By Antonio Ambrosino When history repeats itself, the Middle Ages return in 2025 In the silent flow of modern days, a strange echo rises — as if the past, long buried, were whispering through the cracks of our present. Despite scientific and technological advances, our society reveals unsettling similarities with the medieval past. From Berlin’s … Continue reading Neomedievalism: The Contemporary Era in Medieval Reflections
My Time As A Hermit
By Michael Barrington After ten years as a busy religious missionary priest in Africa, I was driven by an internal compulsion to spend some time in silence, prayer, and solitude. I had spent three of those years in Nigeria, witness to unspeakable horrors and atrocities during its civil war. Delivering aid was a matter of … Continue reading My Time As A Hermit
November “The Thursdays” Contest: Bronze Winner: “Pets” by Oleg Daugovish
The camp fire dies down, and so does the conversation. The darkness blacks out the imperfections of the dusty Californian chaparral. Under the Big Tree, four slumped silhouettes sit, dissolving the week’s worries with cold brews. “Woof, woof, woof!” cry chops the stillness, urgency increasing with every bark. “Where’s that dog’s owner?” Maura’s logic becomes … Continue reading November “The Thursdays” Contest: Bronze Winner: “Pets” by Oleg Daugovish
This Time Around
By Caitlin Buhr My best friend is pregnant with her second child. Her first child was born 15 years ago, when we were juniors in high school. That day the summer before junior year that she told me the news, we were standing in my driveway. It was a rare day off from my babysitting … Continue reading This Time Around
Born to die
By Erni-Szakács Szilárd Life and death are connected. They do not exist alone, only together with the other. Somebody who is born must die. This is the rule of life. But why are we born? And what is life? Life is a gift or a punishment? Why are we born without being asked? What is … Continue reading Born to die
13 Days of Halloween: Flint by William Swanger
I heard something rustle close by, but I was in my invincible teens and so pondered no further whether deer, fox, raccoon or suspicious person was paralleling my course through the cornstalks. Besides, I was on a mission, my hand clutching a bag of flint corn. My friend had brought the corn to our meetup. … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Flint by William Swanger
13 Days of Halloween: Mannequins in the Hobbit Barn by S.G. Benson
When I purchased the old Shepard Place—one hundred sixty acres in northern Nebraska—I felt as if I’d stepped back in time. In 1925, Old Man Shepard ordered a house kit from the Sears & Roebuck catalog. It came by rail, arriving at the depot in town, about twenty-five miles away. Mr. Shepard and his brother … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Mannequins in the Hobbit Barn by S.G. Benson
Census
By JK Miller Birth: I was born with buttocks intact, thank God, in Ann Arbor, the same place my grandfather once, in the amphitheater of the medical school, showing off his speed in delivering a baby by cesarean, sliced the baby's buttocks with his scalpel. Race: What am I? My grandparents on my mother's side … Continue reading Census
My sport
By Reina Kita “Do you miss it?” my friend asks, as we run past the tennis courts at my local middle school. “No, not really”, I answer between breaths. For the past year, it has become my hobby to run to this school and do laps around the track. Running gives me an escape from … Continue reading My sport
It’s Only Temporary
By Chloe Bortnick 20 June 2025 I expected my senior year to be filled with lasts. My last school dances, the last school break, the last day of class, and eventually the last day in my hometown. What no one could have prepared me for was the development of something brand new: a friendship that, … Continue reading It’s Only Temporary
Academy of the Heart And Mind 