This piece is to forgive myself for the forgiveness I owe myself. I have been putting myself through a lot and holding myself from the truth. I am ready to move forward; this piece was a love letter to myself. It is okay to be imperfect and not live up to standards because, either way, I am worthy of myself.

This is an excerpt from a story I’m writing about a girl named Winnie who feels like the only place she belongs is the world of her imagination, where magic is real and people are kind to her.

This piece was based on a story my mother told me about a close friend she made when she was a young adult. It was a lesson she used throughout my childhood to give an example of why I should never change who I am for someone. She never hated on her friend or diminished her, but it was clear in the example that all that ever came from it was losing a sense of yourself. I have always thought about this as I grew up because there were many times when I wanted to change or become different based on who I was around or who I was with at the time. But I always thought back on this example and how making that a habit would serve me no good for the rest of my life.

Endling is a piece that I worked on at the start of the school year, it was originally a micro-fiction that I wasn't too proud of. Once I heard about Creative Youth Awards, I knew that I wanted to be proud of this piece and make it better. I changed this piece into a short story because it had the idea but not the execution. Endling is about a person that has their homeland attacked, and destroyed, and how they were the sole survivor, or endling. I wanted to create a piece where it had an emotional touch, but also a dark ending. I feel proud about this piece and I am grateful that I found out about Creative Youth Awards so I could have a reason to refine this piece.

I write to release my hand of all it holds throughout the day: my book or my pen that constantly balances on the edge of having no ink, my heart when it gets tired from dancing around in my chest, or my tears when they fall too far. I write so that my hand can be held and so that the love I hold for existing can be given to another; so I can give thought a body that can be dreamt of, that can be kissed, and that can be cherished even when my hand can no longer write.

My piece Lonely Spartan was inspired while playing Ubisoft’s famous game series, Assassins Creed as well as my creative writing class. I was playing the Odyssey version of the series where you play as a spartan mercenary fighting to survive in the world of Greek mythology. This inspiration combined with the required action of drinking something, word end, and a maximum of one hundred words, I made this piece. However, I have extended this micro-fiction slightly because I beleive it deserves a better and less abrupt ending to truly tell the story.

a man’s game of tag' concerns the topic of child sex abuse and its connection to religious sin. This work is about a girl who escapes sexual abuse from men with the help of her mother's words and devotion to God. The mother believes that if the girl gets touched by a man, she would have to carry that sin on with her, symbolizing the rules of the classical game, tag. After she turns eighteen, she no longer has the protection of her mom, which later makes her 'it', representing the dangers of being a woman in the world. I was inspired through hearing the sexual harassment experience’s of friends and classmates, which shaped my perspective on the way sexual abuse cases are dealt with by law enforcement. Sexual harassment has become so common that most cases aren’t dealt with appropriately while more women and children become victims. I hope this poem increases knowledge of the reality girls have to experience growing up and how it influences their adult life.

This piece is my experience whether or not I truly know someone. Throughout my life many people have left or excluded me. This poem is meant to express my feelings towards or about those people and how looking forward I want something or someone brighter.

"Spero" follows a young and frightened Mallory as she finds herself stuck in an elevator on what she believes is the most important night of her life. To ground her and keep her from panicking, is Spero, a man unshaken by their situation. He serves as the personification of a lesson I myself, had to learn. This screenplay most integrally tackles the question of anxiety, and more importantly, paints anxiety as a question. It asks the watcher quite simply, why worry if there's nothing you can do to change the situation you are in? Don't spend hours weeping because of something you cannot control. Learn to be grounded in your reality, and let that send you into a brighter tomorrow. I have always struggled with this notion, but while writing this screenplay and truly thinking about it, it felt important. This screenplay went through many drafts, starting out as a commentary on death and the fear of it, but it's final form, to me, is it's strongest and most meaningful. It took many drafts, but in the end it was worth it.

Girl Named Nova is a song about how it is tough to appreciate the moment when all you want to do is to be with your person. It is a love song that takes you through the mind of a girl who misses her girlfriend, and the name-sake of the song, Nova. This song is meant to highlight the LGBTQ+ community, and bring representation to sapphic people, in the realm of love songs.

This piece explains the experience I had with an unhealthy relationship in which I was emotionally abused and treated poorly. It conveys the raw emotion of things I wish I could say to that person, and is formatted to look like somebody is venting. I chose this piece because it has a special place in my heart and it’s one of my favorite pieces I’ve written. It was shortened due to the word limit, but my goal is for it to reach others who may have gone through similar experiences.

This flash fiction was written for a project in my creative writing class where we had to write a short piece to a photo we selected. When I was presented with the photo of a lone island sitting on the edge of a limitless lake and sky, I had this indescribable feeling that was as magical as it was sorrowful. At first, the island that appeared as if it were floating in the sky made me think of a wondrous world where possibilities were endless. But as I looked closer and noticed its slightly diluted image, I began wondering what could’ve caused such a brilliant image to turn so gray. I tried to combine all those fantastical sensations I felt with a topic grounded in reality. The topic explored is one of remembering the days we spent with our friends, believing in magical worlds where floating islands could really exist. Then as we all grow older and that belief starts to disappear, it seems that all those friendships and imaginary worlds fade along with it. A sign that it’s time to move on from those wistful days. But even so, as we grow to realize the dullness of our reality and fragility of friendships, those child-like fantasies don’t have to completely disappear. There’s still hope that those friends and make-believe places we cherished may be found once again.

This collection reflects on the complicated feelings surrounding love. Growing up watching the relationships around me I thought I knew what love would feel like. To an 8 year old me, it was simple. I watched my dad bring home flowers and chocolates– a sign of true love in my eyes. When I got a bit older, my parents started telling me things. Being an only child, it is a constant fight for who’s side to take. Living in a generation of hookup culture didn’t help either. In an attempt to restore my faith in relationships, I picked up romance novels. Now in my 16 year old self, I see parts of hopeful 8 year old me peaking through. While my relationship with love is still shaky. It’s something we’re all trying to figure out. I’ve seen 30 year marriages fall apart and first love blossoming through the halls of my highschool. Love is an experience we’re constantly surrounded by.

My first poem, "In Her Tears," is about my relationship with my mother, and how much I wish she understood what she means to us. Recently I noticed how much she does to take care of me, even at her own expense. I wanted this poem to show the love and guilt I feel when she cries. My second poem, "Daydreams," is heavily based on my first relationship and how blindly I fell for this person without considering all the faults in the relationship. I was quite literally daydreaming, creating a perfect reality in my head that only I saw. Both these poems are based on completely true and personal experiences in my life, and I simply wanted to share my thoughts on these events after having done a lot of reflecting.

This piece I wrote takes a unique spin on death and the concept of the grim reaper. It celebrates the ups and downs of someone's life and then the unfortunate reality of it all coming to an end. This piece starts with the main character being given a book that is untitled, and filled with his life story. As the story continues the book writes his life as he is living it. By the end of the piece, the book describes his final breath as his life comes to an end. The piece ends with the characters name appearing on the cover of the book which is by this is titled The Title Comes Last.

This piece comes from the depths of my own definition of freedom. In this piece I’m describing and amplifying the feeling of pleasure and how the perception of others can trap us into this narrative of pleasing people. I titled it 5 as it took me five times to instill and understand the value of pleasure for myself. I wrote this piece as I was ending a relationship with someone because of the way I wasn’t loving myself, I found pleasure in the idea of being with them but not with myself.

I’ve always been really interested in immortality, and so I was inspired to write a kind of love story which involves not only these themes, but the ideas of mortality, heaven, and hell as well. I wrote this piece around a year ago in 2022, and throughout the process of writing it I clearly remember questioning even my own mortality (as well as other people's). It was definitely a very interesting creative journey for me.

This piece was inspired by Gloria Victis , a statue by Antonin Mercié that I saw in the National Gallery of Art. I knew nothing about the sculpture's original meaning, which allowed me to be very free with my poem and interpretation.

I have always used writing as an outlet to digest my feelings. To turn the ugly into something incandescent. It is easier to face my pain when I can transform it into art, shame into pride, loss into creation.

This is a personal piece about when I was sexually assaulted in middle school. Being sexually assaulted has always been a very difficult thing to talk about and writing about it creatively helps me process and grow from it more. Sexual assault is a lot more common than a lot of people realize and isn't addressed enough. Even when it is addressed many times the victim gets blamed for "asking for it" or "provoking it". People who were sexually assaulted deserve justice and deserve to not be afraid anymore. I want to bring my story to light and I hope that it might empower other people to share their stories.