Hush + Natural Disasters + Rebirth
by BRENDA MEZA Artist’s Statement My work is important to me for various reasons, but mostly because it shows how I grow and improve as an artist. Every time I … Continue reading
Hunting Season: A Personality Quiz + how to be both holy and broken
by FARAH GHAFOOR Hunting Season: A Personality Quiz 1. tiger pelts and rifles. 2. 17% fluent in portuguese. 3. singing lullabies to things bleeding into brown. 4. embedded … Continue reading
Teen Angst + Casual + Walk with Me + Freedom
BY SEAN DETSCHERMITSCH Teenage Angst We clutch the sides of broken angst and teenage lust gripping for the ones we passed and trust I got ripped from the arms of the … Continue reading
You Can’t Choose Your Fake Family
BY LALE CEYLAN I don’t like Ella. Unfortunately, I’ve had to spend my entire childhood with her because my dad’s Turkishness and my mom’s love for inviting people for dinner … Continue reading
Zeitmaschine
BY MICHAEL LENART In 2022, we were able to find a cure for cancer. Millions of lives were saved, and we were eventually able to wipe it out completely. After … Continue reading
Between Dead Worlds
BY CONNIE GUO Past certain concealed glass doors of a shopping center there are staircases and elevators that take you up to the second floor lobby of battered, sun-bleached buildings, … Continue reading
The Kitsune Series
BY AMARANTHIA SEPIA GITTENS-JONES Artist Name: AmaSepia Artist’s Statement I’ve been experimenting with iPad art programs like Brushes and SketchbookPro since I was 11, and trying to find ways to … Continue reading
Drip by Drip
BY ERIC ARAGON “Papers, papers, papers… shit!” He threw everything everywhere in frustration. “What’s wrong?” his secretary asked in annoyance. It wasn’t the first time this happened since the incident … Continue reading
My Little Beating Bruised Heart + Charcoal Lungs
BY MADDIE MCLEOD My Little Beating Bruised Heart My little beating, bruised heart oozes blackish blue venom from its chambers. Glass shards, like flecks of confetti, cut my lips as … Continue reading
Cheater
By NOELLE MALDONADO A scarlet letter pinned to me, lips sealed, eyes glued shut I am a cheater. I am cold I am shaking As I write these words, Exposing … Continue reading
Falling from Grace
BY MICHAEL CRECCO I didn’t even feel myself hit the ground. My headstone reads, “Here lays Connor Grayley, A blessed spirit who was never meant for this world.” When I … Continue reading
Finding My Way Through
BY NOELLE MALDONADO Prologue I am Noelle Nicole Maldonado. Who I was when I first began is much different from who I am now. Picturing myself as a newborn baby–a … Continue reading
Painting with Light
BY MANNIE AVILA AND STEPHEN LOPEZ Artists’ Statement These photographs were created collaboratively using flares, steel wool lit on fire, and a slow shutter speed. The intent was to capture … Continue reading
Etymology + If I Were a Compass, I Would Point East + Object Writing
BY NATHAN KIPHART Etymology 1 Inconsistency Let this word settle on your tongue Roll it around in your mouth feel its weight its burden Detect its flavor— bitter Feel it … Continue reading
Beauty in Death: A Photo Essay
BY MANNIE AVILA Artist’s Statement My older brother Robert, got me into photography. I used photography as an escape from all my troubles. I was struggling with depression, anger management, … Continue reading
White Hearted Child (An Excerpt)
BY CLAUDIA CASANOVA [This work is excerpted from an ongoing story that takes place in a fully created alternate world. The inhabitants of this world are articulate, cat-like creatures operating within a … Continue reading
Medium + Bone-White Bones + Back to the Beginning
BY CIARA KNISLEY Medium this place is already poisoned, a hell swarm and a bubble in the earth and if I tried to go somewhere new my truck would only … Continue reading
Chicago City of Learning Young Author Playlist: SEEKING REVENGE
The following work is the result of an eight-week collaboration with The Chicago City of Learning Young Author Playlist and Hypertext Studio Writing Center. An excerpt of this piece is also featured … Continue reading
Chicago City of Learning Young Author Playlist: BREAK OUT
The following work is the result of an eight-week collaboration with The Chicago City of Learning Young Author Playlist and Hypertext Studio Writing Center. An excerpt of this work is … Continue reading
Chicago City of Learning Young Author Playlist: DEAR BROTHER
The following work is the result of an eight-week collaboration with The Chicago City of Learning Young Author Playlist and Hypertext Studio Writing Center. An excerpt of this piece is … Continue reading
Lapis Lazuli
BY BLAINE FINSTEIN In The Beginning On the first day, God created the heavens and the earth. He saw the darkness over the land and said, “Let there be light,” … Continue reading
Oak Cliff Light: A Photo Essay
BY STEPHEN LOPEZ Artist’s Statement What is photography to me? My escape from reality, my own world where nothing else matters, but that moment I hear my shutter. Shooting on the … Continue reading
I Had a Crush on Him + He Had a Crush on Me
BY INDIE NIA I Had a Crush on Him Imagination stains Reality For it forgets to follow the beat of my hummingbird heart And deliver you with smiling eyes and … Continue reading
HYPERNOVA LIT 