“Web Dweller” by Anya Geist, 12 From Stone Soup April 2020 A note from William Joyful news! This newsletter is dedicated to the newest member of our Stone Soup family, Editor Emma Wood’s first child, Margot Dylan Bassett-Wood, who was born last week. Congratulations to Emma and her husband, Conner. This is a very strange time to be born into our world. I would like each of you to find a way to say a welcome to Margot. Margot has very special parents, so I know she is a very lucky child. She lives in the Santa Cruz Mountains in a redwood forest, so her first vision of the outside world will be these huge amazing trees. Emma is not checking her Stone Soup email, but if those of you who write poetry would like to write a poem for Margot, I know that Emma will value whatever you send. You can email your poem to me with the subject line, “For Margot,” and I will be sure that Emma receives it so she can read it to her daughter. The email address to use is stonesoup@stonesoup.com. This is a very emotional time for all of us. I am writing this on April 15, which is always a very emotional day for me. This is the 45th anniversary of my mother’s death. She died two years after I founded Stone Soup. My mother gave me so much: my life, of course, but also my world view and the encouragement and money to make Stone Soup possible. We all owe this wonderful project to her, and so I also dedicate this newsletter to my mother. These are eventful times! It is a long newsletter today. Please stay with me. There is a lot to say. Thank you, team! Before getting into the heart of the newsletter, our first project, and lots of news, I would like to thank my colleagues for the huge amount of work they have put into getting our coronavirus programs up and running. Monday will be our 21st Daily Creativity Prompt, and we now have two Zoom workshops running, a new COVID-19 blog with daily posts, and a weekly Flash Contest. The heavy lifting for all this has been carried by Jane Levi, who, like me, has been working unpaid for the past three years. Sarah Ainsworth, a graduate student in Library Science, has been going the extra mile on top of her coursework. Our newest colleague, Laura Moran, who manages the Stone Soup Refugee Project (more on its status in a future newsletter) has stepped in to run the Wednesday Book Group on top of being a parent and an adjunct professor in cultural anthropology. (Also, Emma wrote a large number of the prompts before taking maternity leave.) Thank you. This week’s art—and William’s weekend project What a gorgeous photograph! A tour de force. A story told with a limited color palette—golden brown, silver, grey, and black. Anya Geist has titled the image Web Dweller. At the moment, all of us are house dwellers. Our houses are closed boxes. Her spider’s dwelling is as open as open can be. It is also a trap. An engineering marvel. And exceedingly beautiful. Anya’s vision of this spider and her web at night is told with boldness and subtlety. Sharp lines and blurred light. We all have spiders in our houses, so spiders make the perfect COVID-19 photography project. One thing we all have right now is lots of time. So, find a web, and take the time to observe it closely. And photograph it in different lights and from different angles. Send us the images you like the best by going to the submissions link. COVID-19 projects update We have two groups meeting via Zoom every week: the Wednesday Book Group (ages 10–13) and the Friday Writing Workshop (all ages). To receive the link detailing how to join these groups, you must sign up for the Daily Creativity prompts that we are sending out Monday through Friday. Monday will be the 21st prompt. Please look below for the winners of this week’s Weekly Flash Contest. Remember, the first prompt of the week is the prompt to use when you enter the contest, and entries are due at midnight on Friday of the week. This week’s story—and some thoughts on writing serials You might have noticed that we brought forward the launch of our second annual Book Contest. I hope you are all thinking about your entries for this year! But this week, I want to talk about last year’s Book Contest because this month everyone can finally start reading some of 2019’s winning work! In this month’s issue of Stone Soup, you can enjoy the first part of nine-year-old Hannah Nami Gajcowski’s inventive adventure, the novella Elana. Elana won third prize in last year’s Book Contest and is appearing in three parts over the April, May, and June issues of Stone Soup. Hannah has invented a world populated with colorful characters and filled with fantastical adventure. Congratulations, Hannah, on writing a wonderful book. We are very excited to be publishing it in Stone Soup and thrilled to be sharing it with all our readers at last! Publication in serial form was a common model in the nineteenth century. Charles Dickens (1812–1870) wrote many of his most famous novels week by week for publication in parts in newspapers and magazines. This imposes quite a discipline on a writer. You need to be very organized. You must make it easy for the reader to keep track of all your characters, remember what has happened to them in past episodes, and make sense of what might happen to them in the future, without lots of repetition and reminders. You also need to be able to retain a reader’s interest in every section of the story: each episode has to be able to stand on its own, with its own arc, as well as earn its place in a larger narrative. If, like Dickens, you have a huge cast of characters, you need to make sure that your reader can still remember about one group while you are talking about another. It’s a big challenge! Elana wasn’t originally written to be published in episodic form, but the inventiveness of
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Flash Contest #2: How Has COVID-19 Affected Your Daily Life? Our Winners and Their Work!
