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A Past of Protest

What Will Be Mine by Avery Timmons (Illinois, 22)

2/4/2024

 
          Rapunzel had been waiting years for this moment.
          She let the information slip casually, playing it off as a mistake, but knowing that Mother Gothel would be furious with her for allowing anyone else into the tower — especially a prince. Therefore, she was expecting a punishment. So, when Mother Gothel pulled a pair of shears from her cloak, Rapunzel acted quickly.
          She seized the witch’s wrist, twisting it as hard as she could. Mother Gothel let out a cry of rage, not only at Rapunzel’s defiance, but also at her unexpected strength. But Rapunzel did not falter; after a moment longer of struggle, she was able to tear the shears from Gothel’s grip and pierce them straight through her heart. 
          Rapunzel pulled the shears out of Gothel’s chest — allowing the body to collapse on the floor with a thud — and stood up, pushing her hair back over her shoulders as she admired her work, chest heaving with her heavy breaths. Of course, there was the matter of getting rid of the body and cleaning up the copious amount of blood before the prince arrived for their nightly meeting; she couldn’t have him suspecting anything was wrong — not with what she had planned for him. 
          It was exceedingly difficult, but Rapunzel managed to get the job done before nightfall. She dragged Gothel’s body to the closet that held her cleaning supplies — including the mop that she needed to clean the blood that was now smeared across the dark hardwood floors of the tower. ​

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Legacies Past by Farrah (Italy, 36)

2/4/2024

 
​How they threw themselves
into projects like us, poured
their secret desires and fears
and fetishes into our lands,
our laps, all to starve their
own souls of humility, and
paint our faces with their
reflections. Polarity might
breed division but Nuance
makes way for indifference

​And wasn’t it good men who
stood by and did nothing
that were the ones who let evil win?

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