"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one" - George Martin
Hello! You may notice that this note is different from the rest you've come upon. It isn't printed--it's written by hand! My hand, actually. Who am I? I own no real name, and no home. But the jungle inhabitants call me The Collector. You can call me that too, if you happen to see me walking around here. My job is to collect and gather stories scattered around the jungle. I keep them all here, in the Story Rocks, safe and sound for travelers, like YOU, to visit and read! Anyways, right now I hear the faraway calls of a gnome spirit. I must go now. Enjoy my collections!
The Paper Person follows the adventures of a curious creature made of paper who wanders alone in the forest. The Paper Person spends their days collecting paper in the forest, sticking them on themselves, and absorbing the words and pictures on the paper. Their thoughts, memories, and opinions are the convergence of all the papers they collect. One night, a relentless storm sweeps through the forest. Hungry for more knowledge and answers to their burning questions, they grab an ember from a forest fire, mistaking it for paper, and nearly all of their paper is burned to ashes. What will happen next?
This piece won the Scholastic Art and Writing Regional American Voices Nominee and Gold Award 2024!
I started writing this piece during my English's teacher's summer writing workshop! My friend Bird also gave me some great feedback!
Do you have free will? At first glance, this question may seem very easy to answer. Yes, of course! I can decide what to have for lunch, when to wake up in the morning, what to write on my homework. I have control over my decisions, you are likely thinking. But what happens when we consider the very root of this question?
This article was published in my school newspaper, the Moskiddo!
“It’s hard to argue that we aren’t living in a simulated world” - Neil DeGrasse Tyson
“There's one in billions chance we're in base reality” - Elon Musk
Ever since humans roamed the land, we’ve asked questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? What purpose do we serve? What is the meaning of life? While this argument may seem far-fetched at first, it is more probable than you might think.
This article was published in my school newspaper, the Moskiddo!
2023
Mindy's Quest is a fantasy/mystery fiction. It follows a young girl named Mindy who accidentally falls off a roof one night. The doctors diagnose her with a fatal brain damage. Mindy wanders off into the forest, only to get stranded at night. She discoverers a strange stone arch, and disappears the moment she steps past the arch.
"A room without books is like a body without a soul" - Cicero