Previous I think there are more people in the Worlds Stadium than I’ve ever seen in one place. “The Tuvarian team is in our session,” Coach Eleasea explains when Erena asks why the stadium is full for prelims. Music blares from the speakers as we march in, right behind the Tuvarians. They’re wearing white warmups […]

Trigger warning: discussion of verbal and emotional abuse When I first started writing, for real, I was a Level 5 (now 4) gymnast at a regionally well-known gym. Since I was older, taller, and more developed, I was in the “B” group. I was lucky by being in that group. I wasn’t on the receiving […]

Previous … Worlds are just over a week away. We’re flying to Tuvaria in two days. “Are your parents planning to come watch?” Coach Eleasea asks me. I shrug. They’ve been fighting even more. I’m thankful for gymnastics keeping me out of the house. If I could, I would sleep in the gym. Anything to […]

Aarae 1120 The door slams shut in my face. I turn and walk away, through city I’ve lived in since I was born. The houses, with their red-tiled roofs and shiny metal gutters, line the white sea walls that keep more than just the ocean back. Fir trees and ornamentals dot the narrow yards. The […]

I’ve been thinking of California these past weeks. My dad’s daily worried texts have stopped, but I still feel for all the families who’ve been displaced, during a pandemic. I feel for everyone who is struggling to breathe during this time, who is homeless, who is afraid for their home or possessions, who is missing […]

Found in a little notebook I have from childhood.  Not dated. Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a village tucked into some high mountains that were impossible to cross.  The villagers struggled to grow their crops and feed their families, since very little rain fell on the dry soil. Even worse, […]

Written 10/16/09 Underneath everything: A color, lurking, Dimly veiled; Where is it?  I ask. I seem to have to have lost that color Hidden in every word Hidden in every number Hidden in these human inventions But yet I know Tan is grey Two is red Four is green 2 is the prettiest letter But […]

Statice Swirl is a twelve-year old gymnast who trains at Niche National Gymnastics, which is owned by her mother Trili Swirl.  She is training for Junior Elite and placed 3rd out of 30 at Nationals in the next lowest level.   Sundays were always Statice’s free days.  She usually slept past eight o’clock, ate breakfast […]

Edit: I later learned that the author of this article was complaining about certain people who call themselves feminists but aren’t.  The then-Editor-in-Chief changed the wording.   Today, I was saddened when I opened the page to my college newspaper, of which I am an editor of.  Why?  Because one of the other female editors […]

The moonlight lights the sand and ocean up in a weird way. The world is black and white, with no colors. I like the smell of the sea air and the rolling and crashing of the waves ebbing in and out. The reeds and the sand dunes are absolutely beautiful, too. I like being alone. […]