Weekly Flash Contest #2: How has COVID-19 affected your daily life so far? What has changed, and what is still the same? Which changes are positive, and which negative? What makes you most anxious when thinking about it? Most hopeful? Is there a particular experience that represents the change to your life most clearly? Write a 300-500-word blog post exploring these questions and examining your experiences so far. Every week during the COVID-19-related school closures and shelter-in-place arrangements we are running a Flash Contest, based on the first Daily Creativity prompt of the week. The prompt is posted on Monday, and entries are due by Friday. The week commencing April 6th (Daily Creativity prompt #11) was our second week, and we received a huge number of entries from all over the world: from Singapore, India, Poland, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. We are so proud of our international family of young writers, and we congratulate every one of you who wrote so honestly, clearly, and beautifully about your experiences of COVID-19 so far. We enjoyed reading each and every one of the entries, and it was even more difficult than before to choose our top 5 this week–so difficult, in fact, that we chose 6! PLUS, we have decided to publish some of the other entries separately on our COVID-19 Blog, as well! In alphabetical order, our winners this week, whose work you can read on this page, are: Lena Aloise, 10, Harvard, MA Eliana Aschheim, 13, Santa Clara, CA Analise Braddock, 9, Katonah, NY Simar Grewal, 6, Bellevue, WA Lyndon Raymond, 11, Houston, TX Michelle Su, 13, Sudbury, MA Look out on the blog over the next couple of weeks for more writing and art about COVID-19 from these flash contest entrants: Jeongwon Choi, 13 (Mumbai, India); Annabelle Garner-Tamayo, 10 (Omaha, NE); SierraRose Gibson, 12 (Los Angeles, CA); Mehr Grewal, 13 (Belleville, WA); Vivaan Kartik, 11 (Horgen, Switzerland); Alice Pak, 10 (Beaver Creek, OH); Thee Sim Ling, 13 (Singapore); Patrycja Wanat, 13 (Rajsko, Poland). Congratulations to everyone! “How COVID–19 Has Affected My Life” by Lena Aloise, 10 (Harvard, MA) Life often throws surprises at us. We never truly know what will come next. Just when everything is going as planned, something big happens. Something world changing. Something like COVID-19. This new virus has definitely made life a lot more complicated for many people. My kitchen has doubled its purposes, now serving as not only a place to cook meals, but a classroom as well. The once empty table is now abuzz with activity, worksheets and notebooks stacked in piles and children, hard at work, sitting around it. Instead of face to face class time, I speak with my teachers and classmates over virtual meeting apps, such as Zoom. It feels odd, continuing your social life through a screen. What is even more concerning than all this change is the position many workers have been put in. Some are working from home, others are struggling financially due to the shutting down of their businesses. I know many people who own small businesses, my father being one of them. Their businesses could close due to the shut down. Others’ jobs have gotten much more complicated. My mother, who works as a nurse, has to take care of patients with coronavirus frequently. Although she takes extreme precautions and wears an excessive amount of protective gear, it is still a huge risk to be put in that position. She is just one of thousands who do the same thing. Our healthcare workers are making huge sacrifices and what they are doing is very noble, but I can’t help feeling scared for their safety. Then there is the one big question. Will America ever return to the way it was? Our country has changed so much. Never before have we been told to stay inside, have public gatherings been banned. Everyone seems so scared. Every time I turn on the television, people with solemn faces under their masks use large words that I can’t help but feel frightened at. The words ‘coronavirus’, ‘pandemic’ and ‘infected’ flash across the screen. Will we bounce back and will our country return to its original state, or will this scar America forever? There is no definite answer to this question. All we can do is hope for the best and do what we can. Stay home, wash our hands, be