They were told they could be anything. That the world was theirs if they worked hard enough, stayed in school, smiled during interviews, and never stopped improving themselves. They were told they were the future. And yet now, these same young people lie awake at three in the morning, scrolling endlessly on phones they can’t… Continue reading
Chapter 3: The Unwanted Child
She was fifteen when she found out she was pregnant. The father was a boy from her school, a boy who vanished as soon as the rumors started. She carried the secret in her belly for months, tying her school uniform tighter, swallowing her fear every time her mother looked at her. At night she… Continue reading
Chapter 2: When Love is a Transaction
In many cultures, the idea of marriage is not a question—it is a destiny. In Vietnam, parents measure a daughter’s worth by how quickly she can secure a husband with a steady job and a house to his name. From the moment a girl hits puberty, the reminders start like a soft drumbeat: “When will… Continue reading
Chapter 1: The Silence Within Walls
In every corner of the world, the walls of a family home are more than just bricks and plaster. They are witnesses to a kind of violence that leaves no visible scars: the violence of silence. In the dim kitchen of a Vietnamese household, the mother stirs a pot of soup without speaking. The clinking… Continue reading
Roblox Didn’t Just Waste Time — It Rewired My Child’s Brain.
I’ve come to a point where I can no longer stay silent about Roblox — or the entire ecosystem of so-called “child-friendly” games and video content wrapped in pastel colors and packaged as creativity. It’s not creativity. It’s exploitation, and it’s everywhere. Yes, Roblox has parental controls. On paper, it all looks good. But try… Continue reading
Final XVIII – The Silence That Stayed
This was the final stop. I was on my way home—whatever that means now. I had no souvenirs, no itinerary to show, only a bag that had grown heavier with each border crossed. Not with objects, but with emotion. A slow accumulation of memory, bitterness, small mercies, and silence. The sun was shining. Summer had… Continue reading
XVII – A City of Contrast, and One Bitter Glass
I left Turku the next morning. The train hummed quietly toward Tampere, Finland’s second largest city. There was something soothing about the motion, the passing forests and lakes sliding by like breath. I felt calm, distant, anonymous. Just another traveler among many. No one knew me. No one asked. And that was a kind of… Continue reading
XVI – The Kind of Pain That Teaches
I didn’t book anything in advance, as usual. That’s never been my way. I prefer to walk until my legs begin to ache, then step into the nearest hostel and ask if there’s a bed available. This time, in Turku, I was lucky again. The receptionist—a quiet Finnish woman with glacier-blue eyes—told me that Room… Continue reading
XV – The Sound of Saxophones in Turku
I took a cruise back to Finland the next day, stepping off quietly at the harbor in Turku. The city met me like an old painting—odd, subdued, full of antique angles and forgotten stones. It felt more like a village than a capital. And yet, this was once the heart of the country, Finland’s very… Continue reading
XIV – Among Kings and Dust
The Royal Palace of Sweden doesn’t look like the kind of palace you’d expect. It’s not gold-drenched or gaudy. It doesn’t shout. It simply exists—dignified, symmetrical, stone-built, sitting atop Stockholm’s Old Town like it has nothing to prove. I stepped inside as just another visitor in a line of many, but with a mind full… Continue reading