In grade school, we─Latinos─were prohibited from speaking Spanish at school as the administrators believed that it would be offensive to non-Spanish speakers. Could they not surmise how it would affect us; we were in the land of American citizens and spent most of our lives being discriminated or looked at freakishly owing to how or what we spoke. Having spent my childhood being ashamed of my heritage and refusing to speak Spanish unless I had no other way to communicate with my parents, I felt angered. My older brother once declared that Hispanics were brainless and denied being Mexican. Longing to defend these people who spent their lives discriminated against and struggling to find an honest job on account of their citizenship, I found my passion. No one gets to decide where they are born, so why find fault with it? …show more content…
My love of vampires became my savior in the end. Being fascinated by the mystical creatures of the night led to dressing up as one every Halloween and enjoying the rush of being someone else for a change, someone who didn’t mind being invisible. My love of vampires led to my love of literature; in school, I received a Scholastic magazine and, while I hated reading at the time, I looked through it. I stumbled upon a book regarding a girl who discovers she has a long lost vampirical twin sister and fell in love with it─and all the ideas associated with vampirism. My affection of said book was my guide to realizing my adoration of other vampire books, and books in general. Books changed my life and taught me that I never have to be alone as long as I have words. It led me to meet great friends who were part of the same fandoms as I, while also helping me see that as long as I try and do not give up, I can attain greatness. I can help protect those without a voice, despite being just