Nonfiction

The ancient wooden table.

The dining room table my family gathered at tonight to enjoy a meal together. 

But before my first bite of chicken reaches my mouth, I hear my mom tell my dad:

In the late summer evenings, before the sun has set, gravestones cast long shadows in the cemetery by my house. 

Watching them sit alone inside the cafeteria, isolated in their new school, I remained at my obnoxiously crowded table, a body of laughter and chatter amidst a sea of foot traffic.

Many people express themselves in their own way. I draw, and express myself through the means of painting. I like to paint in my spare time.

“Qué será mi pobre patria oscura?” 

“What will become of my poor, dark country?” - from “Insomnia” by Pablo Neruda 

What does it mean to know a language? Is it to recognize it when heard? To think, “oh that couple was speaking Tagalog” when you pass by them on the street?

It was July when disaster struck Vermont. Flooding, heavy rain, and surprisingly, rainbows. I felt fortunate to enjoy rainbows during the floods. Twelve blocks and five stories above Lake Champlain, I felt safe.

Without adversities, you will never know what you are truly capable of. It tests your limits, how well you handle situations, and how you utilize your skills to overcome difficulties.

My name is Cass Parker Perez and I have no idea who I am. I know I am sixteen. I know I like writing, drawing, and listening to music. But I do not know who, what, when, where, or why I am the way I am. I do not know my gender.

If you ask me what I imagine my life as when I will be 30 I will have a few answers. I will not actually know what my life will look like when I'm 30 because I am 16 right now but forever 15 at heart. When I am thirty it could go one of two ways.

My mother immigrated from Hong Kong to America during her high school years, and continued to live here for college, through early adulthood, till now.