Melanin Unity

            As I was applying for college, there were questions that College Board and random college readiness websites told me I must perfect my responses to for college interviews.  Here is what I really wanted to say. “Tell me about yourself.”             Oh God, the big tamale right off the bat. Do you want to know who I am, admissions lady? You look like a Becky, so let’s go with that. How do I force my whole life to fit into this 30 second bubble you’ve given me? Maybe your life is boring enough that you’re able to but I’m a well-rounded individual. I am a competitive dog-petter, with a record of 74 “good boys” a minute. I am the current national Naruto running champion. (It’s all about the form and making yourself as aerodynamically crouched as possible.) I am a lip balm enthusiast, who holds the unpopular opinion that EOS eggs are overrated and overpriced. I am a legendary cartoon con...

As a young and naive darling of the world, I was brought up to believe that all the stress of parents, school, and life in general, would melt away with the ease of a single application to my college of choice. I’d simply grow to the tender age of 17, begin a year of classes that weren’t rigorous or challenging, maintain my honors level GPA of a 3.56, and without a doubt get accepted into my dream HBCU - Howard University. But like that white lady in one of my favorite memes said: Senior year is currently only one week away -- even though it feels like it has already started with all the AP (Advanced Placement) homework I’ve had to complete. AP work is the right of passage all students who are “Academics AF” must go through; consisting of terms lists, progress tests, analysis of experiments for AP Psych. Then reading, essays, and annotations for AP Literature and Composition. Which in total contributed to the minor panic attack I had over the summer. I decided to write down...