All posts of flourish

Michelle Mia Antallan: What have you been thinking lately?

Thank you for being the first early inspiration in my life; being the first grandchild allowed me to have all the perks (and favoritism, I think) to learn from you. I am very far away from home and you are getting older; I can’t stop thinking about having fears of you getting sick or something […]

Johniqua Fort: What have you been thinking about lately?

A timeless letter from your mama … I’ve started this letter over and over countless times. Few times on paper, several times in my head. A simple question of, “What is something you’ve been thinking about lately?” turns out to be not so simple, honestly, because I am always thinking about everything. If I had […]

Anwyn Suhr: What have you been thinking about lately?

Do you ever catch yourself getting lost in the past? It’s been a bad habit of mine lately. Today, I filmed a beautiful wedding in this old cathedral full of artwork, sculptures, intricate wood carvings. And as I observed each work, each Biblical painting, each deliberate carving of the sculptures, I found myself lost in […]

Leni Santoro: What have you been thinking lately?

Perhaps it is because spring has come that I have been thinking about when you were little and we would plant the garden together. Or perhaps it was seeing the way the sun shone on the grass after the early morning rain shower, releasing into the day a thousand small, shining glimmerings of a garden […]

Olivia Cisneros: What have you been thinking lately?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to keep the peace — less on the world-peace scale, but more so on the societal scale. One type of peace helps protect the country, but the other helps protect the camaraderie in our everyday lives. But this is challenged when we fight over opinions. Opinions, by […]

Childlike Wonder: It’s summertime — have fun!

Modeling by Altyn Timlin Photos and art direction by Aaron Eisenhauer Intro, styling and art direction by Mia Pohlman Long stretches of pretending to be spies or riding bikes in driveway circles or reading Harry Potter outside under the tree with our sib- lings, sweat matting locks of hair to our necks, a timelessness of […]

Turn Up the Music: Playlists for your summer of wonder

By Jasmine Jones When I listen to Lana Del Rey’s “Lust for Life” album, I see my teenage self, strapped into my parents’ mini van’s backseat, staring out the window at a blur of Californian desert. My family was returning from a road trip to Los Angeles that summer when she released the album, and […]

Sponsored Content: Start a Summer Skincare Routine

4 Steps to protect your skin Sponsored Content in Partnership With Fifty-seven Third Beauty Collective Suite Midwest summers bring some of the most exciting moments of the year. From tending garden to weekends by the pool to spending a day at the ballpark, there is so much to look forward to. But amidst the joys […]

Meet Along the Way: Debbie Crane

This story was first published as “Community Cookbook: Rice Casserole with Debbie Crane from Dexter, Mo.” in the April 2024 issue of The Best Years. By Jasmine Jones Debbie Crane grew up in Dexter, Mo., but somehow, she says she didn’t know what Branson, Mo., or Silver Dollar City were until her mother asked to […]