What I've Learned About the Stresses of Gay Youth

              While researching my topic, the pressures gay teens face, I’ve heard a few of these kid’s stories and they’re pretty incredible to me.  One of the common things in all their stories was how difficult it was gaining the acceptance from their family more than their peers.  Though they still mentioned being bullied by other kids and John (who I interviewed) was even beat up, but most of them say it was more difficult confronting and dealing with their family.  A couple of the kids in the group meeting I went to haven’t told their parents that they are gay; one kid said that he was more scared to tell his family because your family is always supposed to accept and love you no matter what, so if they didn’t it would hurt much more, you can always find new friends but you can’t get a new family.  John’s mother didn’t talk to him for almost two years until they finally were able to work things out and he said that was what was most difficult.

                The thing that makes their stories incredible to me is that despite all these fears of revealing their sexuality to their family, peers, and everyone else, it’s still not something they can or want to change.  This may not be true for all gay youth, but the kids I talked to are proud to be who they are, they’re just afraid of being judged for it.  They voiced that for most it is not a choice, it’s how they were born.  Being gay doesn’t define them as a person, it is part of them are as much as what their gender, age, or race is; it’s part of who they are, but not all they are.

Kobe Bryant Interview Questions

1. How did fracturing your hand affect your game?
2. How do you stay in good shape for your career?
3. How do you critique yourself to improve your skills?
4. Do you have any secrets or tricks to your performance?
5. How did you get started in the NBA?

Westbury Court Essay

Edwidge Danticat’s “Westbury Court” in my opinion is about the unexpectancy of life and how those shocking moments can seem to just go by in the blink of an eye without realizing what really happened or could have happened.  In her essay she talks about her life as a kid growing up in the Westbury Court apartments and the people that have come and gone there, for example, the mother and her two children who died in the fire across the hall.  When an event like this happens, it is hard not to think about the “what if’s”.  What if that had been me?  Danticat says “I couldn’t help but wonder, would our parents have suffered the same fate had it been my brothers and me who were killed in the fire?”  Life moves so hard and fast sometimes that it is hard for us to really think and understand that we could be the ones in that fire instead of the people next door; life is so random and you never know if it is going to be you in that place, and it is a frightening thought, “…fear that their destiny could have so easily been mine and my brothers’.”  Danticat uses a lot of description in her essay, which makes the reader see the story more from her point of view.  Also, when she is telling the story of the people in Westbury Court, she doesn’t know most of their names, like the African-American family across the hall, the Nigerian man who got shot, or the man who died of cirrhosis.  I think the message is conveyed through this also because she never knew any of these people well, but it is still surreal to see the how unexpected life can be to anyone.