I am.
determined
creative
professional.
I don’t.
need a great name
even though I already have one.
I don’t.
need you to plan my life
or tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.
I am.
intelligent and capable.
—A masters degree
not in camp counseling
not in chaperoning
English teacher am I.
A strong oak
standing powerfully firm—alone
I don’t.
need you telling me
where to walk
how to be
who to be
I am
determined
creative
professional.
I am not you.
I am me.
Me.
ME.
Sonia Chintha is an Indian American writer who lives in the Washington DC area. She blogs, writes poetry, and fiction. She is also an English teacher who believes that our experiences teach us more than any test. She is the founder and co-editor of Good Little Girls.
Once, early on an idealistic Girl In a time when She did what she believed Not what was expected In time when she didn’t have
by Parivash Goff Illustration by Tatyana Safronova Begin When the others gather to play tag and foursquare, to dress up dolls and masquerade as pirates,