In 2007, when I was 16, I was in the midst of some really bad bullying at school. I had a lot of things going on in my personal life as well as my home life, and I was struggling with my own mental health and my own well-being. That was all until one afternoon […]
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Everyone knows Hannah Baker killed herself. But what they don’t know is why she did it and, more importantly, who is responsible. In the new Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why, based on the novel by Jay Asher, the horrors and cruelty of high school are depicted through the eyes of two teenagers: Clay Jensen and Hannah […]
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I come back from Econometrics and find Maddie swaying from a hot pink rope in our living room. It is not real. It cannot be real. She is a mannequin from a Visual Arts major’s sad diorama. Then I see her bare toes twisting above a flipped over desk chair: gnarly and bruised like always […]
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Last night she nearly let go. She wondered what left her holding on. If she left, the lights would still glisten. If she left, the stars would still shine. If she left, the moon would still empower. If she left, the sun would still shower possibility. If she left, the world would go on. If […]
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Thirteen Reasons Why is Jay Asher’s debut novel for teenagers, and it’s a very beautiful addition to the psychological Young Adult books which convey a very difficult and strong message. This book is difficult to read — and that is not criticism but a compliment — because Thirteen Reasons Why deals with peer pressure, adolescent angst, drugs, and […]
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So many young people are taking their own lives before their life even truly begins. Why is that? Maybe it’s a home situation, maybe it’s a result of being bullied, or maybe it’s just a side effect of a chemical flaw. Whatever the cause is, the end result is still the same. We are facing […]
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Her nails were white, her clothing black. Her heart resembled much of the both of them. Void of life and full with hatred. “I hate it,” she said. “I hate everything.” “You don’t hate everything,” I told her. “You hate things right now.” “When does right now turn into forever, though?” “It doesn’t,” I smiled. […]
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if you draw butterflies on your wrists, they’ll come alive while you sleep and fly away into the night and flutter like sprites. they will murmur to god, she needs you now, and they will come back and sit patiently, still as stone. they will kiss your wounds with their wings and wait for your […]
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The day after I died, I woke up with a knot in my throat, a rising crescendo of goodbyes that reminded me of the last day of school, bubbling up and simmering down, ‘summer will be over soon,’ but this one would not, and I realised that when I sat next to my sister, watching […]
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