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In freshman year of college,  somehow it was decided that we would do Friday night horror movies, so my floormates and I would squeeze together into a single dorm room, crowding around the computer monitor, watching all sorts of awful things like the original Exorcist and Audition, a Japanese film.

I didn't like scary things before we started doing this, and by the end of the school year, after developing a strong phobia of long hallways (a huge struggle considering I was living in a dormitory) and bathroom mirrors (going pee and brushing my teeth was rough), I decided to put a strict ban on horror films-- a ban that has not been broken since.

I've been horror movie free since 2008 and I don't regret it at all.

Which isn't to say I don't find ways of getting scared anyway.

People sometimes tell me ghost stories despite my best efforts at persuading them not to. My imagination also runs rampant and without trying to, I end up creating some awful image or story to scare myself. Not to mention, I've generally been afraid of the dark for as long as I can remember, so there's that. 

Really, banning horror movies was the minimum required for me to have a functional daily life.

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Today, a woman stayed at home.

She had gotten up in the wee hours of the day and prepared breakfast for her children and for herself. She was excited because she had lined up a job to clean someone's house today, which meant being able to make some money for her family.

It was supposed to be a good day.

She looked out the window towards the blue sky, and swept her eyes across the other buildings in neighborhood. 

And then she froze.

Down the street were two white trucks and several men wearing dark vests that said in bold, white letters:

POLICE
ICE

She locked the doors and closed the blinds. She kept the children home from school and told them to stay quiet. Even though ICE could not take away her children, they could take her, and what could children do without their mother? 

What could a mother do without her children? Especially in a country she had left 20 years ago?

Huddled tightly against herself, in the confines of her tiny apartment, she cried.

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In recent days, the Oakland neighborhoods have been on high ICE alert. When anyone in the schools become aware of ICE presence in the area, the schools send out automated phone calls to all families to alert them of the danger.

Families have moved away or left behind children with other family members or friends.

In the case of high-risk situations for parents, some schools have resorted to personally picking up and dropping off students at their homes to make sure they can still attend class.

Days like this, reality is terrifying enough without the help of the supernatural or imaginary.

But even so, we try our best.

Every day, as much as we can, we try our best.