A Resilient Daughter of the Arab Spring
When Rama Yousef was born in the Syrian capital of Damascus in 1999, her father cursed and cried tears of frustration. She was his fourth child and not the son […]
Planes, Trains, Ships – and Physics
As a school boy in Poona, India, Anant Ramdas dreamed of becoming a professor. Dr. Ramdas’ father was a physicist, and he encouraged his son to study under his
How to Save a Life from the Rumble
To some people, the rumble of a motorcycle down the road is nothing more than noise, a slight variation on the commonplace hum of a car motor.
Come Up and Speak Up
When Hameda Dil Mohamed, 21, spoke in Pioneer Square last September at a rally in support of Rohingya refugees she hoped
She is a Girl-Power Grandma
When Michael, age 9, was asked to identify the girl-power women in his life, his first choice was his surrogate grandmother. Vera Moroz, 76, was an immigrant
Reveling in Koto in the Pacific NW
“I’m Japanese — how come I didn’t know this music?” That’s what Masumi Timson thought as she sat captivated by her first koto concert.
Desert to Oregon, a Paintbrush in Hand
Hussein Al-Baiaty was about as far away as anyone could be when terrorists crashed two airplanes into New York’s World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
I Had to Earn my Way
Dr. Rahel Nardos’ credentials as an M.D. from Yale are not enough for some people, who question her status as a medical professional
Broken Glass to Breakout Senior
In 2013, when a bomb exploded and shattered all the windows of 15-year-old Sara Mohamed’s classroom in Damascus, Syria, she better understood
Woman Without a Country
By the time Eman Abbas and her two sons made it to the United States in 2015, her Iraqi heritage had cost her admission to her dream school, a fair-paying […]
I am Here, and I am Not Sorry
“I will never be seen as an American. I don’t even know what being an American looks like. Is it being lighter? Is it having my hair out? Or is […]
Undocumented and Unafraid
When Efrain first sauntered into his AP literature class in high school, something triggered him: He noticed that he was the only student of color in the room.
Leaving Cuba for a Brighter Future
In 2011 at 16, when Ruben left the bright, sunny and festive Santiago de Cuba for an unfamiliar life in Portland, Oregon it was bittersweet.
In Limbo O’Er the Land of the Free
Depressed and undocumented, Jhoana knew she needed to change her life around. Born in Pachuca, Mexico in 1991, Jhoana grew up in a small house that her
Feminist Blooms Under the Headscarf
For Hanin, wearing a hijab and being a feminist go hand-in-hand. The 18-year-old Forest Grove college student, born in Saudi Arabia, has lived in the United States