Samantha Smith At eight years old, I am city league soccer and the gap be- tween my teeth and the Gummy candies I find in the pantry the day after Christmas, which is the final piece in the puzzle that clues me in to the realization that Santa is, in fact, my parents. My birthday…

Isaac James Richards This essay is about time and cars. I need you to know that up front, because while those two concepts are connected on a physical level, I will strive to connect them on a spiritual level. Through physical and spiritual duality, eventually this essay will no longer be about time and cars…

Nicholas Rex All the glory that the Lord has made And the complications when I see His face In the morning in the window. (Stevens) I keep worrying about whether I’m washing parts of the car you can’t reach with the hose. I stay by the front bumper and scrape off bugs from Canada and…

BY MADELYN TAYLOR Five years before my grandpa died, an employee at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife crashed their tanker truck of approximately 11,000 live Chinook salmon into a power pole in Eugene, Oregon. When the truck rolled, and the shocked, slippery cargo flew into the Mackenzie River Highway—their permanently astonished expressions, for…

BY ADRIENNE POWELL Batter my heart, three-person’d God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me, and end Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. (Donne) It thirteen years old, I came home from dance class crying. Nothing particularly trying…

BY ELLE PERRY Piano Lessons with Gehrman His loud, Russian accent digs into my ears like a butter knife spreading the wrong way. “Eating is good after piano, don’t you think? Nice thick bread!” He drizzles honey over the top of his slice and takes a bite. “You want? You want honey with your bread?”…