college

At age 25, I'm hardly an adult. But boy am I grown up compared to who I was in college. If I could go back in time, I'd have quite a few things to tell my former self, and save a lot of stress, time, and energy.

As a professor, every September I preach the importance of showing up and focusing to my students while hiding a secret: I was a lousy student. Luckily, my youthful dissatisfaction with higher education led me to become the professor I wished I had.

I was 21 –– a Catholic, heterosexual college student, living at home in Brooklyn and still trying to discover who I was. At the crossroads of her life, Lorde knew exactly who she was. She was waging a war against cancer and sharing an old house in Staten Island with her kids and partner. But maybe we weren’t so different after all.

"Do not underestimate the idea of studying in Slovenia. Their tuition is free, their cost of living is reasonable and they have an incredible amount of programs available for American students."

Sometimes, the catastrophic pain and miraculous triumphs that come with relationships are worth simply knowing a person.

Spotted: Hayes Valley, San Francisco

My biggest dream was to graduate high school. To this day, my GED is the diploma I am the most proud of.

For every 100 black women, there are 83 black men. This is not the case in white America, where for every 100 women, there are 99 men, almost complete parity.