Our September Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #168 (provided by Molly Torinus, Stone Soup contributor), which asked participants to write about themselves with one small twist: the story had to take place inside a parallel universe where they led a different life. The prompt was interpreted in myriad ways, with many branching into the realm of science fiction, others into fantasy, and some choosing to remain within the world of the mundane. We were dazzled by participants’ creativity, our minds taken on journeys to a car ride with a yapping dad, a dystopian future where fires reigned supreme, a skillfully disguised Magic Store, and much, much more! As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! In particular, we congratulate our Winners and our Honorable Mentions, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “The Concert” by Lucas Hinds, 13 (Lenoir City, TN) “Recognition” by Serena Lin, 10 (Scarsdale, NY) “Are you Ready?” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “Phoenix” by Eliya Wee, 11 (Menlo Park, CA) “The Magic Store” by Chloe Yang, 12 (Cranbury, NJ) Honorable Mentions “A Day with My Drox” by Tahra Araujo, 9 (Brooklyn, NY) “The Puzzle” by Anushka Dhar, 12 (Hillsborough, NJ) “Normal Universe/Parallel Universe” by Nova Macknik-Conde, 9 (Brooklyn, NY) “Mechanical Master” by Rishab Suresh, 13 (Sanford, FL) “Duplicates” by Emily Tang, 12 (Winterville, NC) Lucas Hinds, 13 (Lenoir City, TN) The Concert Lucas Hinds, 13 “Time to get up, boys!” my mom shouted, waking me. “Please, just 30 more minutes,” I mumbled. “No way!” she said sternly. “We have to get ready. We have a concert to go to.” A muffled sigh came from behind me. I looked back, but didn’t see Peyton anywhere. He was buried in the warm, comfy sleeping bag. Tired from our late sleepover shenanigans, we grudgingly got ready to go. When we finally walked out the door—the sun shining high and bright in the sky—we got into the truck and headed out. My dad plays trombone for the Oak Ridge Community Band, and all the concerts are at the amphitheater in Oak Ridge, so we get to visit the ‘Secret City’ any time my dad has a concert, which is quite often. Today was one of those days. “What a beautiful day!” I said sleepily. “I hate mornings,” I heard Peyton mumble. “I’ve always been a night owl.” The trip was extra uneventful. My family has never been that talkative during car rides. You hear stories about games and songs and all kinds of things families do during rides. Not our family. All we do is listen to the radio and enjoy the scenery. Only the occasional history lesson from my dad about the Oak Ridge National Laboratories or stories about the river being radioactive. My dad was so predictable in this respect that you could sense when he was about to go off. I knew he was about to go off on a tangent. “Get ready. My dad is about to go off on one of his stories. I can sense it,” I warned Peyton. “Wait wh—” “Boys, we’re about to pass by one of the most secret laboratories in the US. They made a lot of progress in nuclear technology and—” My dad was interrupted by a powerful force hitting our truck, nearly toppling it over, then we heard an ear shattering BOOM! As we looked outside, the sky was thick with a purplish hue. “What was that?” Peyton asked. We looked around and were surprised to see no effect on the surrounding environment. “Probably just some dumb teenagers trying to cause trouble,” my dad guessed. “I remember doing things exactly like this when I was your guys’ age. In fact, back in my time, you could…” “Oh, here he goes again,” I whispered to Peyton. The rest of the ride was filled with tales from my dad’s childhood. When we finally made it to the concert, everyone was shouting at us. “Tom! We’ve been waiting for you! What happened?” “Come on! Are we gonna warm up or what?” He was visibly confused at first, but then he realized something. “Alright! Let’s get started!” He shouted to the band. “Let’s start with something simple, ‘The Star Spangled Banner!” “What’s going on? He’s not supposed to be the conductor.” I whispered to Peyton. “I don’t know, but something’s up.” He replied. “I think it has something to do with the explosion back there. Maybe an experiment gone wrong.” The rest of the warm-up and concert went by without conversation. Everything went smoothly, even with my dad in charge, and we didn’t discuss anything until we got back home. “What happened?” I questioned my dad, hoping he had a simple explanation. “We’re in a parallel universe.” “Funny joke, dad. But I’m being serious! Why were you the conductor! And why did nobody find it strange that you were suddenly in charge?” “I just told you. One of the trombone players told me what happened. Apparently, he’s a scientist at the labs. He said they were doing experiments with time travel, but instead of time travel, they figured out how to go to parallel universes. One of the experiments with these universes got out of hand, and now here we are,” he said. “I knew I shouldn’t have done this sleepover,” Peyton complained. “Something weird happens whenever I’m with you guys.” “Do you have his phone number, honey?” My mom asked. “If he’s the one doing these experiments, maybe he can get us back.” “I already arranged a meeting. Today at 3 PM.” “Well? What do we do until then? We have about 2 hours!” I said. “Play games, duh,” Peyton said. “Well, I think we should go shopping. Just because it’s a parallel universe doesn’t mean they don’t have good deals!” said my mom. “Sounds like a plan,” my dad said, and we left for the nearest grocery store. When we got there and started shopping, I saw a familiar face. Zander, or, as his close friends called him, Z.
