson to school and how she bragged about me. I was the reader and writer. Her extrovertedness was rubbing off on me and I decided to join the school news. A step further, I decided to compete in districts. The whole way through Ms. Smith was there encouraging me. When I waited with bated breath while telling me my preferred name and pronouns, she just smiled and I was “Devonte” which only furthered my confidence in my position in her club. Ms. Smith encouraged me to write my first one-act play and it was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done as it’s not my typical medium of writing. But it was fun and pushed me to take steps to learn new things. While it didn’t get me a superior level in states, it gave me a larger love for drama and the next year I would do a duet where I would earn that Superior. I never thought I would get on a stage. Now, I love improv, acting, and sharing my passion with others. Ms.Smith helped me see that intelligence wasn’t the grades I brought home but who I shaped myself to be. Who did I want others to see? I went from being fine with cruising through high school to pushing myself to participate more outside of school. Keeping track of her things also taught me the importance of my organization. If I ever needed a moment of peace and clarity, I knew I just had to bring myself to the drama class for some air and some much-needed advice. Ms.Smith didn’t hold back and told it how it was; she was exactly what I needed when anxiety would lead to irrational and deprecating thoughts. Ms. Smith made me a more confident person in both my writing and speaking to others. I am more involved and present in High School than ever because of her constant encouragement. When I was frustrated with anatomy, she let me vent about the teacher — even providing some…insight…on how the teacher behaved. She gave me comfort and confidence, grounding me in who I am today. I am no longer the walnut I was in my freshman year. I’m a tree and I’m planting my roots all because of the growth that was encouraged by her. She was more than a teacher; she was a mentor and a confidant who I appreciate more than anything. She inspired me to provide service to others and hopefully, someone will see me and be just as inspired as I was by Ms.Smith. Let's crack all those walnuts and grow!

There is differentiation in everything. Sweet and Sour. Spicy and Mild. Male and Female. There are two sides to every coin and a choice comes with them. Do you prefer sweet or sour? Spicy or mild? There is no space for a third option, a third choice, a distinction away from the binary. Yet, that is what I am. I am a distinction away from the binary—a gray area in the black-or-white ideals of the American dream. I am not a part of this dream. No one ever asked me about my dream. Even now, I am told one day I will choose one or the other and the most terrifying fact is they may be right. What if I am as wrong as the doctors who announced that I am a beautiful baby girl? Instead, I have announced something worse. When I pick my gender, there is male, there is female, and there is another. I pick the other. Being nonbinary has led my mind to expand beyond two simple choices in life. There is always a more interesting path, a path that may be harder but it is the path that makes me the happiest and the most excited to live life. When I am so often misunderstood by others (the amount of “What bathroom do you use?” questions I receive gives me a headache), it has made me more patient with people. I invite people into the “otherness” corner where understanding is expanded and empathy is more likely to be received. Being nonbinary makes me more involved. Whereas others can ignore the politics of transgenderism, I have a strong desire to advocate against the hatred the world gives. Usually, it is not even hatred and is more heavily related to the misinformation spread about the community. My favorite one was when transgender people were using litter boxes in public schools. The ridiculousness of bigotry has never ceased to amaze me. In general, being nonbinary has burdened me with systemic oppression but given me the privilege of openness and communication with society’s most ignored and to learn about how those ignored are often the ones who have the most interesting things to say. My bonds with people have both fizzled and strengthened due to my identity. I will not lie and say that I am not more likely to befriend those who are in the LGBT+ community. The ones who also decided two options for gender were just not enough and I am so inclined to agree. Most people react to my feminine presentation with smugness, with an air of “you’re turning back into what we want.” Others understand and explore the nuances of gender expression with me and through that expression. Transgender men who love makeup and dresses, transgender women who wear suits and refuse to put on makeup. The beauty of gender is that it is a made-up role. It has no space in the infinite expanse of the human mind’s creations. My family is a mixed