First-year writing student India Garcia has an amazing essay in Teen Vogue, “What I Learned from Having Vitiligo.” Here’s one gorgeous moment:

As the blemishes grew more noticeable, I was more susceptible to telling white lies. People would ask constantly, “What is that on your elbow?” “You have something on your arm.” I would reply with “birthmark,” which made much more sense to me then than it does now. With every new confrontation, I crawled sheepishly back inside myself, losing a bit of my identity each time.