Erin Rasmussen

"I started to understand that my last name is an essential part of who I am. It’s the story of how my grandfather moved from Denmark (where Rasmussen is an extremely popular name) to Australia, traveling on an old, beat up boat, across the ocean. In Australia, he learned English from nothing but a dictionary, and eventually made a life for himself.
Everyone’s name tells a unique and incredible story. Mispronouncing a name is not just misunderstanding some letters on a page, but disrespecting someone’s identity."

"I ran away from home at the age of fifteen. I got up one morning in my nice, comfortable queen mattress, hugging my favorite stuffed animal, surrounded by plush pillows, knowing that my parents were only a short walk away. The next morning, I was in a building crawling with strangers, lying on a mattress that was seemingly made out of rock."

"I ditched all of my friends in seventh grade. This was after they stopped inviting me to sleepovers, stopped waiting for me at my locker, and stopped saving my seat at the lunch table. Maybe the right way to put it is that in sixth grade, all of my friends ditched me. But that’s how middle school goes. That’s not what this story is about."