Sean Zheng
"Imagine you're at a sleepover with your friends. It’s 12:00 AM. They tell you to go to the bathroom and chant ‘Bloody Mary’ three times."
From Gabriella Diaz's "The Woman in The Mirror"
"...I still had one race tomorrow to decide if I could get it.
I have just started race skiing a year ago. But it felt like I had just started and this might be my first win, but like I said, there was still one more run tomorrow. To see if I could do it…
From Otso Reijonen's "The Ski Race"
Artist: Aliya Paolercio
"My mother won’t let me cut my hair. Or even leave the tower. She says my safety comes before anything else. I think otherwise. Why live your life locked up in a tower, when you could be running in dandelion fields, letting their soft feathers brush against your skin? Or spending the night catching fireflies, then setting them all free, illuminating the night?"
From Colby Anderson's novel
Artist: Matteo Walsh
"My middle name is 'Zari,' which originally means 'a type of gold thread used decoratively on Indian clothing.' But I never understood its exotic, uncommon significance. Whenever someone asks me about my middle name, I explain that my mom is Indian, and, because the rest of my name is American, my mom wished for me to have a little piece of her Indian heritage."
From Charlotte Thomas's 8th grade name narrative. Read more narratives by Aikaterini Papadopoulou, Aaron Kahn, Charlotte Thomas, Brooke Farscht, Liv Nazar, Aurelia Apfaltrer and Samson Solomon here
"Not a word, not a sound. Now, I can feel his humanoid, piercing blue eyes through the fabric of my hut, like little sapphires dancing against bright orange fur."
From Reagan Hild's From "The Fox Man"
"that was the moment when my name changed from being a barrier and a weight on my shoulders, to constantly being an uplifting factor in my life. That was when I knew that I wouldn’t be embarrassed of my name just because someone would think it was a boy's name, or that it was unusual."
From Noa Waisman's Scholastic Contest Honorable Mention Memoir Learn more about the award here
What is Life?
Life is a gift,
A giving gift ungiven,
Each person a seed waiting to be freed,
Life is a budding flower,
Our fun hours, their spring showers,
Their leaves are our years,
Their roots are our family,
We live a life,
A Life for what,
Who’s, When’s or What’s idea,
What is life?
William Cohen
Artist: Katerina Papadopoulou
Soy
de las noches de juegos escuchando
Carlos Vives.
Soy
de los empanadas, chorizo y chicharrones,
de roast beef y arroz para almuerzo y cena todos los días.
Soy
de el olor de la comida en la cocina, de escuchar los pájaros en las mañanas
y de noches largas pensando en el día que sigue.
Soy
del feminismo y trabajo dura
Soy
de un familia de cuatro, mi hermana, mi mama, mi papa y yo
Soy
de Colombia, de Irlanda, de America
son parte de mi, son que como, que escucho y como me siento
son lugares en el mundo y en mi corazón
Inspired by the poem“Soy de Quisqueya la Bella,” by Amiris Ramírez
Imitation & Translated into English by: Fiona Fernanda Faherty
Artists: Sienna Vicioso & Sophie Chiaravalle
"I should probably tell somebody, Margot thought to herself. She was alone in the weather lab. The other kids could get lost out there and never come back. But a worm of doubt had infiltrated her mind.
But it was their fault that they’re stuck out in the hurricane. They chose to ignore your warnings, whispered the voice inside her brain. They brought their problems on themselves."
From Thomas Brockwell's Epilogue
"[She] still remembers Venus, the planet she used to call home. She still remembers the closet she was locked in and still thinks about what it would look like to see the sun on Venus. Would it be different than on earth? Would it be more special than seeing the sun every day in Mexico? Would she eventually have made friends with the other kids?"
From Alexander Chioux's Epilogue
"One of the coolest parts of [lacrosse] was that sometimes the games would last days with hundreds of people playing, [though] people often got seriously injured."
Read more from Owen Koby
We ask questions?
Declined.
They make us
Blind.
But maybe
We are more like prisms.
It takes a ray of light
To release the rainbow
Inside.
From Sadie Bilik's Scholastic Contest Honorable Mention "Imprisoned Prisms" Learn more about the award here
Artist: Liam Orozco
"Tears. Hot, sweaty, furious floods stream down my cheeks to my chest. So fast and violent that I go numb. I can’t see anymore. Not the email in front of me, not the hotel room, not my hands, or my future. I shake as I fall to the floor, ever so slowly sinking into my bed. I punch my thigh - so hard I assume a bruise will appear that very second - and pull out my hair. I croak out the word “no” hundreds of times. Pushing the air out of me, like I wish I could push away the rejection that I have just unveiled."