How Nationality Affects the Eyes, a personal narrative by Sue Park, 12
Sue Park, 12 (South Korea) How Nationality Affects the Eyes Sue Park, 12 I still remember the day my teacher introduced me to the project. It was a cloudy day in April 2019, and the whiteboard had consisted of three bloody-red words that frightened most of the children: North-Korean Interview. I did love projects and adventurous trips at that time, but I knew this trip would be different, and somewhat spectacular. I had planned the new unit, different countries and cultures, to be about the ‘normal’ countries, not the countries that were known for their militaries and strict dictatorships, like North Korea. To make matters worse, I had always thought negatively about North Korea and its citizens. From school and TV shows, I naturally had a lot of prejudice about the place as it was planted in my mind as a brutal and unstable country with violent people. Additionally, I grew up watching the immense tension between the two countries in practically every political or social issue. It was incredibly easy to find news articles about the unbelievable actions of the North-Korean government officials, primarily Kim Jong-Un. … I stood in the middle of the hallway, frightened. I took a deep, slow breath as I took a giant step through the whooshing crowd of children. I quickly scanned the group of kids next to me; they looked like 3rd-graders that were enjoying the trip. I was blankly staring at them for a while when I heard someone calling me. My homeroom teacher motioned me to come, then smiled at me. At first, I thought she was waving at the playful boy behind me, but as I stuttered, she came up to me and told me that it was my turn for the interview. At that moment, I screamed, inwardly, “I don’t want to do this!” As my teacher carefully held my wrist and took me to the man from North Korea, I did not practice my script but rather practiced the karate skills that I had learned in kindergarten, fearing sudden violence. When I finally reached the door to the interview room, which looked like a torture chamber, my teacher nudged me calmly. At that moment, my teacher appeared to be a frightful green monster pushing me to the town of hell. Recognizing my fate, I trudged to the chair and quietly sat on the corner of it, ready to leave at any moment. Surprisingly, the man didn’t look any different from a normal South Korean man. He had a warm smile and he did not wear the military clothes that I had pictured in my head. As I quickly scanned him and looked into his plain black eyes, there was an awkward silence. And it felt like a millennium. When I couldn’t stand the silence much longer, I blurted out my first question: “What is the main obstacle you have faced in South Korea?” and as he answered accordingly, my stomach rumbled with guilt and fear. The man calmly listed out the prejudices and perceptions South Koreans had of him, and how difficult it was for him to find a job due to the people neglecting him after listening to his North Korean accent. As he listed out these examples, my guilt increased more and more due to the fact that I could relate to all of them. As if he noticed my pain, he asked, “Is something wrong?” and I replied, “No, I’m fine!” But, I knew this was a lie. As the interview went on, and I watched others interact with him, it became clear that this North Korean man was a complete contradiction from the picture I had drawn in my head. He was completely different from the military that was portrayed on the news. He was amiable, friendly, and loved making new friends. He was not violent nor rude, but was careful with his actions and was very gentle toward all the students. He bowed respectively to any newcomer that agreed to take the interview and was more than welcoming to anyone that came across his way. I slowly started to realize that it might be an unkind mistake to overgeneralize North Koreans as the “antagonists.” I learned that without meeting them, we should not criticize a certain group of people just because of their nationality. This is because even though their nationality might have a rough background, their citizens might be different as they might not be influenced by these experiences. This is why the interview provided me with the lesson that we should not judge a person by their nationality. This experience definitely encouraged me to recognize problems related to prejudice in society that still exist today.
