I grew up on a large council estate with high-rise flats as far as the eye could see. It was full of crime, poverty, and drug addicts...

If you didn’t know, The Troubles refer to a nasty civil dispute that spanned over 30 years between the British and Irish...

My father, a labor union leader who was tangled up in domestic politics, married at the young age of 17. But how could he not?...

The seeds of generosity and good will that my parents instilled in me were certainly part of what sparked my interest in becoming a nurse...

Growing up in the 1980s, we spent our days running off with neighborhood friends, only returning home when the hum of the streetlights ...

I couldn’t focus in school and started flunking my classes. Then, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd, which is where I met Sammy...

I can’t remember a time my parents got along. I don’t remember laughing around a kitchen table or a single family-film night...

My father was registered as a sex offender. Over time, my father lost all rights to see me, while my mother’s supervised visits were...

As a little girl, I observed the life of my mother and vowed to be different. Better. More intentional. I promised myself that I would...

I grew up watching over my shoulder and trying to keep the peace in our home. Though I breathed the air of misfortune, it did not affect...

The sun came out not long after I was born on a chilly morning in August of 1987 in the heart of Transylvania, Romania. In the black...

Emotions—my mother’s, specifically—ran our household. If Mom was upset, everyone’s emotional state shifted. My sisters and I walked on...

Sadly, every beautiful story is entangled with a monster. The monsters that haunted my life and broke my sweet laughter were violators...

I grew up making mud pies and racing as fast as my little legs could take me on my metal-footed pedal car. That’s what my early life...

When my father was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2006, I remember an overwhelming feeling of relief. Relief. Who does that?...

It was odd to me how my mother married a man who didn’t seem to understand either one of us. Our passion, empathy, and sensitivity...

But then…it was all over, and they divorced when I was just three years old. My dad moved on to yet another young gorgeous woman...

I, conversely, was born with a creative mind and a depressive disorder that manifested in some of the worst and weirdest ways. My talent...

Lying in a steaming bath-tub, water lapped against my naked body. The pressure of the clear liquid surrounding me made the bruises on my...

My dad was always in my peripheral vision, but as a busy musician, he never really stayed long enough for me or my older sister to get...