From Leila Gross' Scholastic Contest Silver Key Winning Story Learn more about the award here
“What are you doing to my poor berry bush?” a gruff voice asked. I glanced up to find a man, towering over me with a shovel in one hand and a pickaxe in the other.
“I…I was just trying to find some food. Please forgive me, sir, I have been wandering for the past day with no destination. This was the first real food I've seen in a whole day!” I said, but the man narrowed his eyes."
From Colby Anderson's "Rapunzel"
Artist: Sarina Lee
"Snails produce slime to make their life much easier. Snails use their slime to protect themselves from any diseases or scratches from any surface."
Read more from William Devendorf
"Finally, my solo came up. I walked off the bleachers and went up to the mic and just started singing. I was terrified but I got through it and then, all of a sudden, I felt a push and I lost my balance and fell off the stage."
From Sariah Youssi's "The Falling"
Rain Like Rocks
No one would ever
expect a bright sunny day
to turn to near death.
We did not think so at all.
But fate had its other plans.
The sun shone brightly,
not a hint of clouds in the
sky. Laughter instead.
Six families, seventeen
kids, fourteen parents, two boats.
Find out what happened in Marin Thoma's poem
Artist: Reagan Hild
"Because I am the perfect one, no mistakes permitted.
To this act of being immaculate, I am fully committed."
From Sophie Lassander's "Human Punching Bag"
But Alina was much stronger than me. I believe that, as Alina was living her life after the war, she was also living her life for her family members who lost theirs. To name a few: Josio, 14; Jerzyk, 16; Olek, 16; Wanda, 20. Whenever I get upset or frustrated about anything, I think about Alina, the unstoppable woman who lived her life to the fullest.
From Liv Nazar's story about her grandmother
Artist: Jeffrey Interiano Bonilla
A house painted red
With vines crawling against the fence
Reaching the sides of the house
No light
No sight
Of a moment of movement
Inside that house
Had I only wished to walk up to its door
And knock about three times
Ask if anyone’s been murdered in here
And get invited inside
Have supper at a long, lonely table
Drink something that smells like cinnamon
Have my body dragged away
In the basement,
With the rest of them
Margaret Jane
Artist: Lily Brickman
"Originally, softball was designed to be a game that was significantly slower paced, and 'safer' than baseball, and one that could be played indoors during the winter, so that you don’t have to go out on the diamond in the freezing cold."
From Maddie Lilien's "Pitch Perfect"
"Not only did some luxury items have to be taken off the ship, but some life-saving items were also removed."
From Sara Kozlow's "The Architecture of the R.M.S Titanic"
Opposite Day
I have heard people say
things like, “You’re a terrible friend, and you suck…on opposite day.”
However, I have always said things like, “Opposite day isn’t possible.”
or “Opposite day is impossible.”
However, if you think my statement is questionable,
think some more and you will see that this statement is plausible.
“What about a soccer game?” you could exclaim.
But, the opposite of a soccer game is no soccer game.
Well, if there is no such thing as soccer-going,
Then, what are pro soccer players doing?
What if someone is eating a chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A?
(Who doesn’t love a chicken sandwich, hurrah!)
In this scenario, you would be drinking your burger burrito at A-lif-kcihc?
That is just sick!
If it is opposite day, then what is the opposite of everything,
nothing?
How would you be here to tell me about opposite day?
In the end, if someone tells you about opposite day just say,
“No way.”
Alexander Chiou
Artist: Sydney Bauer
"Before we adopted him [our dog], he had a very loving mom and home, but soon my mom lost her job. So we kept living in the house until she could not pay for it anymore... [We] went to a homeless shelter thinking they would let us take Shaggy, but they did not. They took Shaggy to the pound where he got fleas and an ear infection and many other bad things. He was definitely miserable."
Read more of Charlotte Martin's imitation
We Are History
We live too late to be explorers of the earth,
We live early to discover the universe,
We live in this day,
we will one day be the past,
History is now,
For, we will never die,
Our impact is forever,
All die twice, once when our heart stops.
And last when our story is told for the last time.
We are history… now is past.
William Cohen
Artist: Jaden Vettorino
"Screaming and running in the dark, we headed back to the cabin to grab blankets and pillows to lay in the grass of the front field which was wet...The plan had been to stay up all night but we eventually fell asleep. That had probably been the counselor’s plan all along. The morning came too soon."
From Lucy Girling's "Last Night"
HMX Writer Editors
Isabella Phan
