The air smelled of ink on paper and the walls were completely concealed by books stacked from the floor to the ceiling. Sunlight that hadn’t been blocked by the buildings outside streamed its way into...

Every time I would visit my grandmother as a child, she would tell me stories about my Choctaw lineage. My great uncle would also take my cousins and I to the Red River to collect shark teeth, arrowheads...

The conversation surrounding transgender rights and the government has been revisited as a result of a draft of a US policy change obtained by The New York Times. If this goes into effect, gender, in the...

“Mom please,” I screamed until my throat hurt. My mom laid motionless on my parents’ bed. I begged her to show a sign that she was okay. Barely conscious, she couldn’t even open her eyes. My...

For two hours I sat in my empty bathtub in the pitch black. It was completely silent and for some odd reason I started to feel safe. I couldn’t see anything. I could only feel my bare feet against the...

I slowly sank into the chair. Fear and doubt cascaded through my mind as the senior boy towered over me. It was my first interview for journalism, and I was intimidated by the older boy. After we finished...

I held my breath as I waited for the familiar sound of the garage door opening to indicate my dad’s arrival home. My eight-year-old mind ran through the plan that my twin sister Abby and I had put together,...

The older I’ve gotten, I’ve begun to notice a trend — less and less students are reading for fun. After every exam or test where phones weren’t allowed, I’d notice either my classmates blankly...

The smell of Marlboro cigarettes and baby powder was imprinted on the house, acting as my granny’s signature. Sitting in the kitchen where she taught me how to bake cookies, the memory never fails to...