Fresh Ink: An Anthology

The protagonist of “Be Cool for Once,” Shirin, is a Muslim high school student who fought for her parents’ permission to go out on her own to see the band Thousand Day Queens. Introverted and intelligent, she considers many situations she’s in through a scientific lens, scolding herself for “violat[ing] the one sacred aspect of scientific observation” by taking actions that change her environment (62), such as telling her crush, Jeffrey, how she feels.

Shirin is a dynamic character who changes throughout the story. While at a concert with her friend, she sees Jeffrey, who repeatedly approaches her to start conversations. Although she came up with excuses to speak to him in homeroom throughout the year, asking him for various tools and utensils, she always avoided talking to him more directly or telling him how she felt. Her reasoning behind this is that she doesn’t feel that she’s good enough for Jeffrey, who is popular and a baseball star. She feels that he deserves someone more outgoing and personable, telling Jeffrey, “You’re not for me. You’re not for girls like me. I’d rather see than be seen” (65). Throughout most of the story, Shirin holds this view of herself. She feels that she’s introverted, doesn’t go on adventures, and could never truly tell Jeffrey how she feels because it would cause too much change in her life. However, in the story’s climax, she works up the courage to tell him how she feels. She “for once d[oes]n’t think about the consequences” and instead acts, kissing him (70). Although this moment may not bring Shirin completely out of her shell, it marks a major change for her as a character. She overcomes her self-doubt and feelings of insecurity, not only telling Jeffrey how she feels but also acting on her feelings.

The protagonist of “Why I Learned to Cook,” Yasi, is Iranian American; her father emigrated to the US before she was born. She sees the importance in her heritage, learning Farsi and going to her grandmother’s house every Friday for dinner. A teen who is bisexual, she’s currently with a girlfriend named Hannah. She describes herself as liking structure and always wanting to have a plan, noting that she’s “worried about everything all the time” (87).

Throughout the story, Yasi struggles with how to reveal to her grandmother that she’s dating Hannah. Hannah asks why she’s not invited over to Yasi’s grandmother’s, but Yasi deflects, saying that she isn’t sure how to tell her grandmother. As the story progresses, Yasi decides that she can no longer keep the two parts of her life separate: She wants to share her grandmother with Hannah and stop keeping secrets from her grandmother. Through learning to cook with her grandmother, Yasi learns not only about her grandmother’s heritage and how important it is to her but also how to express her feelings to Hannah by cooking for her. In the story’s conclusion, she sheds tears of relief over having finally told her grandmother that she’s dating Hannah and her grandmother’s acceptance.

The protagonist of “A Boy’s Duty,” Zakary, is a 16-year-old boy of color living in the 1940s during World War II. His passions are astronomy and mapmaking, and he aspires to serve as a quartermaster in the Navy, attend college, teach astronomy, and eventually help astronauts reach the moon. However, at age 12, he left home, no longer wanting to work on his father’s farm. He spent several years moving and finding places to live, work, and eat. In addition, he worked as a thief with Ezekiel and other boys his age, until one day when they robbed Mr. and Mrs. Jackson’s café. Out of guilt, and with nowhere else to go, Zakary stays with the Jacksons and helps them in the café.

Zakary struggles with where he belongs and what his duty is. Because of his unhoused status, his skin color, and his father, he felt that he needed to leave home in pursuit of his dreams. In the climax of the story, he decides to rejoin Ezekiel as they rob the patrons of the café. However, after contemplating the life Ezekiel leads and where it will take him, he instead returns to the café, seeing it as his best opportunity to fulfill his ultimate duty: to himself and his dreams. As the story ends, it’s unclear whether Zakary will continue at the café or join the Navy, but what is important is that he has separated himself from a life of crime and decided that “a boy’s got a duty to hold onto his dreams” (132).

The protagonist of “One Voice,” Jasmine, is a first-generation Filipino American who emigrated to the US with her parents. She now attends Stanford University. When she received a scholarship, it came to light that her family are undocumented immigrants, and she was unable to accept it; instead, she was forced to gain documented status in order to attend college. Now that she’s in college, achieving something that her parents didn’t, she begins to feel the growing differences between her new life and her parents’ life back home, creating a sense of unbelonging. Adding to those feelings, several racist incidents on Stanford’s campus make her feel unsafe at school: “It reminded [her that she’s] only living in the United States legally for now. It could quickly change” (137).

The story explores Jasmine’s journey of finding her “voice” and her place to belong. Because the instances of racism all occur on campus, Jasmine struggles increasingly with the responses around her. Her boyfriend, Royce, dismisses the incidents, telling Jasmine that she doesn’t need to worry about them because it’s Stanford, and the school simply erases the graffiti and writes an email. As these inadequate responses to the events weigh on Jasmine, she realizes that she won’t receive the support she needs from her boyfriend or from the campus officials. Instead, she turns to other people like her, who feel as though they don’t belong on campus or even in the country. At a rally and protest, she and other students come together “through signs of solidarity, songs, chants, poems, food, love, and [their] mutual strength” (144). Ultimately, this group gives her a place to belong: Jasmine discovers her own voice “among the voices of others” (145).

The transgender narrator of “Catch, Pull, Drive,” Tommy, is a high school student who decides to transition from female to male and, especially after coming out via social media, battles a lack of understanding from his swimming coach and peers as well as outright gender bias and persistent bullying from one teammate, Roman. Nevertheless, he’s courageous, going to practice, using the men’s restroom, and continuing to swim. Swimming is the one aspect of his life where he feels relief, able to think only of the act of swimming and push all other thoughts from his mind.

His journey throughout the story depicts the struggles that many people experience during gender transition. While his coach responds with annoyance and disinterest, and one teammate openly calls him by his former name and refers to him as a “fag,” Tommy perseveres to take the first steps to finally asserting himself; he refuses to let other people define who he is or impact his life. Ultimately, Tommy finds support from his mother, who reassures him that “normal” is a construct and he’s perfectly okay being who he wants, and his teammate Parker, who stands up for himself and for Tommy in the face of Roman’s bullying.