The Cardinal Review Vol. 3 No. 2 Growth

I Am Not a Single Story

By Anonymous I Am Not a Single Story like everything on this planet i am a product of my environment. of everything that came before me everything i’ve felt, noticed, or not noticed. i come from dadima’s kisses. from my childhood home in the southern Californian foothills. the heat. my parents’ love, my parents’ fights. the tears. i come from cardamom and cumin and cinnamon sticks and Allah. the orange towel i’d wrap myself in as a child getting out of the pool. my mother’s voice she acquired by surviving Midwestern winters. my little brother’s smile. i come from the ocean. the smell of sunscreen. my sister’s hand-me-downs. from weekend trips to LACMA, the aquarium, and Half Dome. i come from rain.

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