The hospice smells too clean. Nurses wheel around heavy carts of grief. The immensity of our love makes us ill with sadness. How imposing that …
Three Rooms by Emily Ward
I didn’t learn how to tie my shoelaces until I was twelve and three-quarters — I was used to loving the mud between my toes, …
Salt by Julia Nunnally Duncan
When he found me hiding bashfully behind a tree at my babysitter’s house, he held out the small round box. My Army sergeant uncle was …
Dear Past Me
Hey, 8th grade me! Things kind of suck right now. You’ve been dealing with depression for a while, and you think everyone expects perfection from …
The Truth About Introverts
By definition, an introvert is “a person characterized by concern primarily with his or her own thoughts and feelings,” which sounds extremely self-centered and is …
Last Year at Home: Making Your Time Meaningful
My teenage daughter has just begun her last year of living at home before she goes off to college. I plan on filling this year …
M.M.’s Wanders: Japan — Nara Park
It was May 16 when me and my family (excluding my mother, who was working in Japan) flew to Japan for the first time. My …
Unsung by Katherine Du
My cousin Yijiang wanted to be Christian and a Marine, the first hot pot my grandfather ever refused to swallow. “Your ancestors blinded themselves from …
I Hear London Weeping by Jerusha Lumley
The day they came, that was the real surprise. To hear it was louder than the popping of birthday balloons. To see it was more horrifying than …