2021

“Last year I abstained, this year I devour” was really the motto of the year as internet aesthetics took front stage in young adult culture. 2020 being the prime time for the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t make it easy for people to get together and try, well, anything. It was a…

a draft from the fifth day of 2022 — I wonder about the things I did in 2021. The year has ended. It wasn’t as remarkable as I thought it was going to be. I got to experience lots of things I wasn’t prepared for. Although my plate was full, things kept on coming abruptly. …

? — A story with two main characters who can never meet. The Machinery of The Singular Commodity — A level of efficiency rooted in belief in a non-chaotic substrate. see also a rigid faith These are my Thoughts: A translation of the thoughts of others and a review of…

snowghost On an anniversary of my last breath I wrote some words in haze upon glass trying to puzzle the maze before my death. This celebratory gesture, translucent-ephemeral, left no more than a smidge upon the dark which, for me was my mostly all. Had I lingered on what could…

The only pop culture on which I invest enough time (and passion) indulging new releases each year to produce a respectable best of list is music. I sent the annual list to Gary*, my boss, at 2 a.m. yesterday. As the man who paid me for time invested in accumulating…

by Lourdes Flores Hernandez — 9th-12th GRADE FINALIST FOR THE 2021 YOUTH CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST. Prompt: The story must be between 150–300 words, and must include ALL THREE OBJECTS: Kite, Safety Pin, Beach. The house is still a light greenish color with white complementing it. Everything looks the same, but it isn’t because you should…

by Winter Muric — 5th-8th GRADE FINALIST FOR THE 2021 YOUTH CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST. Prompt: The story must be between 150–300 words, and must include ALL THREE OBJECTS: Kite, Safety Pin, Beach. Wet sand scrapes our toes as Noa and I dash across the beach. My hands are gripping a wooden stick, my knuckles…

by Matea Goldfarb — 5th-8th GRADE WINNER FOR THE 2021 YOUTH CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST. Prompt: The story must be between 150–300 words, and must include ALL THREE OBJECTS: Kite, Safety Pin, Beach. 11:56 pm, December 31 “Geez, it’s way colder than you said it would be!” Miria exclaims, wrapping herself in a blanket. “It…

by Thanh-Lan Nguyen — 9th-12th GRADE FINALIST FOR THE 2021 YOUTH CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST. Prompt: The story must be between 150–300 words, and must include ALL THREE OBJECTS: Kite, Safety Pin, Beach. “Will you please stop flying that?” Wils turned at his voice, gray eyes wide even from a distance. The string in his…