Nessarose: You Belong in the Story

Have you ever wondered about the Wicked Witch of the East? I can see you’re frowning. You know — the very first character to disappear when Dorothy’s house lands in Oz. That’s a hard one, I know. You never get to see her standing up...

What Gloria Taught Me

Gloria Steinem (right) and Alice Walker celebrate Steinem’s 75th birthday in the Fall 2009 issue of Ms. magazine. By Ms. magazine, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47476755 This is the Gloria Steinem I remember. A fierce advocate for...

What Dolly Taught Me

Dolly Parton and Carol Burnett, 1979. By Unknown author – eBayfrontbakc, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54036707 This is the Dolly Parton I remember as a girl. On TV, singing, cracking jokes, friends with other mega-talented...

Rizwana Got Caught

Rizwana always breaks the rules and fools you. Just the other day, she hid the stone she had just borrowed from me and said it was lost. I don’t want to play with her anymore. I left the playground and sat on the side, watching her and Wajiha, her aunt’s...

Post-graduation Students

2026 has become the celebratory year when all my late nights, studious escapades, and strenuous research have paid off with a degree. Specifically in my case, and for millions of others, an undergraduate degree. The education system has moulded us into respectable...

What’s Wrong with Us?

Our family moved to Kabul when I was a year and half. We lived in the western side of Kabul in the early years. It was a beautiful, colorful, lively, and loud city. It had yet another side- the cruel side. Explosions, attacks, violence, unsafe. Poverty was another...

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