An update from our fifty-eighth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, March 4, plus some of the output published below This week, the workshop focused on polysyndeton and asyndeton. Conner began his presentation by introducing three examples of sentences that use polysyndeton, which translates to “many bound together” and is the technique of using conjunctions in a sentence instead of punctuation. We looked at examples of polysyndeton in texts, such as Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. Then, workshop participants wrote their own stories using polysyndeton and then we learned about asyndeton, which is a technique that is the opposite of polysyndeton. The sentence directly before this one uses polysyndeton. This one does not. In fact, it uses asyndeton. Asyndeton is the technique of using punctuation, such as commas and periods, in one’s sentences rather than conjunctions. Next, we took the excerpt from All the Pretty Horses and removed the conjunctions, separating it into sentences to employ asyndeton. The Challenge: Write your own story using polysyndeton, then revise it using asyndeton. The Participants: Anushka, Ava, Amaya, Emma, Sarah, Lucy, Samarina, Stella, Aarush, Catherine, Arjun, Yueling, Eliza, Katelyn Two Exercises in Polysyndeton Amaya Chugani, 9 Anger The rain hit my head or the sun gleamed on me and the rain fell on me or I loved and I was safe and I was happy and I told myself this was the perfect family and I hated her and him and her and him and I hated all of them and mom and not dad and not mom and I hated him and her and him and her for every reason. Hitting My Stone I was sitting by the river and the pebbles hit my feet and I could feel the stream and the wind and the cool stones and I move the stream with a twig and I can feel the water sloshing around my feet. And I laid back and I felt guilty again and smiled and was mad and I got back up and stared at the woods and felt the sun shining down and I felt happy and I could see the fish. And they were red and white and blue and yellow and red birds flew overhead and the hints of the sun’s golden rays speckled in my eyes and I leaned down at the river and I was hitting my stone with a twig all along.
Saturday Newsletter: March 4, 2023
Space Mushrooms (acrylic) by Delilah Prager, 10; published in Stone Soup March 2023 A note from Tayleigh Greene Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve written a newsletter, but you may have communicated with me if you’ve ever needed customer service at Stone Soup. Since January of this year, I’ve also been the person behind Stone Soup’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and I am so excited for this opportunity to take Stone Soup’s online presence to the next level. It’s difficult for me to imagine a world without the Internet. But 50 years ago, Stone Soup was born in a college dorm room—ten years before the official birthday of the Internet. Naturally, Stone Soup has experienced plenty of changes over these past 50 years, and the shift to the digital age has been a major one, if not the major one. Like most journals and newspapers, Stone Soup is finding its way in the digital era, and we’re trying new things. In 2020, we began hosting our virtual writing workshops, which have proven to be wildly successful and would never have been possible if not for the Internet. In January, we launched our first ever GoFundMe campaign. Last week, we posted our first Reel to Instagram. We have some exciting projects in store for our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and I encourage you to keep up with Stone Soup by following us on our social media platforms. And, if you’d like to help us expand our online presence, I am pleased to announce that we are now accepting interns. If you are interested in working with me as a social media intern, please email tayleigh@stonesoup with a description of why you’re interested in the role, a little bit about yourself, and any applicable skills you would bring to the position. I look forward to hearing from you! I also want to share that our GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $10,000! Thank you to all who have joined us so far; we are so grateful for your support. We ask once again that you consider contributing to our campaign and share our page with anyone who might be interested in supporting our mission. Help us get to $10,000 and beyond! My best, Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
Home Sick, a poem by Carolina Ulloa-Compton, 12
staying at homeand being alonemy mom says it will endbut my dad says this is not the enddiscussing what will happenof something that we don’t know nobody knows longing for normalcylike a curious mousewondering when it will endwhen even a feather could break meinto microscopic piecesthat no one would noticeI am dead on the inside just a screen to stare atonly memes to giggle atlike the sunset on the other side going to the bathroom was never so easyjust a quick walkto the other side of the roomand the same path that now becomes my roommy boring roomand my messy roomeverything is the sameexcept when the broom streaks my roomfrom the dust and boredomthat this Covid brings through my room when can I stop staring at initials in front of a screen of math?with no understanding of what is onwhen no one believes that we will be freeof the sorrow and worrythat this brings
