PERSPECTIVESJUNE 2020

ACHIEVE CLUB INITIATIVE

EDITOR’S NOTEFirst and foremost, happy pride month!

In light of the senseless death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless oth-ers, it is ever more important to fight the systemic injustices still plaguing our so-ciety. This is a problem that demands a solution, and we wholeheartedly support those trying to bring about such change. ACI has and will always remain committed to the Black Lives Matter movement, and we condemn all discriminatory systems, behavior, and speech.

We are proud of the steps our society has taken towards justice and equality, in-cluding the recent, long over-due, Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayon County decision protecting LGBTQ+ employees from discriminatory practices on the basis of sexual identity. However, the fight isn’t over. We must not lower our voices until every per-son can claim their rightful place as full and participating citizens in every society.

Sincerely,Audrey Pan and Angelica Schell

Achieve Club Initiative Co-Founders

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CONTENTSHOw to be an Ally for POC in STEMFIALETA MOsazgi

COMBATING MICROAGGRESSIONSAlexis Wang

How Covid-19 is Changing College AdmissionsVictoria Gong

Identifying Your Strengths and WeaknessesMelissa Soto

Advice for Girls in High SchoolBlessing Stephen

How to set GoalsMelissa Soto

The Grief Keeper Book ReviewAudrey pan

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1. Don’t stereotype. Be Professional!

When you’re in the lab with a POC, that’s not the time to compare them to your favorite rapper. In fact, it’s never the time. If you’re in a working relationship, just be professional! They are just a fellow STEM lover, just like you and everyone else in the room. If you are friends with them, please don’t ask personal questions about their race and culture. And please, don’t ask to touch their hair.

2. Don’t avoid the truth. Listen up!

Systemic racism exists everywhere in this country, and it’s especially present in the STEM field. If a POC comes to you with their concerns, don’t act like their claims aren’t val-id! Just because it doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean it isn’t real. Listening to your colleagues is one of the most important things you can do to become an ally. Don’t invalidate the struggles POC face in STEM.

3. Don’t stay silent. Speak up!

Once you’ve listened, the next step is to speak up! It doesn’t matter how much you

listen if it leads to no action. Use your voice, your platform, and your right to protest to make a statement for your POC STEM col-leagues! In order to be a good ally and spark meaningful change, you have to tell the world what it needs to do!

4. Don’t be uninformed. Do your research!

What does being anti-racist really mean? What groups in your community are system-atically oppressed? Are my family members or friends being problematic? You need to know the answers to these questions in order to be a good ally. Do your research and stay informed about the struggles POC face in STEM. Diversify your news sources, and read new books and articles written by those in STEM fields! This not only makes you a better ally, but also a more well-rounded person.

Hopefully, these tips help you become a bet-ter ally! During these turbulent times, being an ally is more important than ever. Send this to your colleagues, your friends, anyone who you think could be a better ally for POC in STEM. Because at the end of the day, we’re all just a bunch of nerds.

#BLM. It’s been trending everywhere these past few weeks as more and more eyes turn to the murder of George Floyd, and other POC murdered by police. Black people have always been unfairly targeted by systemic racism in this country. But for many non-POC (People of Color), this has been a wake-up call, and many are now trying to be actively anti-racist, protest against systemic racism, and be allies for the POC community. Black people face many inequalities in the STEM field. The evidence is staggering; for example, only 3% of Bachelor Computer Science degrees go to black men, and less than 1% goes to black women. Now, more than ever, it is important for non-POC to be allies for their black colleagues in the STEM field. Here are some tips on how you can be an ally.

HOW TO BE ANA L L Y

FOR POC IN S TEMFialeta Mosazgi

02 Perspectives

COMBATING MICROAGGRESSIONS“NO, WHERE ARE YOU REALLY FROM?”

We’ve all heard them before. The subtlest statements that continue to perpetuate the implicit biases we have towards people, based on their ethnicity, sexuality, etc.

So then, what’s the best way to combat this and prevent it from happening? First, let’s start with the basics.

What are Microaggressions?

