“I grew up to taunts of my schoolmates, but paid them no heed. The victor was always me. Me licking the vanilla frosting off a strawberry cupcake. Me picking out dried apricots from my fruit bread. Me nibbling on the icing of a gingerbread cookie. My schoolmates would watch me rise from the ground and head over to my lunchbox, where I would find respite in my aunt’s baked goods. They would watch me take a bite out of each sweet but stood their ground. Pride kept them from wanting to ask if the raspberry filling of my pie tasted as good as it looked.” Read more…