Whenever I have writer's block and cannot think of what to write my articles about, I ask my friends what they would be interested to read about. Every time, they all jokingly respond saying they would be interested in reading an article about themselves. That got me thinking, and inspired me to write this, my own rendition of Humans of New York. For those of you who do not know what it is, Humans of New York, according to its Wikipedia page, "is a blog and book featuring street portraits and interviews collected on the streets of New York City." Throughout the blog, creator Brandon Stanton is able to tell the stories of people all over the city. So that is what I am intended to do, tell the stories of the people who help make up my life.

I spent a long time trying to figure out how I wanted to tell these stories. Did I want to interview all of my friends and family and pick quotes to use from there? Or did I want to write about funny memories we all shared together? Or maybe I could just write fun facts about each person. After thinking long and hard, I settled on this, a combination of all 3. So, without further ado, here are the humans of my life:

Everyone I have come across with throughout my life falls into different categories. You have your two main categories: Friends and Family. But that then breaks off into my detailed categories: Immediate Family, Extended Family, Home Friends, School Friends, Camp Friends... the list goes on and on. All of these people that make up these different categories all come together to make of the Humans of my Life.

Family

Dad (Ira): At any given time, you can find my dad at work, listening to the Grateful Dead, or at home playing with his cool gadgets (specifically his Google Cardboard Virtual Reality Headset or his brand new Alexa from Amazon).

Mom (Debbie): Similarly, my mom can be found shopping, making collages to post on social media, or at SoulCycle. And speaking of my Mom's social media accounts, any and everything will be #hashtagged in her posts.

Sister (Melissa): "The best part about being a twin is that I always have someone there for me, no matter what."

Grandma (Diane): Grammy is not only loving, hard working, and strong, but she is also fabulous.

Grandpa (Marshall): Meet Grampy, or otherwise known as Grumpy. Grumpy's hobbies include golf, working, sleeping, and melting American cheese on apple pie.

Grandma (Dee): Grandma is amazing, kind, caring, and crafty! Some of my earliest memories with my grandma were making bracelets or learning how to knit with her.

Grandpa (Richard): My grandpa is a genius- he is one of the smartest people I know, and can out lawyer anyone and anything.

Friends

To start this next section, all of my friends told me to write that they are, and I quote, "the best person on the planet and my best friend." So, there you have it guys. With that being said, here are my friends:

Brooke A: You may recognize Brooke from her two page modeling spread in Seventeen magazine a few years ago, where she showed off some exercise work outs. Besides being a model, Brooke is also very prone to injuries, a quality that we both have in common.

Alli A: We originally bonded in 8th grade over our height, and then again in 9th grade over our love for Justin Bieber. Fast forward to 11th grade where we became friends again through SoulCycle.

Caroline B: Camp friends make the best school friends. Take it from Caroline herself, who says “It's not only great that I get to go to school with one of my good friends, but it has also made being away from home so much easier knowing that there is someone that will unconditionally be there for me, like I'd be there for them. The friendships we've made at camp truly stick with us throughout our lives.” AWW Peakers Forever!

Rachel B: Our friendship began 13 years ago when Rachel was too short to reach one of the things on a jungle gym on our kindergarten playground. I, being the slightly taller (but still very short) five year old that I was, helped to lift her up so she was able to play during recess.

Talia B: "Sometimes I will go into a spin of so many thoughts and I can't control myself and I feel so overwhelmed but then I just think that I am entitled to think these things. Sometimes I am so hard on myself for feeling so down but you are allowed to feel that way sometimes and you are allowed to be upset, angry, and jealous. Those are normal feelings and sometimes i have to think of it as you are grateful to actually be attentive to your feelings and know yourself. I don't need to be hard on myself."

Hannah F: According to Hannah, she has a "wild personality." Though she lives in Guam (well actually Anne Arundel Hall, but they are basically the same thing), she survives by spending most of her time in Elkton (especially on floor 7).

Jackie H:"Carpe diem, translates to seize the day. I think it is important to remember that no matter how bad your day is, it is so important to try to take something bad and make it good. Every day is a new chance for us to do something good and grow as a person or help somebody else. I try to live by this quote and remember that as humans, we all make mistakes, but it is those mistakes that can teach us and help us learn new things."

Kendall H: Never forget the time we met in a taxi at the first (and failed) Maryland meet up. Shoutout to the random guys that paid for the cab ride and allowing us to meet and later become best friends!

