Salvador’s Flower

by Alexander Valenzuela

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‏‏‎I wiped the tears from my face, my parents’ voices still echoing through my head after they had told me that I wasn’t allowed to attend my dream school. I had the acceptance letter, I knew there was a chance they wouldn’t let me, but I thought that things would be different now that I had graduated from high school. I thought they’d let me go on my own. The thing is, I have no control over my future, only they do. They tend to talk about it whenever they think I’m not listening.

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Am I too old to start?

by Rossana Segovia

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The only thing I could see was the little flames dancing in between my mom’s hands.

In a living room full of darkness, the loud voices of my family were the main focus, singing an uncoordinated attempt of “Happy Birthday” while my mom, with a sweet smile, placed the big white cake in front of me, I stared at it for a long minute while my aunts filled their camera rolls with blurry pictures of my lost eyes, counting the number of candles firmly fixed on the cream, an amount big enough to make me worry about my achievements in life.

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Miniscule Creatures; Colossal Impacts

by Quinn Ryszka

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A flash of black with orange siding inches its way across the forest floor in Malaysia. An unusual sight that is almost instantly recognizable to anyone fortunate enough to have learned of this strange creature. However, it is also a new sight for many. Being initially discovered only 200 years ago, having its male counterpart discovered close to 100 years ago, and research into its diet still ongoing, the Trilobite Beetle was hiding right under our noses for around 47 million years. Believed to be a detrivore, this beetle may be part of one of the most exciting categories of insects. The bugs that rely on this unusual diet of decomposing organic matter may be small, but their impact is large. With only 35 species of insects classified as detritivores, these helpful critters get to work and take up one of the most important roles in our ecosystem: decomposition!

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