I’ve been scratched, bitten, spit on, screamed at, and peed on by several kids with special needs. They are still my favorite people on earth. Growing up, there were many times I felt embarrassed of my younger brother with autism, who drooled all over his shirts and sang too loudly in public places. As I … Read moreLoving My Beautiful Friends with Special Needs
The Amazon, the Atlantic Forest, the Congo Basin, Eastern Australia, and Sumatra are just a few examples of forested areas that are home to some of the world’s best biodiversity hot spots. But according to the World Wildlife Foundation, these are just five regions out of eleven that are at significant risk for “catastrophic deforestation … Read moreThe First Step Towards Reforesting the World is Sympathy
There are three doors that slide open with jerks, like zippers on thrift store jackets, revealing book displays and yellow circulation pencils. Since elementary school, I’ve entered the doors to my local city’s public library countless times. Growing up, I never saw my parents reading. As first-generation immigrants, they said they didn’t have time. But … Read moreLibraries Represent an Open Community
It was 2003 when I was finally placed in a stable home. My biological mother was young, unable to care for a child, and spent her life in and out of prison struggling with addiction, so it wasn’t unusual for me to be tossed from one person to another before I met my forever mom. … Read moreEliminating the Gap Between Hearing and Deaf Community
For the past few years, I have found great joy in helping the special needs students at my school. One of my friends has a form of palsy, and uses a wheelchair to move. A lot of the other students will not talk to him; his speech is difficult to understand at times and his … Read moreMore Opportunities to Interact and Collaborate for Children with Special Needs
What is the worth of a tree? The price tag at the garden center tells you $28.95. The acorn is proof that they’re free, but the desert tells you that a tree is priceless. A tree is more than a standing piece of timber soon to be the paper you may see this writing on … Read moreWhat is the Worth of a Tree?
It’s a scene I’ve been a part of countless times: I’m tutoring a young girl – Mariam – after school on Chicago’s South Side. When she needs a break, we read a graphic novel about a caveman family. She reads the pages on the left, while I read the pages on the right. When we … Read moreLeave a Legacy for Children
Raising a child to be a citizen is an immense challenge. A citizen is someone who has a desire to understand the world, and a commitment to improving it. The global problems of today can seem so large that individuals feel their actions would be meaningless. This apathy cannot be an option forever. Without a … Read moreRaising a Child to be a Citizen
When I first started playing violin, I began by learning the names and functions of each part of the delicate instrument. As a second-grader, the memorization was a daunting task; the only part of the instrument I could consistently recall was the bridge: a small, curved piece of wood whose function is to hold the … Read moreWorking to Bridge the Age Gap
Due to my parents work schedules, my siblings and I spent a large part of our summers in daycare . As much as I appreciated and wanted to have a relationship with the adults that I was spending so much time with, a connection never felt possible. They spoke to me as though I couldn’t … Read moreDetermined to Be Kind to Children