Courtney K: “Living in the smallest dorm room at UMD is annoying and everything feels so cramped. Jamie and I always have to squeeze by each other and we can’t even sit at our desks at the same time. When my family came to visit they had to take turns looking inside my room because it wouldn't fit all of us. But I got to pay $900 less for the room and that's roughly 9 pairs of shoes, so I'd say it may be worth it.”

Hannah L: She may be two years younger than me, but we are practically the same person. We both are very weird (this is an understatement), love making trillers, love Hamilton, love Bambou, love the Bachelor, and hate math. Except she has a weird obsession with the multiplication technique "lattice" that I just don't understand.

Marissa L: Nothing describes our friendship more than the experiences we shared this summer at work. Marissa was fortunate enough to be the counselor to my favorite camper, as well as another camper who was convinced her hiccups were caused from swallowing a frog when she drank water.

Faythe M: "'Everything happens for a reason.' I have lived by this quote since I was little. I just don't take anything for granted and I believe that every single thing that happens has a purpose and meaning behind it, and helps create your future. Instead of being stuck in time, I believe if you live in the moment and certain things will fall into place if it’s meant to be."

Ilana M: Ilana is the most "hyped" person I know and has even created the most amazing "Hyped" Spotify playlist that is perfect for any party occasion. Besides this amazing quality of hers, Ilana is one of a kind and has an amazing sense of humor. Never change, Margi_Moos!

Sarah N: As fellow 7th floor residents, Sarah and I became fast friends. We share a mutual friend (Hannah) and mutual love for camp. No day is complete without a nightly visit to her room to say "hey."

Gabby R: Gabby is my trilingual friend. Every day you can find her speaking a new language. In honor of her french classes she is taking at school: Salut Gabby! Quoi de neuf?! Merci à Google Translate pour m'avoir fourni cette phrase en français.

Julie R: If being a professional "dabber" was a profession, I have no doubt in my mind that that is what Julie would be. Julie LOVES to dab, and if you did not know that, you clearly do not know her at all.

Paige R: All I can say about Paige is that she is obsessed with me (probably because I am so awesome and nice and funny 💁🏻). A trip to the 7th floor of Elkton Hall is not complete unless she stops by my room to say hi.

Amanda S: "It's crazy to think about how much these kids [at Sunrise Day Camp] have gone through at such a young age and it is life changing that I am able to help them. I love them and I love Sunrise."

Amanda S: "Being apart of the business fraternity allows me to be and feel apart of something that makes school more like home but also extends outside of school with the alumni network that allows me to create automatic connections and friends in and out side of school while also having in common the interest of business. The best part of it was being able to join something the first semester of school; even though it was extra I made 55+ instant friends that helped me feel more at home for my first semester, along with learning more about the field I want to go into while expanding my network."

Amanda S: "My favorite place I ever visited was Santorni, Greece. It felt like I was on the set of a movie. The scenery was almost too pretty to feel real. My family took a photography tour all over the island and we got to see sights that looked like they were taken right from Google. Also, we went to authentic greek restaurants where the owners cooked us greek cuisine such as baklava, spanakopita, and olive dip."

Chloe S: “The best part of my childhood was growing up in the city. Everything was so accessible, which allowed me to have a sense of freedom.”

Maddie S: You can find Maddie on the third floor of Elkton Hall. This floor is also full of in-staters who pretend that Maddie does not exist (she clearly is very popular among the Elkton Hall residents).

Maddie S: "In 10 years, I'll be 28 years old and will hopefully be running the social media for a big time magazine. I also hope to be enough of an adult to know how to cook my own pasta.”

Sophia S: Thank god that we both live on the same floor because I do not know how I would survive without her (special shoutout to Soph for allowing me to make her room my second room). I knew we were destined to be amazing friends since move in day, when Sophia showed up to our first floor meeting in SoulCycle pants.

Emily W: The most classic “Emily” moment that has ever happened was when Emily ripped her pants 20 minutes before our journalism final. We have a love-hate relationship, but thank god for Journalism 181 for bringing us together and making us bond about the stupidity of the class.

Melissa W: Melissa was born to be a terp, as she is continuing her family legacy at the University of Maryland.Give Melissa candy (specifically sour patch) and Diet Coke and she will be as happy as can be. Additionally, Melissa LOVES the song "No Hands" and the "Country Roads" remix and can often be seen at the frats dancing to both songs.