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Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025
The Daily Pennsylvanian

Yessenia Gutierrez


Yessenia GutierrezYessi Can

I’ve been told by too many people to remember that it must have been easy for me to get into Penn. That I have it so easy because I am on full financial aid and don’t have to take out loans. That I was the perfect diversity candidate. And I am sick of it.


Yessenia GutierrezYessi Can

I hope that I will love my child the instant I know they are mine — as my parents felt with me. I will love an adopted child with the same deep, irrational and unconditional love my parents have given me. Just like my parents, I will then begin the lifelong process of getting to know who they really are, and loving them not just as my child, but as their own person.


Yessenia GutierrezYessi Can

Non-monosexual people often face a similar issue of erasure. “Pansexuality doesn’t exist.” “It’s just a way to get attention.” “It is a stepping stone to ‘truly’ coming out.” These remarks, all of which I’ve heard, are ways of discrediting someone else’s sexual orientation, and their romantic and sexual attractions and experiences. Non-monosexual women are told we are catering to the male gaze, and non-monosexual men are told that they are “actually” gay and just haven’t fully come out yet. Both stereotypes are false and harmful.


Yessenia GutierrezYessi Can

Undocumented immigrants are a part of U.S. history not simply because immigrants as a whole are a part of U.S. history. Undocumented immigrants are a part of U.S. history because U.S. policy has directly affected conditions necessitating the migration of millions of people to a country with a large role in their own dislocation.


Yessenia GutierrezYessi Can

Undocumented immigrants deserve the same access to practical necessities as documented immigrants and native-born residents. They should not have to fear incarceration and deportation for deciding to run to the store for cereal, for dropping their kids off at school or carpooling to work.



Yessi Can

A part-time internship at the PSPCA (Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and conducting research for my Latin American and Latino Studies thesis aren’t exactly wastes of time. But I want my summers to be more than just another line of ink on high-gloss resume paper.


Yessi Can

As I looked down at my pins, I started thinking about my need to physically display my personality. Why was it so important to me that people could recognize the pride colors on my wrist, the Guatemalan flag on my books, the soy product brand on my bookbag? Thinking back to PrideDay, I realize that this need might not be unique to me.