Sabrina Guo, a Syosset High School freshman from Long Island, NY–and a name that readers of Stone Soup over the past few years will recognize from her many contributions to the Magazine and blog–has risen to the challenge of COVID-19 in the Long Island community. In response to New York City Mayor De Blasio’s declaration on March 23 that hospitals would run out of personal protective equipment (PPE) in a week, she started a fundraising campaign: LILAC (Long Island Laboring Against COVID-19). This GoFundMe campaign has already raised more than $7,000 (at time of writing) to support frontline medical professionals, with local news coverage published in the Syosset Jericho Tribune. Great work, Sabrina! You can find the GoFundMe campaign here; and pick up news and updates via Instagram (Is@lilacovid_19). Stone Soup is proud to support this great initiative, and we hope our readers will consider doing so, as well. And, to all our readers–what local initiatives are you involved with during this crisis? Let us know so we can stand together, offer our support, and spread the word to the rest of the Stone Soup community!
Daily Creativity #5: Flash Fiction of Social Activity
It’s Friday–time for some flash fiction! Think of an activity you like to take part in with other people–like football or singing or playing a board game–and write a narrative of fewer than 250 words in which that thing is at the center of the action.
Daily Creativity #1: Sharing Hope using Spoken Word
Radio producer Cathy Fitzgerald is inviting everyone to share their experiences during this time, through the power of spoken word. She wants to hear your voices talking about how you are feeling, how daily life has changed, and what you are doing that brings joy, comfort, courage, solace–and hope. She is collecting recordings from people all over the world, and making a radio show, Life on Lockdown, out of them. Everyone is welcome to join in. Simple messages take work.* So, for today’s activity, think about what you might like to say in your message to the world about who you are, where you are, and the things that make or keep you hopeful during these times. Write down some of your main ideas and feelings, and craft them into a few short sentences. Read your message aloud a few times to make sure you like what you hear and how it sounds, and then record it on your phone or other device, or directly from your computer using the tool on the LOL site. You can do this activity either by yourself or with other members of your family. If you are happy with what you’ve made, and you are doing this activity close to the date it was posted here, you can submit it to Life on Lockdown (LOL) for possible inclusion in the radio program for the UK’s BBC. Read all the details on how to do that at the LOL website. You could also (or instead) make your own recording and submit it to our Bloggers category for inclusion on the Stone Soup blog, at any time. * Lots of famous people through history have been credited with signing off their letters with an apology for it being so long, but they didn’t have time to write a shorter one. If you are looking for an extra bit of distraction, you can read more about that here: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/
