The Kite Mark Torpoco, 11 Hi, I am a purple kite named Samuel. I was born on a small island called Mallorca, in Spain. I was born in a small shop, near the beach, filled with snorkel gear. Lots of people on vacation came in and out of the shop, but I never got sold. The people bought all the snorkel gear, but not me. I was made by a famous kite designer, but at the time nobody knew who he was. I have a red bull on me with shining eyes. Then, one day, a boy came into the store. He was small, skinny and he had brown hair. He looked at the snorkel gear and said, “No.” Then, he looked at me and said, “Mommy, I want this one.” He explained to her that he wanted me because some day when he grew up, he was going to be a famous bullfighter. His mom looked annoyed, but said it was fine. The boy jumped up and grabbed me, went to go pay, and hugged me on the way out. I was very happy. He took me home. The house was very big and had three stories. The boy’s room was on the top floor, and had a window looking at the ocean. His room had paintings of bulls hanging on the walls. He put me on a shelf with a bull plushy. On the weekend, he took me to the beach for my first time. When we got to the beach, the boy took me out of the car. I was scared because I didn’t know what was happening. He tossed me into the air, and I started to fly in the wind. It felt at first like I was going to die, but then it got fun. It felt free. I started to go in circles like a dancing bull. I learned lots of tricks that day, dancing with my boy who was like a matador with his cape. We played all day until the sun set. When I got down, the boy hugged me. I would fly with my boy each weekend at the beach. It felt super amazing every time. We would always have fun. As the years passed, I grew to love the boy. When I first met him, the boy was so small. But he grew older with me. But even though I wasn’t as clean and new as I started, he still loved me. But one day, the boy let go of me when he got distracted. A bee landed on his leg and stung him. He let go of my string. I flew away apprehensively. I felt sad. As I flew higher, I saw the vast ocean and its waves crashing down. I heard the seagulls and the waves. Then, I fell on the sand. I looked for the boy frantically, but I could not find him. The beach looked so different. It had less people on it. The night came, and I felt sad and alone. I held onto the sand trying not to fly away again. The morning came. A man was walking on the beach. He was tall, bald, and was wearing a purple rain coat. He picked me up carefully and looked at me. He said, “Was this made by Reyes de la Vega?” He was just amazed. He took me to a museum. The museum was big and had a lot of paintings in it. I was put in the center of a room surrounded by glass. There were a lot of people who looked at me. They had rectangular things with flashing lights which they held up and pointed at me. I felt all locked up. I wished to be with the boy again. I was all sad and alone being locked up. I am sure the boy was sad too. One day I saw the boy at the museum. He looked different. He looked taller, and had a lot of other taller people with him. They had an older woman, who was leading them, telling them about me. Even though he looked different, I knew it was him. He looked at me and had a tear in his eye, then he walked away.
COVID-19
Superheroes of Today, a cartoon by Natya Chandrasekar, 12
Natya Chandrasekar, 12Palo Alto, CA Superheroes of Today Natya Chandrasekar, 12 Natya has made an amazing collection of cartoons about the “before” and “after” of the current pandemic, and we are very happy to be sharing some of them with Stone Soup readers! Natya is selling prints of all of her cartoons to raise funds for a nonprofit organization in her local area called REF (Ravenswood Education Foundation), which has established an emergency fund to provide financial relief related to the school closures due to COVID-19. Ninety percent of students in the school area qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, and the majority of their parents work hourly service jobs. REF is working closely with the school district to plan and address specific needs, including in technology and distance learning, food and food distribution, emergency childcare, and financial support. We at Stone Soup are very happy to support Natya in spreading the word, and congratulate her on her work and her fundraising efforts for her community–well done, Natya! You can look at the complete collection of cartoons and choose your favourites either in this Dropbox Folder or Google Drive folder, and write to Natya if you would like to obtain a copy of your own. You may pay for the prints either by making a direct donation to REF here, or discussing directly with Natya and her family.
Perspective, a poem (and a photograph) by Anya Geist, 13
Anya Geist, 13Worcester, MA Perspective Anya Geist, 13 Life is but a glass of water Half-empty, half-full We squint at it, jaws jutted Trying to see which half it is We look at it from one way And all we see is darkness Empty schools, dusty and abandoned The phantom footsteps of laughing children Haunting the halls We see empty grocery stores Looking ripped apart, torn into pieces Without the comforting din of shoppers Without shelves stocked with delicious food And we see helplessness The world wobbling severely on its axis Close to tumbling from its precious perch As the economy dives down As business stops in its tracks As life ceases to be as full as it once was But when we blink and move our head Letting a new angle seep in We see light and joy We see spring, flowers blossoming Birds chirp merrily, their songs amplified Sweeter because of the lack of cars We see the outdoors We smell fresh, clean air Feel the warm sun on our faces So different from the stifling lights at school And we see community Not in person, perhaps But reaching out across the globe As people unite with friends and family Bringing themselves closer together Waving a common banner against COVID-19 And so, you see When you stare at the glass of life You have options, choices The way the world appears The scenes you see outside your door All depend on the way you look This picture, of a tree in my front yard, illustrates my poem. Half of the image is on a cloudy day and half is on a sunny day, representing our ability to choose which to see.
