This piece in particular comes from thinking a lot about “The American Dream” this past year and what that exactly means within my family dynamic, with my father being an immigrant and my mother who grew up in a poor small town in Wisconsin. I fear that I will never reach that American definition of “success” in order to give back to my family for the sacrifices they’ve made in order for their children to have a better future. I work as hard as I can in hopes of making them proud.

“For the stars I am given,
I hold onto tightly,
I cannot let them slip from my grasp.
For I am their dream,
I hope to be the star they wished upon so many years ago.”