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Articles by Danielle Deculus
Photo Essay: How Two Small Businesses on Hope Street Keep Hope Alive
In April 2025, we met with the owners of two prominent local businesses on Hope Street in Providence. Here are their stories: When strolling through Fox Point, it is common to see small white placards attached to the fronts of historical buildings, usually with a year of construction and a name. The William Aplin House, constructed in 1826, is one of many of these buildings on Hope, currently occupied by a local business: Gregory’s Optical, also known as Gregory’s.
Addressing the Fresh Wounds
For three years, I’ve been fed the words to say. I have written carefully crafted scripts that tiptoe around the eggshells and broken glass and sadness and anger. I have been modeled into the leader that they want, one that simply regurgitates information, smiles and nods, being forced to push my real feelings and thoughts into a little bottle in the back of my head where they won’t come out. I’ve been given lists of people to talk to, what to say, and how to say it.
We Are the Girls
What can a teenage girl be passionate about without being called hysterical?
Personal Perspectives: Dealing with Anti-Semitism at School
As a young Jewish woman living in the region called “The Bible Belt,” being a religious anomaly is noticeable and challenging. I moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in July, 2011, but surprisingly, I have not faced a large amount of anti-Semitism in my life. However, there is one incident that occurred recently that changed my perspective on bigotry in my community. I was at school, and my math teacher and I were discussing our mutual interest in history.
Notes on Reading Addressed to a Stranger
You stare me down. Glance at the title in my hand. Something sad, Perhaps, Or something true Or both. You say you do not understand Why would I choose to read? When you dislike it so. Let me ask you How would I answer? There’s nothing to say. No possible way That I could convince you— To dance— To dream— To fall Into pages cream To come through darkness Into light To let go of the breath you’ve been holding, To be lost, To be found (If it’s not a cliche.) I do not understand. I do not condone.
It’s a Guy Thing
people make jokes about the kid who jumped out of the window a couple of high schools away. everyone plays into it. they idolize Kanye West, and no one cares. someone steals a pride flag from the walls, stuffs it into the urinal. everyone laughs. “it’s a guy thing,” one of my friends said last night, at a party when my other friend asked why he never stops any of the jokes. we hear the slurs every day, hurled by the people who have no right, and the actions are left ignored.
How do teenagers fit Judaism into their after-school activities? Spoiler: Many don't.
This article was produced as part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with teens across the world to report on issues that impact their lives. (JTA) — When youth group leader Evan Shrier first started organizing events for his peers at Temple Kol Tikvah in Woodland Hills, California, he was excited to take on the leadership role. Two years later, he struggles to keep the spark alive in his work now that so few young people show up after their b’nai mitzvah.
Second Half by Adina Siff
The afternoon goes like this. Calvin comes home upset. He didn’t do well on a test and his friends didn’t tell him where they were going after school, so he walked home by himself. We used to call him Cal for short, when he was blond and eight years old and his smile bounced up and down with the rest of his small body. Now he is 17 and his hair is darker and falls in front of his eyes, and he no longer smiles.
Normal by Aviv Plaut
Salt & Honey: Jewish Teens on Feminism, Creativity, and Tradition Our first anthology features 78 vibrant works by jGirls+ Magazine contributors that voice their celebrations and challenges, their anger and their eagerness in essays, poetry, and visual art. The themes are universal, touching on childhood, spirituality, sexuality, race, family, friends, and the world around us. Buy one for yourself or the important Jewish teens in your life, and support jGirls+ at the same time!
My Secret by Stephanie Kallish
It is 8:00 on Saturday morning. I carefully button my wool jacket and pull on my skirt over my tights. At 9:00 I walk into the large, elegant sanctuary of my shul, and I can hear the murmurs of morning prayers. As I sit in my usual row in the back, I am greeted by familiar faces. I am asked about my week at school, and I smile and talk about the usual; classes, friends, and USY.
Broken Lines of Belonging
I have a vision in my head of antisemitism. What I thought it was: Barbed wire fences and crazed soldiers, yellow stars blinking against the dark hue of a winter coat, the looming choice of a baptism or execution. Swastikas, stabbings, shootings, news headlines building their rhymes to entertain. I imagine corrupt governments marching into my life, each stride perfectly in sync, unraveling their flags over capitol buildings to advertise their hate.
Becoming the Wicked Child
When I was first born into this world, I was the simple child. I was a little girl picking up dandelions, believing that all of the wishes would come true someday. I was the dancer, the dreamer, the one who begged for stories. We drove past the graveyard and instead of seeing an old and aching loss, I only saw the trees and the pretty daisies. When I was seven I became the wise child.
Phishing for Passion
My dad is still in his Phish phase from high school. At least he’s consistent? And I, through the circumstances of my birth, have been in that phase with him. In preschool at the JCC in Manhattan, when my irritatingly overzealous teacher asked the class what our favorite songs were, I said “Backwards Down the Number Line” from Phish’s hit album Joy. When I was nine, my parents attended an auction for lead singer Trey Anastasio’s signed guitar.
Why Are Women Still Absent from History Curricula?
The exclusion of women from history curricula harms all students regardless of gender. For example, in my ninth grade history class, we only heard about three women (Abigail Adams, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Marie Antoinette). My teacher mentioned each woman in one part of one class period. We never wrote anything about them, we were not tested on them, and we did not use any of them to engage in larger conversations about the changing roles of women in the history we studied.
The Empty Forest
The wind made the trees groan like weary spirits the night little June’s stark white cape was swept off her shoulders and into the woods. The other children told stories of monsters that lurked in those woods, but June reassured herself there was no such thing as she grabbed a lantern and headed into the dark.
“A Tale as Old as Time”—The Fairy Tale of My People by Lily Sheldon - Nonfiction - jGirls+ Magazine
Stories were the building blocks of my childhood. Night after night I would fall asleep on my Mum or Dad’s lap as they would narrate Grimm’s fairy tales to me in a thousand different voices. The stories of knights saving princesses, elves spinning gold, and talking mirrors lined my dreams with mysticism.
A Hairy Situation
According to a 2019 Vox study, 94 percent of female and 55 percent of all male respondents said they “felt ashamed of their body hair” in the past year. Luckily, for when we don’t want hair down there, there’s an entire industry based on hair removal, designed to turn a natural human function into a booming consumer market, altering our identity and culture in the process. By understanding and reclaiming our hair we have the power to not only educate, but empower each other and ourselves.
Stranded by Danielle Deculus – Photography – jGirls Magazine
Artist’s Statement: Oftentimes we feel stranded. Alone. Helpless. Lost. Longing for something new, different. My piece “Stranded” combines all these feelings. Taken in a field devastated by years of California drought, a somewhat “ugly” location, yet the main subject is beautiful, wearing a free and flowy white dress. But what’s on her mind? Is she sad? Lonely? Lost? Scared?
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