By Harper Ripsteen, TIWP Student Silence is always lurking. Lurking behind footsteps, conversations, and the voices in our heads. Lurking behind the barking of a dog, a timer going off, or your next-door neighbors annoyingly loud construction work. We can’t control the noises around us, so can true silence ever be achieved? Are we as […]

By Katelyn H., TIWP Student Our society constantly encourages people to stay busy. There is always another assignment, another notification, or another goal to chase. Productivity is treated like proof of worth, and slowing down is often seen as laziness.  Many people fill every moment of silence with entertainment or social media because stopping creates […]

By Rose U., TIWP Student From the moment Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered the truth about the Watergate scandal, Nixon’s career was over. He resigned in disgrace on August 9, 1974, becoming the first and only ever president to resign. From that point on, his reputation was forever tarnished. Almost 50 […]

By Emily Y., TIWP Student “I’m sorry,” she whispered for the fourth time, sheepish and small. “All you ever are is sorry, and that’s not a bad thing, but know nothing is your fault.” The floor tilted and she lost all footing. Sorry was her way of shrinking and taking up less space, having a […]

By Kristen H., TIWP Student “There is no final test for how to be human — only the open question of how to be yourself which you must answer daily.” – Maria Popova It rises like light in a windowsill through a thin curtain—soft, unavoidable. Before words, before certainty. A quiet pressure beneath the ribs, gently […]

By GG, TIWP Student Longing. Yearning. Aching. Craving. Desire is a funny thing. With desire comes longing. The desire to belong, to fit in, to be likeable, mixed with the desire to be yourself without shame or fear. It is in our nature to crave connection, it’s why shame is born. In the early days […]

By GG, TIWP Student Life is in the little moments. In the small things that make you human. Your fears, desires, mistakes, triumphs, and everything in between. Life is deep, breathless, laughs when your friend tells you a story or a joke. In the moments where you’re sitting on their couch watching a movie, or […]

By Rose U., TIWP Student Having grown up in what some might consider an oppressive society, maybe even dystopian, I’ve found that beauty standards are deeply entwined with patriarchal society. Further, the attractiveness of a person is associated with their morality, a false narrative that’s been pushed for generations. Worse, forgiveness of a man’s unattractiveness […]

By O. Deng, TIWP Student I see beauty in imperfection: my uneven brows, the floppy swirls of my frozen yogurt, the flecks of burnt candle wick that fall into my candle wax, the way my sheets fold delicately into random shapes when I don’t make my bed, and the messiness of my room during the […]

By Nick Brevik, TIWP Student I once witnessed a boy in love get down on his knees and apologize over and over again. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. The words spilling out of his mouth as if they were the only things he knew how to say. I still think about that […]