WE WRITE HERE
  • AWARDED
  • Writing
  • FAQ
  • Supporters
  • Updates
  • Educators
  • Editors
  • Contact
  • Zine

We Write Here

Write to be creative, fearless, and free.
Latest Award: "Multiple Reflections"
June 2025
Started in Oakland, CA
Awarding Creative Students
​6th-12th Grades

Send in your Writing
Monthly email: awards - subscribe

The World as a Spectrum

6/26/2020

 
Dani, 12th- Oakland, CA
My mom always told me that her favorite color was white.

The purity reminded her of everything Holy and of everything that is right with the world. The white fluorescent glare removed stains of suffering, loss, fear and harm. All things that she tries escaping as a Mexican mother living in Neverland. But let us bless God for the endeavors and successes obtained in the gray world. White reminds her of the doors in her impossible house. It excites her when looking at pillowcases and soft blankets that keep her warm during cold winters and rainy days. And she asks me, “How can you not desire being surrounded in all things white? The white doors, the white sweaters, they’ve led us to where we are now.”

But even with beauty in all forms of white, I cannot imagine living in the selective world that’s white. She frowns.

My father always told me that his favorite color was black. It rejuvenated him to think of the black oil stains he got when fixing a car. It reminded him of Sundays when he picked up a black pen and designed drawings that fascinated his daughters. Without a sale for such beautiful creations, my father traded those moments for a gray world, but in return, earned more black pens with limited use. My dad couldn’t be bothered by any other color in the world, perhaps gray, but the color itself brought him luxuries of hard-work, desire and success. Leaving the gray world in Mexico felt like a win because the home he lives in now allows for much more. My father did not realize that they were the same gray regions with different stamps. So then he tells me, “Mija, this black world is what I came here for.”

But even with all the luxuries in all forms of black, I stop myself from succumbing to an exploited black world. He frowns.

I always tell my mom and dad that I do not have a preference in color. I tell them that the majority of gems are not one, but are multiple colors. I explain to them that it couldn’t be possible to fall in love with a single color of the world. I am reminded of the places I go and the liberties that hold every color from a paint palette.

And so I tell them, “How can you live in a bland world when all the colors of the world make up true beauty and true happiness?”

But even with grandeur, I am their radical daughter wanting more than one colored world. I frown. Then I realize that my eagerness of redirection could be frightening. The lives lived by my parents weren’t socially, emotionally or systematically wired for rainbows, but for a sole color. Their compliance to a black and white world was programmed. So, I reassure them that no matter how deflective I get or how eager I am to splash color onto their canvasses, I will respect their worlds. Because just like my parents did, I also have to learn to accept the gray world and find ways to paint its canvas with all the colors I have.

Comments are closed.

    Authors

    Students 6th-12th Grades
    We Write Here!

    month

    June 2025
    April 2025
    November 2024
    August 2024
    April 2024
    December 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018

donate: Writing awards


​Terms & Conditions 
 Sponsors
​


Copyright © 2018
  • AWARDED
  • Writing
  • FAQ
  • Supporters
  • Updates
  • Educators
  • Editors
  • Contact
  • Zine