▲     PANUAL  

 

▲     TAKEN  

 

▼     IN LOVE  

 

▼      C R E D I T

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

teardrops

in the

RAIN

 Tia Jasmine Hwang Cuevas had always been active as a child. She started crawling early for her age and would scare her guardian half to death by crawling up the stairs and back down—all done with no injuries sustained. When she started

 

walking, again, early for her age, it was also a surprise. One moment she was happily crawling along and the next moment, she had grabbed the back of a chair and pulled herself up, eyes wide, taking in the new view. So it was no surprise when she started dancing taking dance lessons at the age of four. The problem was that the dance lessons were hip hop, and the class was full of guys. Tia loved the style, until after performing in public for the first time, when she overheard a mother whisper loudly to another, “That’s a girl. What’s a girl doing learning this type of dance?” Starting in junior high, she was unable to shrug off the comments in school alluding her uality and whispers that she might be lesbian or trans—whatever that was—and other various nasty rumors. So Tia made a decision. A painful one. She quite dance. In high school, she was going to make a new name for herself, she decided. Since the high school that she went to had no one she knew, she would create a new identity for herself, She would be someone new. Someone that no one dared make fun of or call names. She would be y. She would be popular. She would be unattainable .

 

 

 

 

                                                                            

  This y dork is mine. All mine.