What happens when the place you call home is also the place where you feel you cannot truly be yourself?Hayat Elmitly is a young man searching for something that has always seemed just out of reach: the freedom to live honestly.In a conservative society where expectations can feel impossible to escape, he struggles with identity, loneliness, rejection, and the fear of being seen for who he truly is. As the distance between the life he is expected to live and the person he r...

In this deeply moving and honest narrative, the author recounts the painful journey of returning from a dream of escape and freedom to a homeland that feels like an invisible prison. Battling societal rejection, political oppression, and deep discrimination due to his sexual orientation and identity, he exposes how the doors to liberty were slammed shut not only by his own country but also by European borders that systematically exclude refugees and LGBTQ+ individuals under false pretenses...

As a young girl, born and raised in Pakistan, the matter of opportunity has always played a decisive role in key aspects of my life. The lack of upward mobility for the majority of citizens, compared with the privileged paths of the few- in developing countries is well documented. However, such headline journalism fails to capture the varying psychology and nuances that affect teenagers- especially females- in such countries. Over the past 17 years, countless conversations with friends and...