Rachel Abrams

And she was like, no, one bite at a time.

Hi, friends.

This is Jonathan Cabrera.

And my mother, Pauline Caberta, was Mama Rose incarnate.

She just was a...

force of life and a tornado in every room she walked into and sing out louise meant to my mother to always let your presence be known in every room that you walk into to make a choice be specific in that choice damn the torpedoes on whatever choice you did make and to carpe diem

Hi, I'm Phoebe.

I'm from Fairfield, Connecticut.

I come from a long line of Syrian women who have intense, unfriendly, frowning faces.

And when people meet us, they tend to think we don't like them.

And so usually this is something that I try to overcome.

But

My mom always, always, always reminds us that we have a Syrian look and we can use it on anyone who has wronged us or whenever we need to stand up for ourselves.

If someone was being mean to us at school, she would say, give them the Syrian look.

And she meant cut your eyes to them, give them the stank eye and let them know you can't be messed with.

But my mom would come in and she would say, get up, put on something cute, do your makeup, and you'll feel better.

And at the time, I found this insanely annoying.

I live out of bags and I'm perpetually exhausted.

But when I pack now, I find myself throwing in something a little extra, whether it be a zebra print or a bedazzled headband or some high heels.

Hi, my name is Nitsan.