Microaggressions — “the everyday slights, indignities, put-downs, and insults that peo-ple of color, women, LGBT populations, or those who are marginalized experiences in their day-to-day interactions with people.”

There are 3 types of microaggressions:

Microassaults — the most overt form of mi-croaggression where one blatantly behaves in discriminatory ways unintentionally (ex. saying “that’s so gay!”)

Microinsults — statements or behaviors in which individuals unintentionally communi-cate discriminatory messages to members of target groups (ex. telling an Asian-American they speak good English when that’s their first language)

Microinvalidations — statements that deny, negate, or undermine the realities of mem-bers of various target groups (ex. calling a woman “oversensitive”)

3 Steps to Addressing Microaggressions

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1. Learn to identify microaggressions.

When reading examples of microaggressions and looking at it from an outsider’s point of view, it’s easy to identify them and realize they’re wrong.

However, when you’re actually faced with the situation, especially when it’s from someone you know, this becomes much harder. Re-member, these are subtle comments of dis-crimination. They’re not meant to be overt and flagrant.

That’s why many people’s first reactions to microaggressions are to question whether or not that even was one. Asking yourself things like, “Did I hear that correctly?” or “Did that really just happen?” News flash—chances are it was a microaggression.

Understanding and recognizing when you’re being discriminated against instead of pre-tending as if nothing happened is the first step to combating it.

2. Decide how to respond.

Microaggressions are terrible, and we shouldn’t tolerate them. But that doesn’t mean lashing out and attacking the offend-er is always the best response. Here are five questions to consider:

• If I respond, could my physical safety be in danger?

• If I respond, will the person become de-fensive? Will this lead to an argument?

• If I respond, how will this affect my rela-

Perspectives 03

stroke at far younger ages and higher rates than white people.

That’s why it’s incredibly important that you prioritize your mental health first and fore-most. Do whatever it is you need to do: talk to friends, watch a movie, read a book, etc. If it makes you feel better, do it. You absolutely deserve it!

How to Help Those Battling Microaggres-sions

Everyone has committed microaggressions at least once in their lives. Whether or not you’re aware of it is a different question. That’s why

tionship with this person (e.g., co-work-er, family member, etc.)

• If I don’t respond, will I regret not saying something?

• If I don’t respond, does that convey that I accept the behavior or statement?

Remember, your physical safety is of utmost importance. Correcting a random guy on the street versus correcting your classmate are two very different scenarios.

If you do choose to respond, aim to educate the person and have a discussion with them. Try to avoid attacking them, like calling them a racist, since it’ll probably lead them to be-come defensive and no effective dialogue will take place.

Instead, focus on talking about how you felt and addressing the perpetrator’s behavior. You can say things like:

• “I know you didn’t mean it, but that com-ment was racially charged and offensive because ___. ”

• “I felt ___ when you said that.”• “Instead, you could have said ___.”

Hopefully, calmly educating them will help solve the problem. But sometimes it doesn’t, and they still don’t change their ways. It’s un-fortunate, but it happens.

But the important part isn’t the perpetra-tor’s actions — it’s your mental and physical well-being.

3. Seek self-care and support.

Microaggressions hurt, and they can take their toll on a person. In a 2014 research study, it’s been found that those who en-countered more microaggressions reported “higher levels of depression and lower levels of positive emotions.”

Think about it — it’s part of the reason why people of color suffer from heart disease and

“Experiencing this kind of discrimina-tion prematurely ages the body. And that’s a pretty scary concept.”— Roberto Montenegro, Chief Fellow in adolescent psychiatry at Seattle Chil-dren’s Hospital

“A lot of people hear ‘microaggres-sions’ and they think, ‘Oh, it’s just the little things that hurt people’s feelings.’ It isn’t about having your feelings hurt. It’s about how being repeatedly dismissed and alienated and insulted and invalidated rein-forces the differences in power and privilege, and how this perpetuates racism and discrimination.”

— Roberto Montenegro, Chief Fellow in adolescent psychiatry at Seattle Chil-dren’s Hospital

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

#BLACKLIVESMATTER#BLACKLIVESMATTER

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

04 Perspectives

BLACK LIVES MATTERr e s o u r c e s

it’s important to be aware of what you say. If you did say something offensive, take re-sponsibility! Apologize and learn from your mistake.