Brain, Not Body, an essay by Anandi Kulkarni, 11
Anandi Kulkarni, 11 (Sunnyvale, CA) Brain, Not Body Anandi Kulkarni, 11 When 19-year-old Lindsay Hecox was banned from running on a girls’ team by the state of Idaho, she decided to fight for her rights as a citizen. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, and she should have been eligible to run for her school. “I just want to run,” she said. Why was Hecox unjustly restricted from running track? Lindsay is a transgender woman, meaning she was born in a boy’s body but had a girl’s mind. After she transitioned, she was looking forward to running for Boise State University. Still, she wasn’t able to run on a girls’ team due to a bill that had just been signed by Governor Brad Little, restricting transgender girls from playing on High School and College teams that match their gender identity. Many states have followed Idaho’s discriminatory law, including Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. Eighteen states in the US have banned trans athletes from playing on the teams they belong to. Many other states are considering adopting the law. The Government should not pass this bill. It is hateful, transphobic, inaccurate, and one-sided. Not only that, it sets a bad example for future generations, and is harmful to transgender people. Governor Little and the rest of America should take back this unjust rule, as it is not factually correct. The Government proposed this law by considering the classic myth that transgender girls have more athletic ability than cisgender girls. People who believe this also may think that trans girls are stealing cis girls’ places, scholarships, etc. This is not true, as almost 80% of transgender girls take hormones or hormone blockers. This means their bodies will not or will stop producing testosterone, the hormone responsible for muscularity. Studies show that after two years of hormone treatment, trans girls and cis girls with identical training have the same athletic ability. Since the reason lawmakers have enforced this law is illogical, the sports ban should be lifted. Along with being inaccurate, this law being established across America is also harmful to transgender peoples’ mental health. Trans people already face bullying and harassment, which sometimes can cause problems such as suicidal thoughts. According to The American Civil Liberties Union, 10 percent of transgender girls were kicked out of school for being themselves. This harassment leads to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. According to The Trevor Project, more than 50% of LGBTQQIP2SAA+ youth have depression. Not letting transgender people play on their appropriate teams will worsen the harassment and discrimination, causing more and more mental health issues among trans teens. To protect our nation’s trans youth, we must withdraw this harmful regulation. Not only is the law disadvantageous, it is extremely discriminatory. According to the U.S. Trans Survey, 22% of transgender women were bullied because of their gender identity, and had to switch schools. As the ACLU says, “The idea that women and girls have an advantage because they are trans ignores the actual conditions of their lives.” Transgender people face problems like discrimination every day. Should we, as a country, make that harassment worse? Of course not! It goes against one of our values and morals as Americans, which is that everyone should be treated equally. Our government goes out of its way to stop discrimination. Is it right to enforce a law that goes against what we stand for as a nation? When you think about Governor Little’s law, consider the ethics of the American government. Why should we support this unjust law? We need to use our voices and fight for what is right for transgender girls everywhere who are being denied their rights. Will we choose to allow bigotry and ignorance, or equity and justice? We should not give in to this law, because it is counterfactual, unfair, and harmful. Transgender women belong on the sports teams that match their gender. Transgender women are women. Works Cited “Trans women targeted in sports bans, but are they really at an advantage?” by Ashley Schwartz-Lavares, Victoria Moll-Ramirez, Kayna Whitworth, and Anthony Rivas, published by ABC News “The fight for the future of transgender athletes” by Will Hobson, published by The Washington Post “Four Myths about trans athletes, debunked” by Chase Strangio and Gabriel Arkles, published by the ACLU “Trans People Belong in Sports: Lindsay” published by the ACLU “Trans girls belong on Girls’ Sports teams” by Jack Turban, published in Scientific American “COUNTER: Transgender women should be allowed to participate in women’s sports” by Sara Al-Yasseri, published in The Daily Nebraskan Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
