Young Writers Project is a creative, online community of teen writers and visual artists that started in Burlington in 2006. Each week, VTDigger publishes the writing and art of young Vermonters who post their work on youngwritersproject.org, a free, interactive website for youth, ages 13-19. To find out more, please go to youngwritersproject.org or contact Executive Director Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org; (802) 324-9538.
Who are you?: Possibly the most loaded question you’ll ever be asked. Are you the sweaters you knit, or rallies you attend? Your morning routine, or nights out with friends? As it turns out, we are all made up of a thousand pieces. This week, we feature the Gold Award winners in writing, Gracie Batsie of Jericho, and visual art, Payton Hruby of Colchester, from our spring contest challenge, Teenager: Who are you? Thank you to all who participated in the challenge!
A list
By Gracie Batsie, 16, of Jericho, Young Writers Project Gold Award for writing.
If my body is 60 percent water, the other 40 percent is made out of … Taylor Swift lyrics. Poems I will never finish. Speeches I want to write. Directions to my sister’s college.
People I wish I could forget. Sugary-sweet iced coffee. Really nice things said about me by children. Really terrible things said about me by my peers. Outfit ideas. The color pink. Conversations I’ve had. “Reelin’ in the Years” by Steely Dan. Existential dread. Worries about tomorrow. Academic burnout.
The need for validation. Advice people think I need. Advice I am ready to give. Motherly love for my friends. Forehead kisses. Notes app drafts. Things I want to tell them but that will never leave my tongue. Others’ perceptions of me. My close friends’ story posts. Being scared for my sister. Being hopeful for my friends.
“Criminal Minds,” season three, episode nine. Regret for my words. Words that could kill. Being the little girl that teachers sat next to the problem boy. (I can fix him.) Wondering if people have thought they could fix me.
Smokescreens. Encouragement from adults that I don’t need. Things I do for my friends so they feel loved. Worry and regret. Apologies I won’t ever say. A.P. U.S. History quizlets. Tears over things I am afraid of. And probably, some atoms.
