Read Amber's essay, "To Know Her is to Love Her," about what she found beneath the hoodie and ink-stained knuckles of a new library visitor.
Writing Competition
Celebrating Student Writing
Read Alexandria's essay, "An Unanswered Cry for Help," about living her own life after her snow globe world shatters.
Read Aly's essay, "Highs and Lows," about how everyone can support people with bipolar disorder by helping them see not just the ups and downs, but all things beautiful in-between.
Read Logan's essay, "Bringing a Voice Back to Life," about being pushed to the edge of the skyscraper in his head in the recent past, but focusing now on shattering the stigma of depression and mental illness at his school.
We received many outstanding essays for the Fall 2017 Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we'd like to share some excerpts that caught our eye.
Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz, editorial and creative director at YES! Magazine, responds to the winners of our Fall 2017 National Student Writing Competition.
Is there anyone in your life—you included—who is not comfortable being referred to as “he” or “she”? Write a letter to Cole, founder of the Brown Boi Project, on how you feel about this expansion of gender pronoun language. How do you deal with this cultural change?
Want a motivator to take your students' writing to a higher level? Here's an opportunity to write about something meaningful and for a bigger audience beyond the classroom.
Read Alex's essay, "A New Design for Language," about the social and grammatical limits of gender-neutral pronouns—and how to get beyond them.
Read Ella's essay, "Language is a Many-Gendered Thing," about the challenges of using gender-neutral pronouns in a Puerto Rican American family.
Read Avery's essay, "Existing Openly Is Half the Battle," about being the token nonbinary person at college while still learning about their own gender.
Read Toby's essay, "The Thoughts and Struggle of a Two Spirit," about embracing a new gender identity—and rediscovering a tradition.
Read Madeleine's essay, "The Right to Be a Little Bit Rude," about overcoming the discomfort of correcting people who use the wrong gender pronouns.
Read Joanne's essay, "The Jintas of Conservative Korean Culture," about how words should never be allowed to limit who we are.
We received many outstanding essays for the Spring 2017 Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we'd like to share some excerpts that caught our eye.