Spotlight

By Emily DeLetter “I’ve been to Java, Batra, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Bali, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor, enzoorvort…”  I’m fiddling with my napkin. I watch my sister and mom make eye contact. At the end of the table, the Cracker Barrel waitress smiles and...

By Casey McCarthy In the Highlands neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, near Cherokee Park, down a tree-lined hilly lane, sits a beautiful two-story home where dreams are tended.  Up the steps, the client walks into a sea-foam green nook, the word DREAM in gold...

By Kacie Brockman I remember the continuous packing. Every Friday afternoon I would gather up my clothes for the coming school week and my ratty, stuffed golden retriever, Shadow, who was my riding companion from house to house. I would cram my belongings into my...

By Lillie Eastham On most nights, Waz Blankenship, 62, can be found in his basement, surrounded by 10,000 of his favorite records and the painted faces of dead and tortured artists. His birth name is Warren, but Blankenship insists that Warren simply doesn’t exist...

By Laryn Hilderbrandt Silverware clinking against plates and light conversation filled the space at The Bistro where 39-year-old owner and executive chef Sasha Mandrapa sat comfortably in a black leather-upholstered booth. On the table there was a notepad covered in...

By Katie Zdunek The chandelier-lit living rooms fills with a burst of laughter that drowns out the Bosnian reality show, “Couples”, on the large TV across the living room. A framed Quran clock hangs above. Damira Ibresevic, 24, tilts her head back and continues to...

By Skyler Ballard The boys of the Bowling Green Projects United soccer team huddle in a corner of the field before their game. Their coach, Daniel Tarnagda, opens a box of brand new uniforms and passes them out. The boys hold them up, excited about the small...

By Evan Heichelbech Judging by the inside of Danni Peck’s apartment in Bowling Green, she’s a happy person. She even says she is. The posters on her walls aren’t evenly spaced or patterned in any way, but they cover most of the walls. She estimates that she has over...

By Abby Potter Beverly Carr, 53, writes down ingredients for a summertime fresh fruit smoothie. Her bony fingers click the mouse, and she opens a new recipe on Pinterest. She writes this down too, carefully copying every direction and organic ingredient. “I have to...

By Skyler Ballard After long hours of working in the fields, Drew Snider stretches and hops down off his tractor and heads toward the barn. His wife, Laney, greets him with a wide smile and a handful of flowers to deliver to a customer’s car. When the customers leave,...