bag. My father, with all the love in my heart, I can still say that I think he would rather not talk about it. His now ex-girlfriend had asked me my pronouns while he was in the next room and it felt like my heart had seized. I don’t talk about these things with my dad, I am his Loving Daughter. The loving is true, not the daughter part. My adoration for my father comes at the cost of myself. I pay it and I still don’t know if I should do so. My mother, she tries her best. She wants to protect me from the outside world and the hatred. She is so scared, terrified even, of me (who she still sees wrapped in a pink bundle with tiny pigtails) being hurt by the outside. There’s too much variety in the responses: Cousins, aunts, uncles. Hurt is however an inevitable part of the human experience. It is even more unavoidable as a transgender teenager who lives in the hellish confines of Miami, Florida. Resilience rises in the ashes of the flames of my hurt, however, and it brings me the strength I need to continue my passion for…creation! Creation. I have always loved art. I am a writer, and I have been since the third grade. Sitting in my technology class, my teacher told us to write a short story. I wrote about a werewolf girl being integrated into a human high school. Thinking back on it now, it is a concept that makes me laugh. It contains a childlike immaturity where I thought high school was the apex of education, the most intimidating motions of my life. In some ways I was right, in others I was wrong. The most important part of this story is that it sparked my love of writing. Whenever I imagine my future, I type up my words to share with the masses or hold a pen on a train. In other words, I share the palaces and cathedrals of my mind with everyone else. I am an author. I am a journalist. I am an informer. The most important part is that I must write. I love writing, especially creatively, because it invites the whimsical. I want to expand on what we already know and create something new that is loved. My plan to reach my goals is in motion. I am writing my book which I hope to share with others someday. My largest inspiration has always come from my friends. In third grade, they would ask for my journal and updates on my latest creations. I read those stories now and I cringe at the quality but smile at the love they received because it has propelled me so far. I am ready to create something different, something like myself. The “other” corner I have been pushed into because of my identity has aided in what will become the difference between a great mind and an elevated one.

I am a die-hard Team Jeremiah fan. Although Belly continually pines for Conrad, I never never understood why. Conrad never fully understands the fact Belly grew up in my opinion. He was always seeking to belittle or demean her. He often uses his issues as a way to ignore the fact Belly is also going through something such as when he abandoned her for prom. Never got over that one. You may be wondering, "But isn't Jeremiah a cheater?" I always find that the last book is much, much too fast. The dramatic shift in Jeremiah's character from being someone so devoted to Belly to cheating on her during their "supposed" break. I also think Jenny Han used Jeremiah's impulsivity from previous books and way way way overdid it in order to put Conrad in the spotlight. It was such a cop-out to make Conrad the BETTER brother and it broke my heart. Jeremiah blatantly ignored her during wedding plans....my boy would never do such a thing! Now let's talk about the things Conrad has done from DAY ONE. Conrad only ever acknowledged Belly when she managed to actually find someone who understood and liked the grown-up version of her, Cam. Cam was what Conrad could have been. No, instead Conrad punches whoever calls him out on the things he does, INCLUDING JEREMIAH. Conrad constantly complains about things in his life that aren't THAT hard. Oh no, the star football player who's dad considers him the favorite! THE HORRORS! Well guess what? Jeremiah was stuck in this influx shadowed by Conrad constantly. He even took the blame for an incident with Belly where she broke something knowing full well his dad would be pissed he broke his blender. Jeremiah is constantly receiving criticism from his father and his brother. NOT ONLY THIS! But after everything Conrad has done by leading Belly on in her emotional anguish, he has the downright AUDACITY to tell Jeremiah not to hurt her. Uhmmm, self projecting much! Honestly let's talk about how in the first two books Conrad refuses to communicate with Belly in favor of breaking up with her for seemingly no reason and then getting downright angry when she chooses to be with Jeremiah. Belly even says herself multiple times that she considers herself closer to Jeremiah! Sure, she said it was "like a brother", but let's be honest, shes an unreliable narrator anyway. Jeremiah was always there to comfort her even when she was crying to him about CONRAD. The girl he loved! He was there! JEREMIAH FOR EVER