By: Lynette Yang “Next!” I’m called from the front of the line Y-Z to the circular, black stool at the front of the gym, where gym teachers would normally bark game orders or keep track of basketball and volleyball scores. I’ve stood at this spot for a good minute, desperately trying to fix my easily tangled, wavy, long black hair and positioning my bangs to mask my acne. The fixing is subpar; my bangs have...

By: Em Li You liked to speak of adulthood as a baby bird leaving its mother’s nest, soaring away in the west wind to explore all the world had to offer. It makes sense then, how I would grow up romanticizing independence, romanticizing the strength it takes to be independent, even though I would also grow up a meek and timid child. I hated loneliness but I was often alone. I hated stumbling around blinded...

By: Jasper Jose Making the NCAA is nothing more than a dream and a nightmare. March Madness is around the corner, and so I am being dragged around from state to state, listening to the droning of fossil men. I heard Founder Tower once had a revolving restaurant, but it is now just a regular, un-revolving restaurant. It’s another unremarkable thing in the bland city of Ames, Iowa. The concept itself is not without precedent....

By: Jason Seol March 8th, 2020. It was specifically 8:00 am in the morning, where I only had 5 minutes to get dressed, brush my teeth and sprint to my first class of the day. However, by that time, I was still bed and still thinking it was still 7:00 am as I did not realize it was the day we had to save our daylights. I don’t know if it’s just me, but every...

By: Isita Ghanta The night of the Juno Awards felt like a dream wrapped in bright lights. The air inside the arena buzzed with excitement, and the soft roar of the crowd sounded like a heartbeat that refused to calm down. Backstage, Maya stood with trembling hands and a voice that kept catching in her throat. She had practiced her smile in the mirror for weeks because she did not trust herself not to cry...

By: Jason Seol April 8th, 2017. It was 4:00 in the afternoon. The time when our cafe was at its busiest was also the best time for me to observe as many people as possible. I could hear people talking about their stress, their phone calls with other businesses, and so much more. However, among all those people, I’ve especially noticed this girl who looked like she was in her early twenties. She appeared very...

By: Isita Ghanta The first time Mira saw Elowen, El was standing on the center mat of the Regional Youth Creative Games, clutching her fencing helmet with both hands while pretending not to be nervous. Mira, who specialized in documentary filmmaking, had only come to capture background footage for her team’s media submission. She had not expected to stop in her tracks. The auditorium lights made Elowen look like someone pulled straight out of a...

By: Lynette Yang There’s a lot I want to say. I want to pour out my emotions, flood them onto those who will listen, but not speak, and tell them of all the years I began to feel like I was stuck in time— stuck in a time where others were moving forward so fast, too fast. Faster than I could comprehend or accept, feeling like they were sand slipping between my fingers; fingers which...

By: Jasper Jose Everything had slipped away, unnoticed at first, like a flashing light. It was only later that he felt a hollowness where victory could have resided. But alas, he had lost. Another year had passed, wasted away with only a bitterness to cap. It was Saturday evening, the sabbath day. A starless night sky hung over his room as he wasted away on a bed like a carcass. A gym bag slumped in...

By: Ethan Jin There once existed a young man on the bridge between life and death. He clutches his portrait tightly, repositions his features to match the same pondering look as the portrait, and begins to reminisce. And thus, the young man pondered the acquaintance of life of love and abundance. Could love be of sparks in the most impervious of dark, like the luminescent guardian of the moon to young turtles? Or perhaps it’s...