An oily sheen appears to coat its surface. A purple glove haunts its corners. Aluminum cans cluster underneath the bridge. Styrofoam containers and plastic bags float until they gradually sink in the murky...

It doesn’t take much to hide it from the world. Maybe a pair of oversized sweatpants or a shirt with long, opaque sleeves. Yet, it was responsible for 633,000 emergency room visits in 2009 alone, according...

When I was 7, I got the terrible news. All my life it had just been my mother and me. I liked it like that and in my mind it was the correct family. I didn’t need a dad or brothers or sisters or...

When I was a little girl, I was overly anxious and fearful. In every experience I would find something to fret about that would nag me for days, until I found the next thing to replace it. I believed every...

     There was a terrible rumor spreading through the halls of Wilson Middle School – leggings were going to be banned. As far as we were concerned, there was no logical basis behind this ban. As...

I stare at the pink and white flowers delicately floating in the water under the white memorial. For an instant I’m struck still. I’m unable to move as terror seizes me. I imagine the sight that occurred...

I sat in an uncomfortable green chair on the fourth floor in the 18th room to the left. I was holding my day-old cousin in my arms. She was small and red all over. To me, she was ugly. She was the newest...

Sometimes it doesn’t take a swarm of people for me to become lost in a crowd. Sometimes I get lost when I’m just with a group of friends at lunch. It’s a different kind of lost, though. In crowds...

     Her watery brown eyes stare back at me, looking through my soul, pleading with me to stay. Memories flash through my mind of her and me – some happy, some sad. I watch as she is taken further...

     The sand went on and on in waves, each enveloping the next. The sheer size of the area combined with the last rays of the setting sun sent a sense of awe through my shivering body. It was cold...

     I had never wanted to lose her as a friend. She was one of those people who just understood me so well. She could finish my sentences and order exactly what I wanted off a restaurant menu. I trusted...

    It was almost like she was dead. I remember my mom telling me not to say that, but it was how I felt. For the past 13 years, my older sister had been with me through everything. Through the six...