In a dream the other night, I was back in freshman year, sitting in the hall leading to the courtyard, where my friends and I sat for lunch. This hall was often occupied by tens of students, yelling, running, throwing things, and bonding over common interests and experiences. Our interests really helped us bond, we became like a family. The memory of our early friendships, and the progression of our community’s growth can be brought back by a few objects from that time. One of these objects is a ring I got for starting high school, and wore through the entirety of freshman year. This silver, leaf shaped ring, designed by Marzia Kjellberg, was gifted to me by my mom. My love for Marzia, and the community on the internet from where she became popular, was never shared by anyone I went to school with, so I didn’t have much hope in finding a community in high school who shared my interests. It wasn’t until August 19th, 2019, when my class and I went on an overnight field trip in the redwoods, that I started to find my people. My cabin mates that night are some of my closest friends today. In the cabin, I heard a girl named Leslie start to quote an ad from that side of the internet, so I started saying it with her. By the time we got to the end of the ad, the whole cabin was silent, and eventually burst into laughter. We talked and laughed for hours that night until we were forced to go to sleep. It was a huge turning point in my life, I finally felt like I belonged. To me, the ring symbolizes finding myself and my community, which is why it holds so much sentiment. 

– Jayden Hall

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant