A digital space where teenagers can have a platform of their own; where they can fully realize their ability to create empathy and connect lives across real and imagined boundaries: This is Crossed Paths magazine.
Inspired by her time at the Seeds of Peace Camp and a love for writing, Saya, a 2019 New York City Seed, created the online literary magazine earlier this year with the belief “that dialogue and personal storytelling have the power to bring people together and encourage empathy,” she said.
“Since I couldn’t stay at Seeds forever, I decided to bring the storytelling to a digital space, and thus began Crossed Paths!”
Written and edited entirely by teenagers, the magazine is a space to share stories that resonate with young people, including topics like race, gender, sexuality, and religion.
The first edition, which was themed “Identity,” paired polished artwork with poems and deeply personal reflections about issues such as the pressures of growing up, intersectionality in America, and white women’s dehumanizing obsession with a young Black girl’s hair.
The goal, Saya said, is as the magazine’s name implies: “For our readers and writers to cross paths with new perspectives and stories, hopefully inspiring newfound empathy.”
“We all live in some sort of bubble,” she said, “and the primary purpose of Crossed Paths is to break out of that bubble.”
Crossed Paths is currently accepting submissions from writers and artists for their second issue, which is themed “resilience,” with a deadline of August 1. More information is available at crossedpaths.org.