• Mean Girl Wipeout

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. I got my first skateboard in April of my junior year. I practiced hard, mostly by myself, for a month because I was self-conscious about being a girl who couldn’t do cool “guy” things well.  By May, I had mastered some skateboard basics.

• Begging for Scraps as TPS Gets Taken Away

  by Anonymous

  On a family drive to the beach in Long Island a few months ago, my mom turned to me from the front seat and said, “Your grandpa was diagnosed with a terminal illness.” Her voice was sad yet calm, slightly detached.

• Beautiful Star

  by Noshin Sayira

  You almost got married when you were 13. That’s the version of the story people remember. The part that makes someone stop and ask questions. But they don’t remember that you had homework due the next morning. Or that you cared about the constellation of acne scars you gave yourself by popping your pimples until your face hurt.

• Falling In With the Right Crowd

  by Elizabeth Castro

  In elementary school, I felt like I could take on anything that was thrown at me. I easily made the honor roll; once I even managed to be student of the month. I grew a little cocky. But somewhere along the way, I lost my touch.

• An Epic Epic

  by Arina Limarieva

  Before I saw Christopher Nolan’s new movie The Odyssey, my dad told me, “You either go in as a Homer fan, and get disappointed because it’s not a word-by-word retelling, or you go in as a Nolan fan and have a good time.” 

• My Father’s Failure, Not My Fault

  by Anonymous ("Angela")

  The assignment was to paint a mug for your father. It was June, and the warm air calmed our usually rowdy 1st-grade classroom. The other kids bragged about their fathers and turned their store-bought mugs into symbols of perfect families.  I dipped my paintbrush into the bright paint.