It’s the middle of my last semester of college. I’m working on my capstone project for a show in the auditorium at the center of campus that smells of old wood
Are you a Christian? Do you feel as if you don’t fit in anywhere in this world? Believe me, you are not alone. Most people today find everything about Christianity offensive—particularly
My mom is in the kitchen. She’s cooking my favorite meal, and the smell wafts down the hallway, past the pictures on the wall, and into my room. She tells me how
Close your eyes and try to picture the perfect neighborhood. What do you see? A sturdy house with decent air conditioning? A good school for your children? Friendly neighbors with whom you have
On the Sunday of the first week of my senior year, I sat in church with my family, taking notes as I listened to my pastor preach on Hebrews 10. He spoke about
Since I was eleven years old, my dream has been to write. Whether it was screenplays, novels, or articles, I wanted to write something that would change the world for the better. Something
Do you ever wonder if the world has lost its mind? Just watch the news or scroll through your social media feed for two minutes, and you’ll remove all doubt. The top
Winner of the English Forum creative nonfiction division. There they were again. I halted at my window when I noticed hundreds of flecks of white and pale pink outside, bright and delicate against
Stop and breathe. The humanity in me struggles to learn lessons the first time around. Experience is a brutal, tireless instructor for life. Over and over, I find myself sprinting on the treadmill
Honorable mention of the English Forum creative nonfiction division. My father took me through the woods behind his childhood home. The air was crisp, customary for late March in the Indiana farmland. The
Another wave crashed inside the boat, filling it with water. The ship was surging back and forth as the waves punched into it over and over. The wind screeched, and the thunder yelled.
Stop for a while on a narrow stretch of New England farmland. First, you notice the smell. The land still remembers being a dairy farm under your great-great-grandfather’s hands, and it offers
From as young as seven years old, people have always told me I’m “good at English.” It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to accept that, though. It must have
It starts with the clang of metal gates, hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Mud-matted horses with fevered eyes crash together in a tiny pen as men with long whips and orange
I just love the American education system. Especially when it comes to middle school. Someone somewhere decided that it would be a great idea to throw a bunch of hormonal, confused, prepubescent individuals
Believe me, the last thing I want to do is write more nonfiction. My dream is to be a novelist. But if you’ve read my work before, you know that I suffer
I look at the picture in front of me. There is a beaming girl with pigtails and bright pink hairbands in them. Her nose is scrunched, like it always is when she laughs.
The night of April 17, 2019, is forever etched in my memory. I sat next to my fiancé on my pastor's brown couch at one of our premarital counseling sessions. My pastor got
“How can I be surrounded by people and feel so utterly alone?” Have you ever thought that before? Think of that social event where everyone had a date except you. Or that society