Journals

I spent a good portion of my life trying to be better than the best. I was always the first to jump at an extra assignment or task, to show everyone that I was capable. But for what? Why? It was late at [...]

We had pride and there was a care we took with each other. Though there were normal middle school cliques and dramas, there was also a strength and loyalty among us. On that bus, we were family. I felt like I belonged. But when I [...]

To Mulugeta Seraw What could we have done but give your son our crooked handwritten, misspelled condolences? We wrote letters and poems on construction paper, neatly folding them like your resting hands in the casket.   We slipped our notes between fruit [...]

Surrounded by girls, Rasheed Curtis, 6, talks about why Overton should stay open before the last day of school at Overton Elementary School, June 19, 2013. | Jessica Koscielniak ~ Sun-Times Mayor You Stole My Children’s Safe, Sane Neighborhood SchoolA second open letter from Irene Robinson [...]

I’VE LEFT EARTH in search of darker planets, a solar system that revolves too near a black hole. I have left a patch of dirt in my place & many of you won’t know the difference; we are indeed the same color, one of us [...]

This Teacher Made A Video About His Star Student Trying To Get Into College. She's Not Getting In. Clint Smith tells us that "Everything I write, even when it’s not directly about me, is informed by my students. "Memoir” wasn’t something I thought about until I [...]

“I do not know you, but I love you,” I typed. I stared at the words, momentarily letting them linger, then pressed “send.” The recipient of my confession lived thousands of miles away. We had no connection to one another aside from [...]

We all have a personal history, a story we pass on. Perhaps, we were rejected, neglected, abandoned or hidden. Could it be that we were loved, but too much, or were we lost either, each, or neither? Author June Cross has experienced as most of us have, [...]

Written By Alyn [Before the Film Preview Screening '63 Boycott and Forum] The Past is similar to today! Black people were separated from white people in the past. What do you do when you have trouble? Maybe run or call for help? If you [...]