And if you witness a microaggression taking place, be sure to check in with the victim and make sure they’re alright. Ask them if they need anything or offer to do something fun together.

We can’t change everyone’s minds. But what we can do is support each other, educate others, and work to stop the wave of subtle racism.

Key Takeaways

• Microaggressions are the everyday slights, indignities, put-downs, and in-sults that marginalized communities face every day. They’re often unintentional, and perpetrators don’t understand how their words were offensive.

• Decide how to respond based on the situation and your values. Will you be placed in danger? Will you regret not saying anything? How will your relation-ship with this person change?

• Regardless of how you responded, seek self care and support afterward. Your mental and physical health comes first!

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

#BLACKLIVESMATTER#BLACKLIVESMATTER

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

1. Black Lives Matter - Global Net-work building power to bring justice, healing, and freedom to Black people across the globe. (blacklivesmatter.com)

2. ACER - A nonprofit organization that engages African immigrants living in the North and North-west suburbs of Minneapolis. (acerinc.org)

3. NAACP - The NAACP works to ensure a society in which all indi-viduals have equal rights without discrimination based on race. NAACP’s Legal Defense and Ed-ucational Fund seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice. (naacp.org)

4. National Police Accountability Project - NPAP’s mission is to promote the law enforcement officers and their employers’ accountability for law viola-tions, and to protect the human and civil rights of individuals. (nlg-npap.org)

HOW COVID-19 IS CHANGINGCOLLEGE ADMISSIONSVI

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Through difficult times and many Zoom lessons, high school students must adapt to their new, unfamiliar landscape. For us, COVID-19 has a greater impact than health; the old system of college admissions is gone, and its replacement is coming fast.

First off, let’s talk about the challenges mil-lions of students will face. As schools move to online learning, the new learning structure will disproportionately affect low-income families. For middle and upper-class families, they have access to a computer and the inter-net. However, not all families have this luxury, and this new system leaves millions in a diffi-cult situation with their education.

As grades continue to remain an important part of the application process, COVID has changed the grading scale for many schools. This past spring semester, thousands of schools chose to adopt a pass-fail system. Though there was definitely solid reasoning behind this plan because schools wanted to create a fair environment where low-income families wouldn’t be disadvantaged. How-ever, many students felt that their hard work was going to waste. With a pass-fail system, your 99 is the same as a 72. Grades that once would have boosted your GPA,are now meaningless.

Despite all of this, you may be thinking, “So What?” Maybe your grades are still good. Maybe you’re not concerned about your GPA. So what should you be concerned about?

The changing college admissions system may impact you more than you think. Below, I’ve listed 4 major changes to college admissions.

• No more required standardized testing

• Long-lasting impacts on future genera-tions

• A new emphasis on volunteer work in-stead of extracurriculars

• No college visits

How could these 4 things impact you?

Let’s begin with no standardized testing. For 2021, almost every college will be test-op-tional. This doesn’t mean if you have a good score you shouldn’t send it in. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. A good SAT or ACT score could make you stand out more than you would think, and it could be the defining fac-tor of whether or not you get accpeted.

However, by 2025 standardized testing will become less and less important. Many schools are foregoing standardized testing, and relying on your essays, extracurriculars, and GPA. There are a couple of reasons for this. One of the reasons is that many people believe that standardized testing is unfair and biased. Upper-class families have the ability to send their children to extra prep classes allowing them to receive a higher score than their lower-class peers. In addition, some schools are looking to install their own test-ing system. Take a look at the UC’s (University of California), they are planning to eliminate ACT/SAT requirements for California students by 2025. Consequently, they are planning to implement a new test that aligns with the content UC expects students to have mas-tered to demonstrate college readiness for California freshmen.

I urge you to take a look at UC’s plans at ti-nyurl.com/ybutbutk because many other schools could follow their lead.

06 Perspectives

As we look at all these changes, much is still uncertain. The future is constantly changing, and until schools release their full plans, we are still left in the dark.

