The Avocado and Me

First, to the people.  2010 - This was the first grade. I was bright blonde and with bangs and pink dresses. No glasses. Thank you Emily, for teaching me how to play Cat's Cradle, and for the Chocolate Brownie Z-Bars after-school. And for the Barbies, the summer, and the gulab jamin, Janhavi, I am forever grateful. And to Matt, for trying to comfort me when I got a red card in class for throwing a book, and then my parents walked in, and I thought I was in the biggest trouble in the whole wide world. Oh, also, Curtis. Thanks for not throwing a desk at me even though you could have. 2011 - My second grade teacher did not like me. Once, we did a project where we built an ecosystem out of construction paper on our classroom wall. I made the burrowing owls. I was very proud of my burrowing owls. But Mrs. Baker didn't think they were so great, so she didn't put them on the wall. She didn't even put 'em up when I made her a card for the holidays. Thank you M...

Thanksgiving Break is officially over in my school district, meaning we've left behind relaxation and Netflix for a state of constant stress and mild exhaustion. Ah, well - it was bound to happen. I hope all of my fellow Americans enjoyed stuffing themselves with cranberry sauce and watching giant balloons parade around New York City. Thanksgiving is an interesting, albeit controversial, holiday. For one, it celebrates European colonization and the proceeding genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas. For another, a lot ( a lot ) of turkeys are killed for the sake of a day of heart burn and indigestion. But when I celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, I try my hardest to think of it in a new light. I am celebrating the people in my life, the privileges I have, and the life that I live. If I find Thanksgiving to be disputable, it should be no surprise that I think Black Friday and Cyber Monday (which I didn't know existed until this year) are incredibly ironic. We...