June 24, 2018 Linda La Jirafa *This is a work of fiction, based upon current events. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.* Four days ago, my little family–Mamá, Papá, Abuela, Abuelo’s cigars, and I–were pushed into a white van in the middle of the night. Everyone was shouting about tents, the government, and something called deportation. I didn’t understand…
June 20, 2018 The Most Valuable Currency *This is an excerpt from a longer story written in 2016, titled Forging a New American Dream, which is a nonfiction account of my personal relationship to money* After three years of trying my best to save up, senior year turned out to be the one year I could afford to have a real spring break: tropical location, good friends, and some delicious drinks. My best friend, Lucy, invited me to visit her parents in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. It worked out nicely for everyone involved: we both got to see her family and get the warm, sunny spring break we imagined we would get at one point in our college years.
June 16, 2018 Skyscrapers and Juice Boxes *This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used…
June 13, 2018 Denouement As the sun went down on the Steel City, a girl dangled her legs off a small foot bridge. In her right hand she held a clear unlabeled bottle of liquor and in her left hand, she held her small black studded clutch. Mascara was smudged around her eyes. Some stained tissues left a little trail of the most recent events around her. Footsteps approached her. She did her best to wipe her eyes.
June 10, 2018 To Those Afraid to Take the Leap Once upon a time when you were younger and the world around you was far more innocent, you stood at the edge of the pool. Maybe it was the edge of a pier, overlooking a lake full of marine life and seaweed dancing beneath the surface. There you stood in your swimsuit, wrapping your arms around yourself, looking out to the water like it was a terrible grade on your math test. Behind you, your parents called out to you.
June 6, 2018 Somewhere Over the Pacific *written mid-trip to America, whilst sleep deprived and without connection to the outside world, so take what I have to say with utmost caution, or don’t* To say I am excited to go home is an understatement. I’m pretty sure my countdown started at 100 days to go. I’m so stoked that I’m sitting in seat 25K, staring out the window, wide awake on a ten-hour flight from Taipei to Vancouver, knowing full well that not getting sleep is going to be so fun later when I finally make it to Chicago. Good news is that I’ll sleep really well tonight. That’s for sure.
June 3, 2018 Claim Your Story It was Groundhog Day. The skies were grey and the snow was speckled with tufts of grass peeking out over the blanket of white. At around eleven in the morning, kids piled out of the maroon double doors. Dressed in warm winter jackets and colorful snow pants, kids leapt into the snow banks with gleeful smiles on their faces. For a winter day in Wisconsin, the weather was about average. But today would not be any ordinary day.
May 30, 2018 A Day In the Life It’s 7:00 A.M. The sun shines through the ginormous window in my bedroom. Wiping my tired eyes, I make my way out of bed. …
May 27, 2018 Three Things I’ve Learned While Living Abroad As I prepare to go home to visit for the first time in nearly a year and ten months, it baffles me just how…
May 23, 2018 Charles, the Londoner There was one man who stood out in my mind out of all my early travels as a child: Charles, the cab driver. He…
