"We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am exp...
The unopened letter from Columbia University, kept taunting me. All the answers of my future relied on one sheet of paper. I always tried to anticipate the best because in the past that always worked out in my favor but when it came to this for some reason my brain freaks out and anticipated the very worse.
Reluctantly, I opened up the white envelope and unfolded the yellow colored letter that was delicately placed inside of the envelope. The letter read in bold black letters,
Dear Nomia Mariam Rodriguez,
We are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into Columbia University a private Ivy League University located in Upper Manhattan. We have been established since the mid 1700's and we are astonished by your stellar academic performance in high school.
I was so ecstatic I couldn't even finish reading the rest of the paper. They accepted me? Little old me? Their acceptance rate is at 7% and out of all of those other well accredited students, they accepted me. I started to feel those butterflies in my stomach something I haven't felt in years.
************* "Nomia, how the hell are we going to pay $53,000 in tuition with your mother and I both working minimum wage jobs?" My dad asked while slamming his hands onto our brand new apartments countertop.
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It was like in the exact moment all the butterflies in my stomach were slaughtered and died. All my hopes, dreams, were taken out of my brain and thrown into the trash. Totally obliterating any chance I had at having a joyful future.
"Dad, Columbia is a very great school it will set me up for good things! They only accept 7 percent of people who apply and somehow they accepted me because they believe in me and see my potential!" I exclaimed.
"Well that's good sweetie but money doesn't just grow on trees. The more feasible options are community college or trade school which even that can be expensive so we have to see," my dad said without even looking me in the eye.
He said it without emotion or without care. If I wanted to go to community college I would've applied.
"Dad, I can get a part time job to help pay"
Before I could even finish my sentence my father said, " Pshh, you think a minimum wage job is going to help you pay for a $50,000 tuition? You got another thing coming."
I hated his condescending tone he was always the pessimistic parent.
"Well student loans exist, so that could help us."
My dad rolled his eyes and then said , " keyword loans. Why do you think me and your mother are in this shit hole? We're still paying off our student loans from over a decade ago and price gets twice as big as you started with. Your mother and I both got our college degree and are still having trouble finding a decent job and we're in our late 40's. Getting a degree doesn't equate to getting paid all nice."
