An Unsent Personal Statement for PhD Applications

<p>At seven, I was bullied for being effeminate and gay. A cacophony; every word, whisper, and weakening knock on the closet door would sound like three.&nbsp;<em>Every word, whisper and weakening knock would sound like three. Word, whisper, knock, sound like three.</em></p> <p>Two years later, I attempted to absolve myself from reality by diving into literature, devouring nearly every book in my classroom. At home, my father read me Plato&rsquo;s Allegory of the Cave&nbsp;<em>he calls other people faggots when he&rsquo;s angry, does he think I&rsquo;m a faggot&nbsp;</em>and explained it.<em>&nbsp;</em>The reading helped me see the homophobia in my fourth-grade classroom, the same homophobia that conditioned my classmates to hate me and that conditioned me to hate myself, dance in front of me like shadows on the cave walls. [DR1]</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@dante_ramos/an-unsent-personal-statement-for-phd-applications-e6b184bac0f1"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>