"What would you want people to know about you?"
"I'm a fair person. I try to live life fair."
Michelle smiled. We met her after wrapping our conversation with Dennis - her red coat and suitcase stood out on a day of concrete skies. She told us that she'd had four sets of twins, but that she hadn't talked to them in a while.
"You do your best, you know - as a parent, you know you're not perfect. Just be yourself."
"What else would you want to tell people?"
She unwrapped a small danish covered in plastic. "Sugar won't kill you." She flashed another smile and took a bite.
"Just as long as you not smoking."
Guest Writer: Charmaine Runes
Charmaine Runes has a fluid definition of "home"; her heart stretches and surrounds Dubai, Minnesota, and the Philippines. Charmaine graduated from Macalester College in Saint Paul with a degree in economics and moved to D.C. in 2015. She currently works as a research assistant at the Urban Institute's Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population. Her projects relate to immigration and income inequality; racial and ethnic disparities; risk factors for homelessness and family interventions; and disconnected youth.