Love Creates Music

by Jinx Morrison

Right after I was born, my father wrote a short guitar piece that he played for me every night. He called it “Music Box.” When I was a few years old, he recorded it and uploaded it to iTunes, so I could listen to it before bed even after he stopped tucking me in.

Seeing My Pain

by J. Huang

One spring evening in 10th grade, my parents asked me what should have been a simple question: “What do you want to eat?” But I had planned to purposely skip dinner. I told myself I’d gain the endurance to skip more meals if I skipped this one.

The Quiet Library of My Mind

by Arina Limarieva

When I was 5, my family had to move from Luhansk, Ukraine, to Kyiv to escape the 2014 invasion by the Russians. From my earliest memories, there has been chaos, which I got used to. It’s taken me years to figure out that I prefer calm—and to find ways to achieve it. 

Spring 2025 Contest Winners

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has effected change at a dizzying pace–cutting the funding of many government agencies and programs; pursuing undocumented people; declaring trans and nonbinary people nonexistent; making diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts against the law; upending the U.S.’s