Despite the uncertain future in college admis-sions, there are some things we are certain about. Students need to focus on community work; as many extracurriculars have been af-fected by COVID-19, colleges will be looking at what you did for your community during this difficult time. A student who demon-strates a passion for assisting their community during COVID-19 will stand out.

Check out a couple of the following organiza-tions for volunteer opportunities.

• Volunteer Match \\ Connects you with opportunities based on your abilities and location.

• Interns 4 Good \\ Sign up as a volunteer and create curriculums for students af-fected by COVID.

• Zooniverse \\ Offers quick and easy vol-unteer events that help further scientific projects and make an impact.

• Points of Life \\ They have a list of dif-ferent online volunteering organizations that need assistance.

The last impact of COVID-19 is no college vis-its. For years, high school seniors have been going across the country to find the college that fits them. With the effects of COVID-19, campuses closed, and we are left with virtual tours.

Even though we cannot visit campuses in person, it is important to do virtual tours and look for opportunities to discover more about colleges.

In the end, even though the future is con-stantly changing, we must not let ourselves fall under. Stay focused on your work and nothing can stop you from attending your dream college.

Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is a very significant factor in making better de-cisions and learning more about how to ap-proach success and self-improvement. Look-ing at your strengths and weaknesses should be approached in different ways.

When looking at your strengths, you should focus on using them as a resource or tool to help you achieve your goals. This should help raise your confidence and help you be able to contribute what you know to others. You could see what you are more inclined to do as a career as you can see your natural talents. You should take advantage of your personal strengths.

When looking at your weaknesses, you should focus on using other resources and as-sistance to help transform those weaknesses into strengths. Instead of backing away from those weaknesses, grasp them tightly and work on them passionately. You can also find out how you work as a team with others that have different strengths than you. You could complement others by sharing your strengths and receiving other’s strengths that are your weaknesses.

How to Identify Your Strengths

First, look at yourself. How would you de-scribe yourself? How would others describe

IDENTIFYINGY O U R

S TRENGTHS

WEAKNESSESA N D

Melissa Soto

Perspectives 07

you? Strengths can be found in your person-ality, behavior, and relationships with others. Strengths are areas that come easy to you and are shown naturally.

Now, think about interests you have pursued for a long time. This might be a sport, music, or art. Would you consider yourself an expert or well trained and disciplined in this inter-est? If your answer is yes, this might be your strength!

Also, look at what you always include in your big projects or jobs that always helps you. This could range from being able to pres-ent in front of big audiences to being funny. These strengths will be key to the analysis of what will best help you succeed with the use of your strengths. When assessing your strengths think about the following questions:

• What is something I do that I love?• What comes easy to me?• What do I do well and can teach others

about?• What activities am I very interested in?• What qualities do I have that I could con-

sider my strengths?

Once you have found your strengths, you want to apply them to making the best de-cisions in your life, career, and goals. Think about the following questions:

• What is the strength that will help me the most in the career I want to do?

• What is the strength I use the most?• How can I apply this strength to improve

my projects or goals?

In the end, you want to use your strengths to benefit yourself. You will know how to make more effective decisions, perform the best, and create your foundations for success.

How to Identify Your Weaknesses

Your weaknesses can be seen in the things that are difficult to do or are hard to learn.

These activities or actions do not come nat-urally. You may have never given attention to these skills and have a lack of experience in these skills. People normally let these weak-nesses limit them, but you should put effort into making them into strengths.

Contrary to thinking about your strengths, you want to think about things you avoid. Think about your work or school. Are there things that you avoid in projects? This could be qualities, behaviors, or skills that you are not very confident in. These are things that you hide and are not what you “specialize” in.

Weaknesses can also be bad habits. Ask peo-ple around you about things that you do that they would consider bad habits. Reflect on those answers as well as your own answers.

Identifying your weaknesses should push you to try new things, get creative, and look for ways to improve. When assessing your weak-nesses think about the following questions:

• What are things I need assistance for?• What is difficult for me to learn?• What qualities do I hide or not use?• What activities do I shy away from?

