Some of the best writing advice I ever got was, “Take out the romance. It throws the story off, focus on the protagonist.” This is advice that I have applied to my own life. I’m a romantic, but not by choice. I grew up watching Disney princesses being whisked away…

Mental health disorders among working-class college students from immigrant backgrounds often goes overlooked. I’m here to shed a light on the issue. — As a working college student from an immigrant family living with depression and anxiety — some days are an uphill battle. The coffee is bad, traffic sucks, and my life is a mess. How can I continue to go on like this? Simple: I celebrate even the smallest of successes.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1990s and 2000s. With a brief stint in Amman, Jordan and Tampa, Florida in the mid 1990s. We always made our way back to the Valley, somehow. My family was middle class and both of my parents had respectable…