>
Article snippet: The innkeepers and the guests. The owners and the housekeepers. The urban and the rural. The studious and the watchers of cat videos. And finally (and memorably), Mac versus Dell. This year’s crop of college application essays about money, work and social class come from teenage writers who toe the line, tap dance on either side and often stay suspended, for just a moment, in the space above and between. Each year, we put out a nationwide call for these bits of transcribed financial choreography, and we do so with a couple of goals in mind. It’s healthy to talk about money — with friends, family and even strangers acting as gatekeepers to your future. The more of it that goes on, the better we’ll all be about reckoning with the complex emotions that having more or having less can inspire. At their best, these miniature life stories help us bring perspective to our own. (Read four standout essays here ») Idalia Felipe, who lives in Los Angeles, invited readers into her daily homework routine, and we’ve posted her essay in The New York Times’s new Snapchat Discover. Ms. Felipe, who plans to attend California State University, Fullerton, and wrote her essay for other colleges she applied to, described her crowded circus of a home. There is the “warm touch of a small palm” as a much younger sibling asks to play superheroes. Others challenge her to watch a funny video all the way through without laughing, while she tries to study phototransduction. Her mother sings lo... Link to the full article to read more