Once you have found your weaknesses, you want to learn from them and set goals to further develop those skills. When making decisions, you should use assistance and re-sources to incorporate these new skills into projects with help. Think about the following questions:

• How can I further develop these skills?• Do I know any resources or other people

who have these skills as a strength?• How can I incorporate other people’s

strengths in my own projects or goals?

Overall, you want to use your weaknesses to assess what you can incorporate into your de-cision-making. You will know how to look for assistance, what your goals should include, and how to work around them.

08 Perspectives

The period in high school can be enigmatic and trivial, which is quite contradictory. The four years in high school (or its equivalent, three years in senior secondary school) are often daunting, from bulk of school work to efforts to achieve good grades. It can ei-ther be full of memorable failure or success, sometimes both. Depends on how you have chosen your years to be. High school could also be a start for promising moments ahead. That is why it is important for high schoolers, girls to be exact, to make the right decision in this crucial time of their lives. Good number of girls ignore some things that are important; I too did neglect some. For that, I have come up with a few advice for girls in high school.

The people you hangout with say you should do what is not typical of you, just for the sake of being popular. They believe truancy or sneaking out at night is normal. Those are toxic friends, and of course should be gotten rid of. There is no other time to develop your ability of understanding relationships that are burdens from those that are valuable, but now. Toxicity is not all about hitting someone. Any person that takes your time, money or something else, but never willing to give you in return is toxic. Pretty much, anyone that uses you to their advantage is toxic. As a girl that knows what you want you shouldn’t be encircled by people that are destructive, in-stead, beneficial.

No. Grades aren’t everything, but they aren’t nothing. It becomes wrong when you value your grade more than learning. It could be leading you to a wrong path. Placing your grades above learning weakens your learning interest. You start to think only about achiev-ing “good grades” with any possible means.

If you are a straight A student, it might not always be that. It will be disappointing when you have a B or worse C, but you can still work harder by increasing your enthusiasm for learning. Don’t be harsh on yourself as well when you don’t get your “perfect grade”. It is no good! Being an average student is ok. Always work on improving, but do not pres-sure yourself.

That is why it is worthwhile to pay close at-tention to things you are good at. It is not all about your school work. High school, and school in general is also about friends (not toxic ones), sports – tennis, football, basket-ball . . . and not forgetting exploring your talent(s). Many activities in high school are eventful, nevertheless, don’t get carried away with the fun. You should be able to think of your times in school with a smile rather than haplessness. Do not wreck it!

Your teachers are there, not only to teach, but to advise and support you; although some ar-en’t. Sometimes you develop good relation-ships with them, and other times they seem like opponents. Build a strong relationship with the ones you like. You can get reference letters with their help or even guidance on what to do academically or socially. It may be hard to ask for help from them or the counsel-ors, but don’t be afraid to ask them. Exploit what you do during high school.

Always remember that you are a girl (of course you know that) and you lead. You need to make weighty decisions that will shape you into a better you. That way you’re prepared to be sent off into the world.

A D V I C E F O R

GIRLS IN HIGH SCHOOLBLESSING STEPHEN

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Self-improvement is a key skill to making your life a happier life. The most successful self-im-provements are made when they are planned, purposeful, and well thought out. This comes through goal setting. Goal setting is very im-portant and can leave a significant impact on our lives.

Goals can be big or small, but all of them matter. Goal setting gives us purpose to strive for. Living a happy life is living a life with meaning. Goals can make something that seems hard easier as we are focused and motivated. Goal setting is not easy, but we can guide ourselves through the following steps:

1. Deciding What Needs Improvement

Nobody is perfect! There is always something you could improve. This does not have to be something that could be considered “import-ant” either. Ideally, you want to choose some-thing that you are passionate about and could use some work in. Thiscould include learning something new, work-ing on your relationship with others, or eating healthier. Whatever it is, know that it matters!

2. Writing Your Goal

Once you have chosen what you want to make your goal, the next step is to make the goal! You may have heard of this in your health class or even online, but it is important: You want to make a SMART goal. What does this mean? SMART represents specific, measurable, achiev-able, realistic, and time-limited.

