About the author: Siena Ritter is a recent graduate from UNC with degrees in English and Italian. She is from Boone, NC and enjoys reading, hiking, and traveling -- all of which inform and influence her writing. Though she is currently employed as a bartender, she plans on living abroad during her gap year before graduate school, where she will continue her studies. She is especially interested in feminism and writing about the female experience in a male-dominated world, and hopes to further her education specifically in gender studies as well as creative writing. 

About the piece: Through a thoughtful reflection on memories of growing up with her sister, Siena paints a picture of the beauty, loss, nostalgia, and timelessness of childhood. Her work reminds us of the ways in which a logic of subtraction lodges itself— often secretly, silently, and for different reasons—in the minds of young girls as they grow up in a world that tells them to be smaller.