This Issue

Dear Man with the Matches,
Do you remember seeing a gaggle of college kids making their way down the street late one night?
Bailey Middleton
Bailey Middleton

My family has a long tradition of creating handmade gifts for each other.
Caroline Silvera
Caroline Silvera

Start with a mantra. And a mirror.
The same words, daily.
Cassie Dallas
Cassie Dallas

The crazy combination of emojis I’ve saved beside your name in my phone pops up, and I instantly smile.
Ella Powell
Ella Powell

Dear beloved,
Jordan Coleman
Jordan Coleman

Once a year, in the midst of the holiday oasis of Thanksgiving, my immediate family stops for one, pumpkin-pie-scented moment.
Susannah Baker
Susannah Baker
1. Burnett’s Liquor
If they’re over 21, this is an insult.
Cheyenne Butler
Cheyenne Butler
Dear Beloved Reader,
Jasmine Wang
Jasmine Wang

Walking into a dimly lit room, bass vibrations rattling the windows, I look around—the women are in uniform. So am I. The year is 2023.
Eryn Rhodes
Eryn Rhodes
The theologian Kallistos Ware wrote that Now is all we really have: the past and future exist only conceptually, framed by present experience.
Emily Miller
Emily Miller
Popular
The theologian Kallistos Ware wrote that Now is all we really have: the past and future exist only conceptually, framed by present experience.
Emily Miller
Emily Miller

Walking into a dimly lit room, bass vibrations rattling the windows, I look around—the women are in uniform. So am I. The year is 2023.
Eryn Rhodes
Eryn Rhodes
Dear Beloved Reader,
Jasmine Wang
Jasmine Wang
1. Burnett’s Liquor
If they’re over 21, this is an insult.
Cheyenne Butler
Cheyenne Butler

Once a year, in the midst of the holiday oasis of Thanksgiving, my immediate family stops for one, pumpkin-pie-scented moment.
Susannah Baker
Susannah Baker

Dear beloved,
Jordan Coleman
Jordan Coleman

The crazy combination of emojis I’ve saved beside your name in my phone pops up, and I instantly smile.
Ella Powell
Ella Powell

Start with a mantra. And a mirror.
The same words, daily.
Cassie Dallas
Cassie Dallas

My family has a long tradition of creating handmade gifts for each other.
Caroline Silvera
Caroline Silvera

Dear Man with the Matches,
Do you remember seeing a gaggle of college kids making their way down the street late one night?
Bailey Middleton
Bailey Middleton

Every year on my birthday, I write a letter addressed to myself a year from now.
Jasmine Wang
Jasmine Wang
Returning to Grounds as a fourth year, I feel as though life is moving too fast and has suddenly gotten away from me.
When I was in first grade, I wished for the first time to be a writer.
On a recent Saturday morning, I was bursting out of the dimly lit Paramount Theater in Downtown Charlottesville with furrowed brows and a long
Eryn Rhodes
Eryn Rhodes
Who were our parents as children? What were their hopes, dreams and desires? What did they have to give up in order to become adults?
Caroline Silvera
Caroline Silvera
There was a beautiful girl who lived mostly in her head. She wasn’t beautiful for any notable extrinsic features.
Ella Powell
Ella Powell
One thing about me? I take birthdays very seriously. One birthday in particular, actually—mine.
Jordan Coleman
Jordan Coleman

Did you know that everyone in the world is different from everyone else? It’s 2001 and Disney Channel just discovered race.
Cassie Dallas
Cassie Dallas

The love I had for you
I did not know where to let it rest
Cheyenne Butler
Cheyenne Butler

when you look up at the night sky
what do you see?
Bailey Middleton
Bailey Middleton

there is a longing within me
for something that is not there
Lindsey Smith
Lindsey Smith

In the fifth grade, as leaves cascaded down into a shriveled crisp and as the autumnal air descended upon us, I begged my mother to be Little Red R
Jasmine Wang
Jasmine Wang

I am no stranger to opinion.
Eryn Rhodes
Eryn Rhodes
I am instantly hit by an unforgiving wave of humidity and booming trap music.
Ella Powell
Ella Powell