First, you want your goal to be specific. Choosing a part of your life that you want to improve must be broken down into small parts to achieve. For example, if you want to improve your relation-ship with others, you may make your goal about

improving your relationship with your mother. Making a goal specific will allow for a deeper focused and a more motivated path to achieving that goal.

Next, you want to your goal to be measurable. Think about what exactly you could measure your progress with. You want to be able to show yourself that you are making improve-ment through the process and be able to realize when you reached your goal by coming to an outcome.

You also want to make your goal achievable. You want to stay motivated and passionate about your self-improvement. You want to reach for something that you can do so you do not get discouraged. By taking small steps in goal set-ting, you may reach a place where you once thought was unachievable, but you must be pa-tient with yourself and plan things through.

In addition, your goal should be realistic. Al-though we would love to meet an alien or fly to Jupiter, we want our goals to be purposeful for our lives. We should think: How does this ben-efit my life? How does this make me a better person?

Lastly, your goal should be time-limited. Goals can be short-term goals or long-term goals. You want to plan your goal with a schedule to make sure you are taking the right steps in your life to achieve this goal. You want to achieve this goal to achieve your next goal! The highest self-im-provement can only come with many achieved goals, not just one! Make sure you have time for other goals.

3. Remind Yourself About Your Goals

Goals can always be set, but goals take commit-ment, especially long-term goals. So, how can

SET GOALSHOWTO

MELISSA SOTOMELISSA SOTO

10 Perspectives

you stay committed?

Always remind yourself of your goals. This can be done in a variety of ways.

One way is to write it down. Writing things down has been proven to help you memorize some-thing. This is normally applied to studying for a test but studying your goals will help you get the most out of your goals. Also, do not just write your goal in one place. Write it everywhere! If you keep a journal, write it there. If you have a planner, write it there. Write it on a post-it and keep in hung up in your room or the fridge. The more you see your goal, the more likely you will remind yourself to work towards that goal.

Another way is to place a time during the day or week, depending on your goal, where you will think or do something surrounding your goal. Keeping a schedule to placing time away from your daily activities will give priority to your goals. This will show how important your goals are to yourself and keep you committed to achieving your best self-improvement. This will also allow you to make progress towards your goals as you will be putting effort with daily or weekly work. You do not need to do anything towards the goal when you do this. You can sim-ply think and process your goal! This is just as significant as putting effort towards it. Visualize yourself completing the goal to keep yourself passionate about what you’re striving for. Con-stantly reminding yourself of the goal will give you a sense of the satisfaction you will feel.

4. Stay Working

Achieving your goals may not be easy. It takes hard work and constant reminders to keep prog-ress going towards self-improvement. Remem-ber that achieving your goals is worth it! It is rewarding! It is something you are passionate about and really want to do! Keep your motiva-tion as you may have a rocky path.

Do not worry as you are not the only one going through a hard time. If you are looking for moti-vation, look at others! Reach out to others who you could relate to. There are millions of videos, posts, and blogs on various platforms solely focused in sharing their journey to reach their

goals. Look at them and get inspiration!

5. Celebrate

At this point, you achieved your goal! You are ready to celebrate. You get to experience the great feeling of satisfaction as all your hard work has paid off. Feel proud of yourself. Do not make any goal, not matter how small, less than any other goal. Each goal is special to your self-im-provement in its own way. You have made it!

Next step is to repeat the process with a new goal! This goal could be related to this one or completely different. It is all about what you are passionate about. Do not feel rushed as you need to be patient with yourself. Goal setting is all about improving yourself!

Self-improvement is a key skill to making your life a happier life. The most successful self-improvements are made when they are planned, purposeful, and well thought out.

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Official Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Marisol has always dreamed of being American, learning what Americans and the US are like from television and Mrs. Rosen, an elderly expat who had employed Marisol’s mother as a maid. When she pictured an American life for herself, she dreamed of a life like Aimee and Amber’s, the title characters of her favorite American TV show. She never pictured fleeing her home in El Salvador under threat of death and stealing across the US border as “an illegal”, but af-ter her brother is murdered and her younger sister, Gabi’s, life is also placed in equal jeop-ardy, she has no choice, especially because she knows everything is her fault. If she had never fallen for the charms of a beautiful girl named Liliana, Pablo might still be alive, her mother wouldn’t be in hiding and she and Gabi wouldn’t have been caught crossing the border.

