Student Showcase

I have always been doubtful, and envious, of people who believe they see signs—signs as omens, signals from other worlds, divine messages. I attribute their experiences to optimism, sadness, religious devotion, weed, or in some cases, mental illness. My religious...

  My New Balance Expert Precision walking stick and I met two years ago, after I chipped two front teeth on a stale bagel. My dental bill was $14,700. To protect my investment, I walk with Expert Precision ­– I call her EP – on challenging terrains.   That’s...

Linx rests his grizzled, warm snout on my left bare foot where his whiskers tickle my skin with each slow breath. Sometimes he licks my toes, or nibbles on the little ones. Linx is under my desk on his dog bed. I can see him through the glass tabletop. His...

When I say “Raquel Welch,” you probably think of her in that famously babacious publicity shot. She’s standing on the beach in a busty, fur bikini. The earth is parting. Mountains are falling. Volcanoes are going off all over the place. You’re probably thinking of...

I was 10 years old when I started making fires in my house. I'd grab a book of matches from the old man's night table drawer, where he kept them alongside packs of cigarettes, nail files, clippers, and such. For a kid growing up in the ‘50s and ‘60s, getting matches...

When I was growing up, my mother sewed everything my sister and I wore. Dresses. Skirts. Blouses. Bathing suits. Coats. Everything but our underwear.   By early August, my mother was already planning what we would wear on the first day of school. It was time to...

After my daughter, Eliana, gave birth to a healthy baby girl who instantly latched on to her breast, I was assigned to housesit the dog. Mom and Dad and baby Mila were healthy, happy and exhausted, and would be staying in the hospital for the night. Minnie, their...