Why do borders exist?

I can’t travel.
Why can’t I travel?
My parents are undocumented.
Why are they undocumented?
They were born in Mexico.
Why does that stop them?
It stops them because we live in world where papers matter.
Why do papers matter?
I’m actually not sure why it matters.
I’m upset because if I want to go somewhere my parents can’t come.
It makes me mad.
It makes me sad.
It makes me wonder.
It makes me wonder why borders exist.

Touching the Clouds As I Go is a critical collection of reflections, poems, and stories from students in the Tuesday and Thursday Night Tutoring Program at 826LA in Echo Park. Throughout the fall, students incisively explored the question “What is Freedom?” Their responses strike both the mind and heart. In this book, you will find prose and poetry that is poignant, brave, and transformative. This collection also explores critical social justice issues and the challenges of unrestricted freedom. Finally, our students transport us into their personal lives and discuss how freedom–or it’s absence–conditions how they perceive, define, and navigate their worlds and dreams. We hope our young authors inspire, motivate, and fill you with hope.

Purchase the book here.

Interested in helping students write stories like these? Become a volunteer.