October 2020

Poetry·Daniel Shorten, age 9 — A child's fragmented memories of a play or film screening blur with overheard dialogue, creating an unsettling meditation on mortality and childhood observation.

Story·Michaela Frey, age 12 — A foster child who lost her voice after trauma struggles to speak again, remembering the woman who silenced her years ago.

Artwork·Jackie Cutrona

Story·Aiden Chen, age 11 — A tree narrates its life from seed to death, surviving fire, drought, and bears, only to be felled when humans build too close to its trunk.

Artwork·Cecilia Yang

Poetry·Teddy Lykouretzos, age 13 — A young poet compares plastic's permanence to the pyramids, warning that our disposable creations outlast monuments while poisoning the earth we depend on.

Poetry·Teddy Lykouretzos, age 13 — A meditation on impermanence that moves from photographs and fireflies to wedding cake and stone statues, arguing that nothing can truly be preserved.

Personal Narrative·Claire Jiang, age 12 — A granddaughter traces her family's rise and fall through China's civil war and Cultural Revolution, from her great-grandfather's fruit business to burning ownership papers for survival.

Personal Narrative·Claire Jiang, age 12 — A girl reflects on moving to a new house five years ago, making peace with everything except the mismatched fence her friend calls hideous.

Personal Narrative·Claire Jiang, age 12 — A girl reflects on her common name Claire, wishing for something unique, then questions whether a different name would change her identity.