October Sky

The wilderness is rarely a nice place. With all the animals trying to eat you, or just mosquitos. Some things never went your way, and it was truly survival of the strongest person around. But today, it was pleasant. Sun rays were shining and glistening through the leaves. It was morning. I slowly looked around, then got up. There was nothing attacking me like I thought it would, so that’s another thing to be grateful for. Consequently though, because I’ve never encountered anything yet, there…

The air was clouded with thick flakes of ash. The sky plagued with a death like grey shade. The once lively and beautiful city of Belgium, collapsed into a depressing scene of destruction and despair. There was no sign of life. The city was littered with gravel and bricks. Madeline opened her eyes and lifted the debris off of her dress. She stood up, and saw with a blurry vision. She was light headed and did not know what was going on. She started walking, taking in the destruction of her town…

was about a small ladybug on your window or a rocket ship in outer space. Sometimes it’s best to not let your curiosity get the best of you because in the end, if you let yourself be curious, you might end up putting yourself or others in danger. The sky coated itself in dark lavender on this particular hot, summer day, so anyone would immediately know it was going to start pouring. My mother, though, thought it was a perfect day to bring my brother, my sister, and me, an eight year old, for a…

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” In mid 1666, out in Massachusetts there lay in the open field was a flame engulfing the white-painted wooden structure of the house, what can be heard all while the known is being yelled, “Fire! Fire!”. I expected to see a fire in the woods not my own home, I run out of the home to only see many rooms on fire. You can hear the wood, our belongings crackling will be burned to ashes in the bright red and orange fire. We sit there watching what cannot be brought back from the…

Another sunny day in sky city, children frolic in gentle arms of the sun, coming home from school. One child in particular was happy, he had straight A’s, he got a new video game, and his birthday was today, his name is Chris. Chris is 11 years old, he is average height for his age, he has striking blue eyes, and loves to play sports as well as video games. As the kids stroll towards home, clouds abruptly enter. A blue flare of lightning shot down from the sky faster than the speed of light, and…

It was very quiet. No dogs barking, no people talking. Just the quiet whisper of the howling winds. The rules strictly prohibited anyone out of their rooms past 8:30, which Yuki didn’t mind that much. What Yuki hated even more than the unimaginative, blank buildings, was the emptiness of the desert. Back in her old home in California, she could sit by the ocean for hours, listening to the peaceful waves crashing onto the shore. Yuki sat in her bed, staring at the ceiling. The room was hot and…

combined two separate negatives (one of the sea and one of the sky) into one composite seascape. During this time period, photography was often regarded as an objective record of truth and reality, a notion that Le Gray challenged in performing this manipulation. In addition, by working with two separate negatives, Le Gray was able to overcome the inability of early photographic technology to accurately render the tonal qualities of both the sky and the sea in one negative. The photo above shows…

There's a peace that comes over a place after violence has passed through it. A silence. Darlene's never been in a war zone or even a natural disaster, but she imagines it would be something like this, when everyone's finished dying and the birds have come through to pick the bones clean. Times Square has been blocked off since last night, but the ground's still littered with discarded signs; there's a single shoe lying in the gutter across the street. She doesn't know why she focuses on that…

1. C.1 You walk through the path that leads to the smoke. You see the glowing orb again. There is a slight buzzing noise. It goes farther into the smoke you run after it and then trip and stumble. You hear men yelling you look up and see a small local village on fire. A group of people are lined up against a wall. You see the orb now but you realize it’s not an orb it a drone. It goes over to a group of men dress in red and black holding guns. “Kill the remain rebels.” A voice says…

The newborn sun bled red streaks across the sky. Chloe’s hair glowed like a halo as we marched out of our tipsy cabin with its decayed wood that smelled of raw earth. Despite the ungodly hour, our campsite was glittering with life. A fire was flickering, but there was no smell of meat in the air. I craned my neck and frowned at the sighted of the vegetables roasting. My small nose crinkled with apprehension. Hippies, my dad called these people, my mom used a euphemism: animal activists. My dad…