Check out students of Community Social Psychology’s poems about their own communities.

By Anastasiya Tsoi

I am from a place smaller than a state of Texas… where snowy mountains and hot deserts exist, where hospitality means respect, where guest are always welcomed.

But I am also from a place where sustainability exists on the paper, where exit visa still remains (meaning you cannot leave a country without government permission), and where hosts may be punished by showing hospitality.

I am from a place where the literacy rate is 99%, where girls can study and go to universities, where women can have legal abortions.

But I am also from a place where tolerance for LGBTQ community does not exist, where yes, girls can study and go to universities but after marriage are not allowed to work and pursue their professional goals, where abortions are legal but sex is not.

I am from a place where culture, education, religion integrates but at the same time contradicts one another.

I did my first step to do a research, and be vocal about this place not because it needed it but because I love this place from the bottom of my heart.

By Nicole Cruz-Merced

I’m from Puerto Rico

I’m from Taíno and African culture,

I’m from warm weather and historic cities,

I’m from poverty and where people starve to death,

I’m from government corruption and no media attention.

I’m from an island I’m so proud to be from,

But I don’t understand why it can’t be the place I succeed.

Because of that reality,

I strive every day to save my home.

By Perla Ramirez

I’m from a small island where family is important and every Sunday we cook while making fun of each other

I’m from a community that loves to dance even when there a no lights to light up the dance floor

I’m from a country where sadly being depressed is still considered a choice

I’m from place that is afraid of the unknown so they paraphrase the bible to win their arguments even when they know is wrong

I’m also from a nation that swears that racism in has been long gone, yet they elect a president that instead of condemning neo-Nazis says there were “fine people on both sides”

Nonetheless we have a choice to change injustices and keep the love; by first changing ourselves and teaching the new generation how to be better than us.

By Raphael Marinho

I’m from the land where the sky is blue, the sea is green, and all the saints rest by the bay

I’m from the place where suffering screams, despite the samba and waves

I’m from Bahia, birth place of Brazil, where Africa still remains

I’m from the beautiful mess where we laugh, and we sing despite the sad state

I’m from promised new world that still reflects the horrors of yesterday.

I just don’t get why it turned out this way

I hope to be another one who carries the light of a possible new day

Like Prometheus, who took the risk for a brighter new way