Lunch was always a scary part of my day. Even though it was elementary school and there were assigned tables, picking the seat that I...

Since birth, I’ve carried the weight of my mother’s love. It’s like a tangible object in that I experience its manifestations with my...

How does one talk to, or even just interact with someone they barely knew? That was the question I found myself asking the first time I...

I had just taken a shower when I got rejected by Amherst College. I was on a trip to Italy with my Latin class and the weather outside...

Happening truth: I sat on my bed, grabbed my phone and scrolled through its contents for a minute or so. Moving on, I began the new book...

You’re not Indian enough. The uncalled for remark jolts me out of placid daydreaming and into harsh reality, bringing back a whirlwind of...

The bell announcing the end of the school day would ring in exactly 120 seconds, but by then, hopefully, I’d be zooming down Oregon Lane....

At this moment, you are only sure of three things. You are fourteen, your bus is late, and your hands are numb. You think the clouds will...

“A good heart is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the sun and not the moon, for it shines bright and never changes.” ~ William...

“Does she even speak?” the kids nearby whisper to each other thinking that I can’t hear them. Or maybe they want me to hear. To respond...

precontemplation My mom runs down the decrepit sidewalk, her bare feet tickled by the crabgrass emerging from the pavement cracks. Her...

Sometimes, for a moment, you didn’t feel like you came from there. It’s not that you hated the place. The psychedelic Chinese...

Donna Summer’s ethereal voice melted on the record player’s rusting needle while she rolled each body of flour and sugar, water and...

My teacher stands in front of me. “Jeffrey, please come outside with me,” she says. Her shadow looms over my book, the darkness sucking...

Seeing the red, shiny slide that has sudden swerves makes my face beam immediately. The swings sway even though no children are on them....

My past self was an idiot. He and I don’t see eye to eye on some ideas and arguments. Sure, there are some similarities; we both like to...

On my dresser sits a small stuffed dog. He’s old and worn, and on his front legs you can see where the seams have begun to come...

As the day’s last one-way ticket train pulled in, I had no other choice but to let Her slip away from my tight embrace. Her head nestled...

I was sitting on the porch, leaning into the wooden chair, painted in white that was flaking off, leaving little black speckles peeking...

I stare blankly at my seventh-grade English teacher as he summarizes one of the most devastating events in history—the Holocaust. Each...