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
“We were completely shocked at the news we were going to have twins. Never once in a million years did it ever enter our minds that we might have twins. We had no
An email notification popped across the top of my phone: "In need of spotlight operators." My heart spread its wings in my chest. The school needed people to help with the musical. It
You know the homeschool student stereotype, right? I’m sure a comedic image pops into your mind’s eye . It’s probably a student with a hunched posture, plaid cargo shorts (if you
Sacrilege Eden, c. 4004 BC “This is delicious! Maybe Elohim really was keeping the best from us.” Adam stared at the large spherical fruit his wife was cradling in her hands. “It does
My insides match the chaos of the gale-force winds and sideways rain. The soggy leaves on the ground accurately depict what my mind feels like internally. At the beginning of the semester, I
There’s nothing wrong with ambition. We all have hopes and dreams we seek to accomplish one day. Maybe it’s the college of your dreams or graduating with a 4.0 GPA.
The zippers squeaked as I finished packing my suitcase for Minnesota, ready for my best friend’s wedding. It was the middle of a Thursday, and the excitement of the upcoming event and