Peaceful, The World Lets Me Down
by Eva Dunsky

The constant sunshine in my hometown of Los Angeles is where I’ll start.  The further you get from the beach, the higher the temperature climbs, and when I was thirteen, spring called for shorts, t-shirts, and keds, the year being 2009 and the style icon being Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong.  Your clothes were important — either you were cool and you subscribed to the trends, or you were uncool and dragged your backpack around on wheels.  Or maybe, if you were like me, you forged an alternative look and hoped for the best. I remember wearing the shorts and tanks I wore every year, the ones I had inherited from older cousins or purchased at the thrift store near my house.