“My life was better.” My mother described her former life in the Philippines, reminiscing in all of the old memories she had of her childhood and young adulthood. My mother was born in 1980 and grew up in the crowded and vibrant city of Cavite in the Philippines. In this city, she lived a standard yet fun and easy-going life ... Read More »
The Swiss Alps, an incredible sight to see. A place great for hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter. A place where you can get some breathtaking photos of snow-capped mountain tops or lush green valleys. A place in the country of Switzerland, and the birthplace of a man named Jannik Zgraggen. Jannik is a Stanford student who ... Read More »
People call me “El Canoso” but my name is Carlos (changed for anonymity). I was named after my father for having so much white hair, but oddly enough my beard and mustache was very dark. Every morning at 5 AM I wake up “regando” everything in my “Ranchito” with my father. We also feed the chickens, check our chile, and ... Read More »
Imagine being raised in a country where you are constantly being monitored and having constant worries 24 hours a day. My Dad was born in Saigon, Vietnam. His life was not the most ideal lifestyle because of his family worries about not having food on the table every day. He lived in a police state and the police were pretty ... Read More »
I raise my shaking hand and unwillingly press my cold finger tip against the metal trigger and hear a faint bell inside. I then hear footsteps in the distance approaching the door and the handle begins to turn. The door squeaks open and I am greeted by a semi familiar face, blissfully saying “Hi!” It’s Sizdah Bedar, Nature’s Day, but ... Read More »
My Mother was born in Shanghai, China. Her childhood was not a particularly good one, at least by American standards, but in China children were taught to be modest and not complain about what they got. My mother lived in a small house with several siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Their house was part of a complex, with multiple other ... Read More »
While growing up in Turkey, the obvious pressing issue concerning Haluk Konuk was that he was not born into a socioeconomically well-off family. He always had to move around with his mother and older sister to live with various other family members in Istanbul. Basic necessities were hard to come by as he even recalled that “eating meat was like ... Read More »
Prologue: Battle of Caporetto, Italian military disaster during World War I in which Italian troops retreated before an Austro-German offensive on the Isonzo front in northeastern Italy, where the Italian and Austrian forces had been stalemated for two and a half years. October 1917 saw the Italian army’s disastrous defeat at Caporetto and its eventual retreat into the distant Piave ... Read More »
Jacqui can still remember when her brother Mark came home one day in June 1976 and told her parents that South Africa had no future and that the family should leave together. Jacqui was 8 at the time, but Mark was ten years older and had recently entered into the police force due to South Africa’s compulsory military service. It ... Read More »
Bombs falling from the sky, the walls and ceiling of the bunker shudder and rain dust onto the cowering citizens that line the floor. My grandmother is one of these people, bundled in a mass of shawls and elbows of her mother. For privacy reasons, my grandmother will be known as Jane for this retelling. Jane, my grandmother on my ... Read More »