The Face
“Hello. My name is Yuliya,” I introduce myself to you. You quickly glance in the direction that this simple greeting came from and see a strange composition of green eyes, an average nose, full lips, high cheekbones, and pale skin. You see my face and immediately associate my name and who I am with this face. However, I warn you to proceed with extreme caution for things are not always what they seem. My face, the mask I present to the world, tells nothing about who I truly am. In fact, it is a master trickster, leading people to conclusions that are most often false.
The serene green eyes you see before you are the most deceptive of all the features. In reality, red is my favorite color. It is the color that symbolizes the intense passion and determination that I live my life with. Arriving in the United States when I was only six years old, I was thrust into a new and exotic world, without having any say in the matter. I am now very thankful for the decision that my parents made, but back then I was taken from what I knew and cast into a place that I knew nothing about. However, instead of fear or concern, the emotion evoked in me by that experience was fierce determination. Although my mother was extremely nervous that I would have trouble learning English, I learned and spoke fluently in only two months. I studied hard in school and did extremely well. After only two years in this country, I was placed out of the ESL class and moved to a class for gifted children. As the years have come and gone, this passion has not waned. It embodies everything that I choose to do.
Once again, I warn you to be careful for the eyes are not the only tricksters in this eerie collection. The pale skin is also an illusion. It is a symbol of a person who constantly stays indoors busy with tasks that take up a tremendous amount of their time – reading, writing, drawing, etc. I, on the other hand, love to travel and explore new places. One of my first goals when I came to New York City was to explore all that this magnificent city has to offer. I went to several museums such as the Met, the MoMA, the Dahesh, and the Frick Collection. I explored landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the United Nations, and Times Square. I went everywhere and tried to see everything. Although in my explorations I have probably seen more of New York City than most local residents, my quest still continues.
My face is the first thing that a person sees when they meet me. It is their first impression of who I am, but as I have been trying to warn you this entire time: you must be careful not to judge people from what you see for what you see is usually false. People put so much focus on the face because it is an extraordinary feature of our physical being, but you must remember that the face is extraordinary because it is powerful and it is powerful because it easily deceives.
