Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Confessions.
Curved Bowls and Medicine for Melancholy
A few years ago, the city council of Monza, Italy, barred pet owners from keeping goldfish in curved bowls... saying that it is cruel to keep a fish in a bowl with curved sides because, gazing out, the fish would have a distorted view of reality. But how do we know we have the true, undistorted picture of reality? Stephen Hawking
By Tom Brad5 years ago in Confessions
Writing Through the Pain
Writing. I used to hate it as a kid. My mother loves telling people now how I told my fourth-grade teacher that no matter what happens, the last job I would ever want is to be a writer. I did not just say this because I did not want to do the assignment. It was just true. As a child, I would rather have been reading a book than writing one.
By Timothy Radke5 years ago in Confessions
Reverse Immigration
My first day at the job I was lectured by another teacher for wearing shoes inside the school. He scolded me in a language familiar, yet completely foreign to my ears. I was late getting on the bus, so it didn't phase me in the slightest. I remember hearing him laugh later on with the other teachers thinking that I was another student. I laughed too. I was fresh out of college and everything about my face and features looked the same as them. It was reassuring knowing that for once in my life everyone else around me looked like me.
By Dan Lee5 years ago in Confessions
Are you a Fish out of the Water? Become the Sushi of your life!
Since little that, my education was all about living by our morals from a philosophic point of view. With that in mind, I always seem to be from another world. Even my first and last name’s letters are ET: as an alien to all social gatherings. Misfit is my middle name, I cannot tell enough times that I was ‘out of place’, but let’s try to find some funny moments about my life that I was out-of-place.
By Sofia Duarte5 years ago in Confessions
Struggling To Fit In - A Child's Cancer Journey
*Trigger Warning: This article briefly mentions suicide and death.* At eight years old, I wanted badly to be normal like every kid at my school, but it wasn’t the case. I put up a fight with my parents about going to school every morning because I did not want to be picked on and I did not want to deal with my bullies. Yes, eight-year-old kids bully others, and it’s harsh.
By Eli5 years ago in Confessions
How Full Immersion Made Me Lose Confidence In My Chinese
Stepping off the plane to Beijing is a moment I'll never forget. It was summer 2009, and I landed a study abroad opportunity in China to live and learn there for a year. My Chinese teacher had high political clout in Beijing Language and Culture University, so he made sure we settled in before setting off on our adventure.
By Alfie Jane5 years ago in Confessions
Once a Tormented Girl in Russia — Now and Forever a Graceful Ballerina in America . Third Place in Social Shock Challenge.
“Hey you, a giraffe,” a pack of adolescent boys confronts me. They cackle as if demented. I am scared. I hate boys. Russia. 1973. I am thirteen, just arrived at a summer camp. I don’t know anyone. The wooden dorms between tall pine trees. Far away from Mom. I’m alone. I want to be back home or die.
By Irina Patterson5 years ago in Confessions
The Quiet Room
TRIGGER WARNING! The following story is a true accounting of events that took place in a special education classroom at Cory Elementary in Denver, Colorado*, during the 1990s. Neurodivergent readers and those suffering from PTSD in particular should proceed with caution.
By Alaric Bullard5 years ago in Confessions
The Outside
I will never forget the one summer with myself, I flew to Georgia. At first, I felt like I didn’t fit in because, after always being used to fitting in a certain way…. and always feeling accepted in… the was a new awakening!!!!! Having always been, “heavily supported,” I was thinking the day I arrived I’d be well taken care of! Not! It was a HUGE warning regarding my race, was my first impression?! At first I thought I was up against my own worst, “ enemy”!!! It was my cousins new fiancé Joey. The year was 2001. So I was visiting Georgia. Georgia is my home state supposively. I was born there. This was all a wrap when I went there one summer!!!!! I was eager and more than excited at first to see my cousins!! Plus my aunt and uncle. Everybody was one happy family again. The only Problem was the credentials and entitlement the fiancé was getting?! Fighting had occurred frequently between me and him. We hated one another’s company by a long shot. It was too way different backgrounds trying to settle in the middle, at the same time! What bothered me was left unsaid. Basically I was repping a city like lifestyle with a ton of “ghettoness,”and tainted expression smothering me which at the time led to The Country Lifestyle! I wasn’t excited about it one bit. We hated each other’s guts. I didn’t fit in because I was black, by now I could tell, it was because he was white, and in the South, and they I’ve learned don’t play that mess. I would get hung he’d always say. It would bother me…and toil inside of me a lot. Enraged in anger. As I hold on growing up in Spanaway Washington, which is country to me…I start to grow a tougher skin, but I realize by now he Joey was from a wholeness of avenue, which since then I come to terms with! It’s hard to do, but I put myself through understanding to get to that point. This being a time, I didn’t fit in!!!! It helped mme to see myself in a different light.Back then,…. I had young ghetto mentality I want to say… and a terrible poverty mindset. Not to justify how I fitted in,which still needs work, until this day,..I would change where I have lost views, a load of friends, but it was all for the better! Anyways back to not fitting in. I felt bad! Here it is this (newby) was getting attention that I was not getting????? I felt the pressure each time I encountered him. We hated each other’s guts and for the first time I felt out of place. I know now, but ( Joey) would say things to piss me off or make foolery out of me! Some of the summer…and my cousins redemptions were in return treating me I’ll,I felt change had occur, to look at things for the better! My cousin Nikki was awesome, and what started out being the worst summer and me having the bad feelings of not fitting in took its FULL toll on me! So, I ended up enjoying it, maybe even crushing on (Joey), it was the best summer ever, ever spent! What had went from wrestling matches between us two turnover for the better! The things that I’d never encountered like…. 4 wheelin, dancing with him, & taking memorable photos, grew our relationship to taps! We’re cool now, but before then we just wasn’t. Since then…I’ve had my full rounds about the South. It’s harder living down there , then up here in Washington State. Every state has an exciting thing about it. My cousin Nikki and Joey, now have kids and I believe he is to this day, trying to become a better man. For me I am working on retiring, but leaving that door open for better new and improved beginnings.
By Rachael Frazier5 years ago in Confessions
Foot-in-Mouth Disease
I was diagnosed with the foot-in-mouth disease as a toddler. While no one is exactly sure what the root causes are for this illness, parental experts speculate that it may be genetic. Perhaps passed down by a garrulous great-grandfather or a chatty grandmother, the child is compared to when the disorder rears its ugly head. What exactly is foot-in-mouth disease? Well, let me break it down for you.
By Miss Walker5 years ago in Confessions
