This winter issue, similar to winter's long nights, will take the reader through some dark times -- despair over losing a friend; extreme poverty; bullying. However, all these stories have a sunrise, a happy place -- making friends; rising out of poverty; victims becoming strong again. It goes to show that no matter how dark it gets, the sun will eventually rise.

     It struck me that many of these submissions came during late December, the season of gift-giving and shopping sprees. Consumerism -- i.e., where people buy objects or services -- is a tempting way to lift one's mood. But lately I’ve been thinking more about the opposite of consumerism -- creativity, something I cherish. Whereas consumerism is easy, instant and addictive, being creative is usually difficult, time-consuming and demanding -- you’ll most likely fail, start over, and perspire to make your work great. For me, my favorite form of creativity is writing. Once I finish polishing a piece to perfection, a feeling arises -- delayed gratification. Delayed gratification is powerful, because the feeling of finishing a piece of writing that you’ve worked on for hours, carefully constructing and elaborating and polishing, is immensely more satisfying than staring at the homepages of online retailers in a haze. Consuming is something almost anyone can do, but your creation is special, because only you could have produced this, with your time, effort and vision.

     Human creativity lies at the center of all of our lives. Any technological innovation, scientific discovery, or literary masterpiece has this at its core. So make sure that you keep creating -- it's something that can really change your life. 

-- Keshav D.

Founding Editor, Scribere

An online literary journal for youth ages 11-18. Our mission? To inspire youth creativity.