College Admissions Essay: My Personal Growth

Growing up I was never the kid who talked too much or got in trouble in the classroom for doing so. In my 18 years of living I have never been considered very talkative or vocal. My father would always tell me that talking too much could land you in a big heap of trouble so I refused to do so. He had a phrase, “One thing guaranteed for a person that talks too much is swollen lips”. Hearing that as a child was kind of funny to me, but as I have gotten older I now realize what he was interpreting. I have seen a lot of people get into altercations for running their mouth’s too much and swollen lips is usually the ending result. Although I don’t talk much, I believe I can hold a pretty decent conversation with someone I have things in common with. I use to avoid talking to strangers, but being put in different settings with nothing but strangers has helped me with that to a

Still today I cannot relate to anything that’s going on with my daughter, but I am accepting it”, in obvious discuss, hurt and shame. [Debating Diversity, ’02, R. Takaki] HOM quoting Lee goes on to say: “I was hoping that it was a stage she’s going through and that she could change”. Again cognitive dissonance rears its Janus Face again in the naïve thinking of Ms Lee’s believe that her daughter’s same-sexual gender travails are only superficialities that are motivated by the capricious actions that come along with youth. Life’s choices of a sexual partner are more in-depth and substantive than that.

It was not until recently that those who identified as gender nonconforming or homosexual could feel comfortable coming out to the public without facing being ostracized. bell hooks describes her family’s struggle as they believed that she may be homosexual and their actions to attempt to counteract this outcome in her autobiography Bone Black. Her parents tactics remind me of those my friend’s parents adopted when they found out their child was not “normal.”

I knew it would be a challenging for my family to accept me being gay. Being the only gay male in the family was not as easy as it sounded in my head. I decided to wait for the “right time”. As years passed, it took a toll out of

Neil is a twenty- three-year-old gay man who appears to have an inner conflict with his mother’s ready acceptance of his homosexuality. She seems to have accepted his homosexuality on an intellectual level, however not on an emotional level. The mother and son relationship appears to have issues that involve sexuality, boundaries/territories, tolerance, embarrassment, expectation, and shame. Neil’s story exemplifies the life course perspective in that it emphasizes diversity in his life journey, linking his early life experiences with later experiences in adulthood.

These young adults suggested that they may have employed various strategies to keep their non-conventional family a secret during their early adolescence before developing alternative strategies of disclosure with time. The suggestions proposed by these young adults succinctly describe how the social stigmatization of non-conventional family identity might indirectly affect the development of adolescent children raised by lesbian or gay parents. The development of strategies used to confront this social stigmatization and the later subjective analysis of how those strategies were implemented has overwhelming implications for the opponents of gay and lesbian parents. This research has implications for larger policies regarding lesbian and gay parents within the justice system where parents have been denied custody on the grounds of unfit parenting and subjection to social stigma as well as within the school system where children of lesbian and gay parents might face the greatest social stigmatization. These studies demonstrate that homosexual parents do not directly affect their children’s development and the negative

When we talk about “family,” we are not referring only to people related by genetics or by blood. Families can come in all forms of configurations, including adoptive or foster parents, grandparents, extended family, mentors, or one’s chosen family made up of close friends. Many youth have been rejected by their genetic and adoptive families and need support from other adults. Similarly, “parenting” can be done by a variety of adults in a child’s life, not just by legal parents or guardians (2 Timothy Krause). Young adult who are in the process of coming to a homosexual identity may undergo great mental anguish through worrying about telling their parents. They often hate the idea that they are lying, by omission, to their parents, but also

As humans we all have stories and/or experiences that shape our thinking and feeling about the life we live in this world. The world I come from and grew up in has shaped and motivated me to set up my own goals and achieve my dreams because I had many challenges living with my mother under poverty.

Earlier in life I thought that their was one choice I had to make a decision with, where will my future would be heading after high school. When I was around ten years old I was sitting with my parents and I asked them " When should I start thinking about my future and what should I do?", I always thought your parents had to choose what you had to do in life but it turned out to be the decision you had to make. My Dad said " If you have been wondering about what you want to be when you grow up, you should be start looking into it now!" He said "Your cousin is the same age as you and she knows what she wants to be she told me " I want to study at the University of Baylor and become a Nurse and she said that if I don't become a Nurse I will

“I don't know how I'd live with you if you were gay, you'd be gross." This blunt statement caught my attention as I exited a local ice cream parlor the summer prior to entering high school. This remark, while radical, was not abnormal for the old fashioned and rural town I had grown up in. At first, I told myself not to let it get to me and that this mother had every right to believe what she wanted. After all, I didn't want to overthink what could have been the misinterpretation of a crude joke. When I saw the look of pure disgust at the simple thought of being gay on her daughter's face however, I felt weak and without dignity. As a lesbian myself, my esteem seemed to deteriorate like paper thrown into a fire. Nevertheless, I was inspired by this experience to analyze the state of society and to search for justice in situations where it is lacking.

I believe that the majority of personal growth comes from surrounding oneself with people who are different, so for my interview, I consulted my Hispanic male friend, Alberto. My reason for doing so was I expected his identity to contrast with my own of many different levels. I had high anticipation to the responses I would receive from him due to his different identity. In retrospect, I was surprised by my findings and how they related to my teachings and my personal perception.

Children from gay families may benefit from the examples the parents provide. In addition to accepting others, they also learn to accept themselves. Homosexual parents may teach their children that being different is not bad; that it is important to develop one’s on identity and not conform to what society tells us we should be. Children learn that they do not have to hide anything from their parents because they can identify and are, therefore, more understanding.

Even though my cat has perfectly clean water in her bowl, she regularly goes to the bathroom in order to drink from the toilet. The toilet guarantees water, while the water bowl must be filled. I notice that many people in my community end up, like my cat, favoring convenience over quality. The community’s lack of faith in its adolescents has bred a cycle of unwillingness to strive for anything greater than graduating from high school. This lack of faith has stemmed from a rural upbringing where us students are expected to stay in this deprived town throughout the entirety of our lives. I want to be one of those who have broken that cycle and proved that a small town upbringing does not assure disappointment and unfulfillment.

When people first look at me they think douchebag. It wasn't always this way, I use to be a small, shy kid who got his school work done and played video games. Back then you would think nerd or not even notice me. But last year something in me changed; I dedicated myself to talk to more people, be less shy, and go to the gym every day for 90 days.

Currently the media portrays perfect heterosexual relationships and families. But when do we ever hear about gay parents? School children idolize aspects of the media; so putting the thought that LGBT children are ‘not how they should be’ not only isolates gay children but also supports heterosexist beliefs, that being gay is wrong. Schools need to challenge children’s speculations about children of a different sexual orientation. By being open, everyone benefits.