by Irina Groushevaia

My name is Irina Groushevaia and I’m from Moscow, Russia.  When I was 16 years old, I was living with my estranged father because my mom abandoned me, and it was a difficulSt. Petersburg is on water so in the winter, it’s very very cold because it’s also very humid. And I was like, I can’t keep walking around and I just went to the airport to ...

by Tabytha Gonzalez

I’m Tabytha Gonzalez, pronouns she and her, and I’m from Newark, New Jersey.  I first came to New York City. I was with my dance crew, or a dance crew that I was a pa...

by Kirsten

My name is Kirsten and I’m from Queens, New York.  So when I was growing up, me and my aunt, my mother’s sister, were very close. There was an intensity to that closeAnd I had been suspecting at that point for years that she was, so I finally just asked her, “Are you queer?” I didn’t say, “Are you queer?” I was li...

by SJ

I’m SJ. I’m from Dallas, Texas.  I grew up in a house where it wasn’t really normal for us to talk about our feelings. That was really difficult for me. As a chSo after toiling over this decision for a really long time and really thinking through all of my fears about it, I realized that it was something I had to do. I couldn’t con...

by Sammi Price

My name is Sammi Price and I’m from Neenah, Wisconsin.  I remember the first time that I had a crush on a girl, and it was in eighth grade in my little hometown in WisconsiPeople started talking a little bit. In my small town there wasn’t much to talk about. There were suspicions that I was a lesbian. There was talk amongst the crowds. But fas...

by Terrence Francois

My name is Terrence Francois. I’m from Brooklyn, New York, also known as Indigenous Land of the Lenape people. So it’s 2021. We’re a year into the pandemic. The And they’re just cheesing. They’re like, “¿Como esta?” That’s I think all I got. And I was like, “I’m good. How are you?” And I th...

by Will Verchereau

My name is Will Verchereau. I’m from Lansing, Michigan.  In May 2011, I found myself freshly graduated from Michigan State University and crying alone in my closet in my apDuring the pandemic, I was starting to grow my hair out. I remember this moment where my hair was starting to curl. I looked in the mirror. I thought, “I have curly hair. Th...

by Amara Richardson

My name is Amara Richardson, and I’m from San Marcos, Texas.  I was 24, and my first close friend had started her family and had her first kid. And it was all new to me as And we had to think about all of the things that went into the process of doing something like IVF, finding a doctor, the expenses of the IVF whole process, all the hormones that ...

by Jovier Sanchez

My name is Jovier Sanchez and I’m from New York, New York.  So I moved to Salem with my husband in 2015. We opened a candle store there and it was on the first floor of theI want to say within a week and a half to two, and it was that dramatic, the drop-off for the business that we were initially getting was almost… like, it was night and day. We ...