I Am...

 Stereotypes reign upon every aspect of our spherical home we call a world, and as a young colored Hispanic woman, I’ve met my fair share of them growing up. Challenges can be anything from solving a rubix cube to completing last night’s homework ten minutes before the start of class; whatever they may be, every individual endeavors their fair share and mine stand on a more colorful scale. Much of what I’ve read in books consists of cliché ideas, but every so often, that cliché idea is just another generalized stereotype that I, like always, fall into. When I do read these stories, whether they reign true or not, I generally gravitate towards the stories of female empowerment or social and racial justices. They lean on me because I understand the hardships that come with them. It fascinates me to see how history evolves and grows in the scheme of education and technology, but racially, it’s a broken record set on loop. "Without you wanting it, it doesn't happen." The drive and constant need for something only grows for a said individual; I would never blossom into a new character with a developing number of pages behind me to create a story I can truly call my own.Stereotypes reign upon every aspect of our world, and as a young colored woman, I've met my fair share of them growing up. Sometimes people overlook words because they're used to hearing them. Used to abusing them, perusing them, choosing them over other words because these words are easier, these words are more "socially applicable." People don't realize the color of one's skin does not identify what their characteristics are, nor the realities of them as human beings, - it's just a shade of creativity. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity. I am a story. A color cannot define me, because I am not a definition. A definition excludes the possibility for change. I am change. I am more than a color. I am an influence. I am not my stereotype. Without you wanting it, it doesn't happen- and I want to be me-not a stereotype. I am Yessica. 

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