There are plants all around my house. At the front door, behind the fence in the backyard, in front of the fence. I don’t know any of the names. I’ve always wanted to be that type of person who can distinguish between which plant is poisonous, which plant is useful and edible, which plant attracts this bug and which plant attracts that one. But that is not me. * * * I can’t even distinguish between an oak tree and a pine tree. * * * I really can’t. There are these grass-like plants planted in front of the old fence. They bloom and change color every season. Sometimes they’re yellow and orange in the center, like a blooming sun. They attract the eye amongst the greenish, long, thin leaves. Sometimes the flowers are purple, the purest royal purple, with a lavender color in the middle. I wish I knew the name of this plant. But I don’t. I just call them flowering sedges. You know what sedges are, right? Now that I’ve described the plant, experts and plant lovers will tell me that the name is so easy and the plant so recognizable that even the “most ordinary” person would be able to name the plant. The name will probably be as simple as lily. Or tulip. Or dandelion. It probably is, but that doesn’t matter much to me now. These plants change color every season. Yellow and orange during the spring and summer, then purple and lavender during autumn. In some crazy way, they remind me of myself. Sometimes I can be sunny and cheerful, like the orange-yellow flower that resembles the sun. Other times I can be frustrated and angry, like the dark purple flower. * * * I wish that I could be in the middle. Calm and secure. * * * Calm and secure. Claire Jiang, 12Princeton, NJ
October 2020
The Globe is Warming
StoneSoupMagazine · Vignettes by Claire Jiang, 12 Isn’t there a time where you think that you should be doing something, changing it, and wanting to? But not knowing how to, and then think, Why do I have an obligation to do this? I do. Whenever people talk about pollution and global warming, I agree with them all the way. Climate change is affecting all of us. The trees. The animals. The humans who don’t even realize it. I want to do something about it. I recycle. I reuse. I reduce. I tell people what is going on and the difference that they can make. * * * One day when I’m all grown up, I’ll donate to research and install solar panels on my home. I’ll have a job that concerns the environment and the climate. * * * Sometimes I wonder to myself, Why? Why do I have to do this? How does the action of recycling one bottle a day contribute to helping the earth, with billions of people not doing what I do? When I get too caught up in the nice new houses and new shops, I tell myself to stop. That this isn’t good for me and others. It’s hard to do that. Because I’ll probably be long gone when this Earth will be barren and dry. I mean, do I have an obligation to the people of the future? * * * Yes, I think I do. Claire Jiang, 12Princeton, NJ
Sunflower Fields
Acrylics Claire Jiang, 12Princeton, NJ
