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!
COVID-19
Weekly Flash Contest – final week August 24, 2020
Contest based on Monday’s Daily Creativity Prompt Every weekday morning from March to late August 2020, we published a Daily Creativity prompt. We decided to get everyone focused by turning every Monday’s prompt into a Flash Contest! For this rolling weekly contest, all you have to do is pick up the Daily Creativity prompt published on a Monday, and submit your response to it via Submittable by midnight PST on the Friday of the same week. Contest Details Genre: The Daily Creativity prompt will specify exactly what we want you to do. Make absolutely sure that you are responding to the prompt that was posted on the Monday of the current week by checking the date on the post. Find the prompt here. Look for the words “Flash Contest” added to the title (especially if you are looking on a different day of the week). Length: It depends on the prompt. Some of them will have specific instructions (e.g. write a 10 line poem, or a three paragraph piece of prose, or compose a still life photograph). Other writing prompts might be more open, suggesting you write a story or rework one you already have, or make a piece of art on a theme. Where the prompt specifies, follow the guidance on length and/or medium. If it doesn’t specify, it’s up to you how long or short you make your writing (but remember, this is a flash contest, so we don’t expect you to write a novel!). Age Limit: For the flash contests, we will accept work from those age 14 or under. Deadline: Fridays at 12:00 midnight (Pacific Time). Entry fee: Free! How to Enter: Via Submittable. Results and Prizes: We will select up to 5 of our favourites by the following Wednesday. Publication: We will announce the names of each week’s winners and any Honorable Mentions in the following week’s Saturday Newsletter; and publish the winners’ work on the Stone Soup Blog on the same day.
Observations on COVID-19 by Sofie Dardzinski, 9
Somewhere in China, a bat had a virus. That is how it started, a virus no one had seen before. It was a coronavirus. The bat passed the virus on to a person, who passed it on to other people in Wuhan, before they even knew they were sick. Now, the whole of Asia has it, as does Europe, and the United States. I live in Maryland, which has 43 cases today. If you think of doubling numbers on a calculator starting with the number 2, how quickly the numbers grow, that is what it’s like. That is how quickly the virus can spread. And because this virus has such a high death rate, especially for older or sicker people, the whole US has shut down most schools. The coronavirus affects the world economy: money isn’t made, stock markets go down. Parents worry. They call it “social isolation” and “flattening of the curve” to make sure that virus transmission slows down. This is to help hospitals handle the numbers of sick patients better. But those terms are not what this feels like. Washing your hands until your skin cracks and bleeds, wearing masks, elbow bumps instead of handshakes. I’ve never been part of a pandemic this bad, this scary. Such a small substance that we can’t even see causes our world to crumble. We haven’t been quarantined yet… but we are learning at home. It is scary to think that you aren’t in school because a virus going around could kill you. It makes my heart break, knowing why we are not in school. But maybe there is a golden lining. Maybe, since people aren’t traveling and we are all staying home, we can slow down pollution and global warming, and help the Earth. Maybe people will see the good in this way of life. Maybe a quieter, calmer way of life can bring people together more. I will hope for this. Sofie Dardzinski, 9 Potomac, MD
