Other Nations
by Soraya King

Behind the scenes of your local beehive.

"Experienced beekeepers know that each colony has its own distinct personality: a face, each bee a cell that dies if isolated from the hive. But this face usually bears a striking resemblance to a human one."

The Forgiveness Project
by Ryon Tanara

After a tragic loss, a psychologist finds a way to process her grief.

"Helen’s heart dropped. He would never go anywhere without his glasses, she thought. She talked herself out of the worst. He was fine, just traveling, spending time alone. But she could not let go of the image of his glasses on his desk. He would never leave behind his glasses."

 

The Game of Acceptance
by Apphia Freeman

One student's love/hate relationship with sorority life.

"The rational side of her kept telling her to get out of it. But there was something in her, an unexplainable impulse, to keep at it. She had already come so far, she had already been through so much, and to give it all up now so her life would be a little easier seemed cowardly, or cheap in some way. There were many others who had dropped out already. She felt like she needed to prove herself."

Brian and Me
by Jason Davis

Two Army veterans share an unbreakable bond.

"Some of us fought for peace or revenge or for college money, and others fought for their brothers and sisters and families back home. But mostly, we fought because we were told to, and when we were told to stop fighting—that it was time to go home—the battle raged on in our heads."

Chasing the Horizon with the Dory Fleet
by Charisma Madarang

A family of Newport Beach fishermen hangs on to an old-fashioned way of life.

"When you’re out there you get away from all the bullshit on land. Just you and the ocean, the sky that is almost white. There is nothing for miles in either direction, a landscape of seamless blue. Out there nothing is definite, yet its waters offer a reassuring certainty: here is man’s greatest freedom, endless escape."