by Wick Thomas

My name is Wick Thomas, I’m originally from Drexel, Missouri. It’s where I grew up, spent seventeen years of my life, spent some more time in rural Kansas, in Paola, Kansas. A...

by Chris S.

“Karen, he just referred to that guy he’s with as his husband! Can you believe it? What perverts!” The comment came from behind us and I turned to scan the line of people wa...

by Joseph Sheridan

I was lucky. I grew up 10 minutes north of San Francisco, and went to school at the ultra-liberal (and pretty awesome) UC Santa Cruz. While I went through the internal struggles o...

by Bryan Hogan

Before moving to New York, I taught 10th grade English in a small central Illinois town. For three years I pushed Shakespeare and Harper Lee on classes of mostly disinterested 15 ...

by Eli Effinger-Weintraub

Before I opened my car door, I triple-checked to make sure I had everything. It was my first time – I was so excited. But I felt nervous and guilty, too. What if someone saw me?...

by Raymond Miller

Uhm, I have the coolest mom and dad in the entire world. I’m pretty much in awe of them. I was pretty much raised by Cyndi Lauper and I don’t know who my dad would be my dad i...

by Rafi Mittlefehldt

FEATURED ARTIST – Brian Ness STORY by Rafi Mittlefehldt I’m 5 years old and surrounded by hundreds of kids my age, all of us soaked with chlorine water and dopamine and sunsh...

by Josh A.

My sixth grade Hebrew class was the first place in Jacksonville that I’d have my first head-on experience with homophobia. My older classmate Sara was thoughtful enough to infor...

by Jimmy Doyle

“Well it’s by the hush me boys/And that’s to mind your noise/And listen to poor Paddy’s sad narration/ I was by hunger stressed/ and in poverty distressed/ So I took a...