By Melinda Trujillo Winter 2016 Kaplan Award Winner I never was any good at those games from children’s birthday parties- you know, the ones where they blindfold you and spin you around and ask you to pin the tail on the donkey- or to swing at those piñatas full of prizes and candy. How can … Read More

By Kayla Roberts Winter 2016 Kaplan Award Winner One night when I was 10 years old, I dreamt that Osama Bin Laden kidnapped my sister. We were playing in the front yard, and a big unmarked white van pulled up to my front yard. The side door opened, and a tall man climbed out and … Read More

By Charles Johnson Winter 2016 Kaplan Award Winner  Kent is a quiet city by day, but at midnight on weekends, screaming souped-up engines accelerate through the streets, making it the center for illegal street racing in the Pacific Northwest. Kent has been a hub for street racing for decades. A large warehouse district to the … Read More

By Kseniya Sovenko Fall 2015 Kaplan Award Winner There were no gay people in Conrad, Montana. There was no space for them. Populated by nearly 2,500 residents at the time, the small town had just become home to an eight-year-old military brat. Growing up, Celeste Carolin thrived in the tight knit community. She’s a people … Read More

By Kseniya Sovenko Fall 2015 Kaplan Award Winner The phone buzzed. “Make sure you eat until 3 a.m.,” read a message on the illuminated Nokia screen. “After that, no food or water. Dinner will be at 9:12 p.m.” Most people stay up until 3 a.m., but I’m a newcomer to this practice. That evening, I … Read More

By Kseniya Sovenko Fall 2015 Kaplan Award Winner I never pick up the phone on the first ring. Or the second. Or the third. My mom can spend hours romancing the phone, but I hate phone calls. The idea of allowing a device to carry my voice into the crevices of far-away ears inspires nothing … Read More

By Jacky Graham Winter 2015 Kaplan Award Winner Green, tan, and white, everything that’s supposed to be right. Tacoma Presbyterian Church is a place located in Tacoma, Washington that congregates souls that want to know God. This church is special. It’s a bilingual Korean-English speaking church that involves services in both languages. If you’ve seen … Read More

By Karina Mazhukhina Winter 2015 Kaplan Award Winner A man wearing a baseball cap and a red coat with tan slacks stands at the Santa Monica Pier with his daughter and grandson. He looks off into the distance and begins reciting an old poem he wrote: “The sea is calm tonight, the sun is going … Read More

By Holly Thorpe Winter 2015 Kaplan Award Winner January is usually an unapologetic time in Seattle. The soft grey of the skyline turns into the hard steel of cold — actual scarf-and-coat-and-gloves cold. And, like the sun-fueled creatures we are, we retreat into coffee shops and thick-yet-fashionable coats and wait for the deliverance of spring. … Read More

By Aga Afeworki Winter 2015 Kaplan Award Winner I watched the clock intensely. I was waiting, so I had nothing but time. It was 2 o’clock and the little hand was taunting me like the low muttering chatter from a group of people you don’t like in the cafeteria. I had nothing other than the … Read More