by Rodolfo Gonzalez Pine tree in Colorado. (Photo credit: Rodolfo Gonzalez) We were always taught to look towards the future as if it is planned for us already, As if it is all planned out, and is bound to happen as it wills. It’s okay to fail, It’s okay to be less than. No one can plan for it. Perfection in life never ensures a perfect future, that unpredictability is a profound part of it. It defies humans’ basic way of thinking: a seemingly basic, linear route meant to reward the common...

by Marc Corteguera Illustrated by: Alexander Valls The cold didn’t belong here. The Florida cold was almost always a joke. But this cold front was different. Students came into our late 7:00 college class hunched over, breath faintly visible in the lecture hall, hoodies pulled tight. A third of the seats were empty, students calling in sick. I sat in the back, watching frost gather along the windows like the building was being quietly swallowed. Sofia sat three rows ahead of me. Alone....

by Marc Corteguera CCNN's story on Akol At 7-foot-1, Akol Nyok does not just enter a room. He fills it. In Christopher Columbus High School’s gym, his presence is obvious before he even touches a basketball. Long strides. Easy dunks. A wingspan that seems built for arenas much bigger than this one. But his story does not begin under these bright lights. It begins in Kenya. “I grew up in Kenya, and I really didn’t know much about basketball. I knew about basketball later when I grew up, when I...