Taylor Glenn

Silence cuts through the Rock Creek student section as the volleyball passes over the net, falling to the floor with a dull “thud”. Cheering erupts from the student section, while the Paola Panthers dive desperately to catch the final point. For the first time since 2008, the Rock Creek volleyball team spiked their way into the KSHSAA State Championship, played this year in Hutchinson, and the match against Paola was a win.

Bison in the park. Crowd-free outdoor adventure reigns in Grand Teton, the Serengeti of North America. The first rose glow of morning light illuminated the jagged peaks of the Teton Range, their base still awash in blue and purple. At the Snake River Overlook, a spot that’s especially spectacular at sunrise and sunset, the river wound through the valley in the foreground as pink light turned to gold.

“Oh, you got my thighs. Sorry about that!” quipped my mother one day. I was a teenager, who may or may not have hated her own thighs at that point. “Oh, that’s… that’s OK,” I think I replied. I am certain that in that moment, my mother’s intention was not to make me feel bad. It was meant as a light-hearted and honest expression of dislike for a part of her body.