But they have been caught and their asylum request will most certainly be denied. With truly no options remaining, Marisol jumps at an unusual opportunity to stay in the United States. She’s asked to become a grief keeper, taking the grief of another into her own body to save a life. It’s a risky, experimental study, but if it means Marisol can keep her sister safe, she will risk anything. She just never imagined one of the risks would be falling in love, a love that may even be powerful enough to finally help her face her own crushing grief.

In honor of Pride Month and the Supreme Court’s ruling on preserving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, I’ll be reviewing The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villansante. It centers around a girl—Marisol—who had to take on the grief of others in order for herself and her younger sister to stay in the United States, reflecting how we often dehumanize illegal immigrants.

THE GRIE F KEEPERB O O K R E V I E W

AUDREY PAN

PRAISE:

“Hauntingly beautiful.” —School Library Journal

“Villasante writes of first love with an authen-tic voice, beautifully capturing its nervous-ness, excitement, and awe.” —Booklist

“In her debut, Villasante captures the pres-sures of internalized racism in immigrants.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Villasante’s novel is for the reader who wants to get down and dirty with the emotional landscape, who wants a romance that is hard-earned and sweetly won. The Grief Keeper...[creates] a realistic yet still hopeful world seen through the gaze of an intelligent, curi-ous protagonist.” —Shelf Awareness

“[An] engrossing debut. Villasante builds her novel about undocumented immigrants into a suspenseful story with credible relationships, satisfying character development, and ele-ments of science fiction.” —Publisher’s Weekly “With both timeless poignancy and heart-breaking relevance, The Grief Keeper is a stunning exploration of how we love, how pain lives in us, and how we survive. Alexandra Vil-lasante’s gift for writing the deepest emotional truths resonates through every page.” —An-na-Marie McLemore, author of Wild Beauty and Blanca & Roja

12 Perspectives

My Thoughts:

What first stood out to me about The Grief Keeper was how it interwove the plight of ille-gal immigrants, a topic often underrepresent-ed in YA literature, with LGBTQ+ issues and science fiction. Further, Villasante accurately depicts the discriminatory realities many still face today and included frank discussions of grief, depression, and suicide. Unpleasant truths are not glossed over and instead de-veloped in a meaningful, honest, way.

The story opens with Marisol’s interview re-garding her request for asylum status in the United States. It captured the impersonal nature immigration officials and the asylum system treat immigrants, especially children; immigrants’ turbulent pasts are trivialized into categorizable facts on a document to be ap-proved or denied.

Marisol escaped the detention center with her twelve-year-old sister Gabi after she believed that their asylum request would be denied and was taken in by Indranie Patel, who offers them asylum if Marisol agreed to take part in a clinical trial. The trial involved implanting a device allowing Marisol to alleviate another’s grief by taking it herself, eventually causing her debilitating depression. Her status as an undocumented immigrant was exploited as she agreed to become the sole test subject of an inhumane human trial.

Marisol later meets Rey, who’s grief she was taking away. They bonded over their shared love for a TV show and developed a romance, shedding light on the dangers Marisol faced in her past due to her queer identity in El Sal-vador.

To avoid further spoilers, I’ll end my review here. The Grief Keeper is a fascinating, un-varnished, and fast-paced story exposing the corruption and violence that festers on both sides of the border.

BOOKRECOMMENDATIONS

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

• Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka• The Last Trial by Scott Turow• Untamed by Glennon Doyle• Black on Both Sides: A Racial

History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton

• The Lehman Trilogy by Stefano Massini

• Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

• White Fragility by Robin DiAn-gelo

• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

• Stamped From the Beginning: the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

• How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

• The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epi-demic by Steven Johnson

• Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

• The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson• Between the World and Me by

Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Perspectives 13

Perspectives June 2020achieveclub.org

Designed by Audrey Pan with Adobe InDesign CC 2020 | Titles, headings, and content are in Avenir, Bebas Neue, Springfield, and Freshline fonts | Published July 4th, 2020