I chose the story “Safety” by Nour Bouhassoun from the Storycenter.
My first gut reaction at the story is initially curiousity  about how the narrator is making a culture shift into the United States. I am both excited, nervous and anxious for this person because it relates to my own country. I have also traveled and I know the experience of entering a new country with a different culture.
I chose this one because Safety is an emotion felt by everyone, sought after in their most vulnerable states. I relate to this in a lot of ways, but mostly because I like to move outside of my comfort zone quite often.
The narrator says “her mother language makes her feel at peace”, I feel as if this is her safe zone where she can feel her most whole and comfortable self. I am intrigued particularly with this story because I have never experienced that. I have no idea what it’s like to feel disconnected overtime from my own culture and mesh into a new one, so I was interested as to how that would be as an experience. As she explains her emotions toward this shift, you can almost feel a sense of relief for her when she discusses her own culture and talks about home.
I think I could use many parts of this story for inspiration in my own story. It would be interesting to write about an experience that I can’t necessarily relate to or a story on a topic that scares me, with the goal of stepping out of my comfort zone and trying to put myself into someone else’s shoes. A topic or subject that I may not necessarily already be familiar with but can take the opportunity to learn about.