cautious. In this time of uncertainty, we need to show kindness and support others. Just the other day, I saw a sign, written in a child’s handwriting. ‘Honk 4 Hope!’ it said boldly in glittery letters. That made me realize something. Hope is the one thing this virus cannot take away from us. It shut down the world, closed our economy, but has not taken our hope. That, it can never take away. “Cancelled for Coronavirus” by Eliana Ascheim, 13 (Santa Clara, CA) The field trip to Yosemite is the highlight of eighth grade at my school. For months, eighth grade teachers painstakingly prepare for a week in Yosemite National Park. A myriad of forms are distributed, signed, and collected; we students purchase needed supplies like hiking boots and rainproof everything; cabins are chosen; hiking groups are assembled. Upon arriving, we’re told, we will stay in wonderful cabins. The following days will be filled with hiking, games, meals, and maybe if we’re lucky, skiing. Pack some games for cabin time, they said. Bring some money for the gift shop. Oh, and don’t forget to take water, they reminded us. Up until the trip, Yosemite preparation is all around us, from the advice that is passed on from previous kids to the shoes we wear: to break them in before the hikes, we wear them at school for a few days. The whole school buzzes with anticipation. A week before our trip, we were assured it was still on. They said that we definitely would go. Doubt crept into the corners of the air–many things were being cancelled left and right–but if the school board said it then it must be true. But that was not the case. Three days until we were scheduled to leave, an email was sent out
The Nintendo Switch: is it really worth it? A review by Daniel Zhu, 10
Nintendo has a reputation for making good gaming consoles. And when the Nintendo Switch came out, it introduced a whole new way of playing games, with the Switch’s revolutionary Joy-Cons and no-WiFi-needed TV connection port. Hosting a party? No problem; connect your Joy-Cons to your Switch by just sliding them onto the Switch (some party games support as many as eight players!). Want to play on a larger screen? Nintendo’s got your back there too; by just putting your Switch in a port specifically designed by Nintendo, you can experience your games like never before. But to many parents, a Switch is not worth $300; my own parents, in fact, still think that a $900 gaming PC is a better deal, even after they’ve fully experienced the Switch after we bought it. Yet there are 11 hidden secrets of the Switch that might just convince you that $300 is not too much, but rather too little to pay for a Switch. The Basics 1. Game cards. Although there is a Nintendo online eShop, many people prefer to have a physical copy of their game. Why? One reason is that you can exchange, lend, or give, physical copies of a game to someone else, but for the Nintendo Switch, there’s no way to exchange, lend, or give digital copies. For example, if you had the physical copy of, say, Super Smash Bros., and your friend has the physical copy of Super Mario Odyssey, you can swap games so that each can try out a new game. Or, if your friend has a Switch but doesn’t have any party games and is hosting many people at his house, you could bring a party game like Super Mario Party to his house so he doesn’t have to go to the expense of buying one. Though it is very unlikely that you will give a $50 Switch game to anyone for free, if you outgrow a game, if you have the physical copy of it, you have the option to sell it or kindheartedly donate it. In addition, most of the games on the eShop are more expensive. But that’s not it! My favorite thing about game cards is that you can borrow them from libraries. That way, if you are thinking of buying a game, you can borrow it to test it out first, then decide if you still want it. 2. Flexibility of play. For many video game consoles, the interface is either purely on the TV or purely on the console. Xbox, for example, can only be played on a TV. Although there is a small screen on the PS4 controller that you can play on, PlayStation is also mostly based on the TV. However, Switch games can be played on the Switch screen in itself (it’s nearly as large as a tablet) or a TV, and the switch (that’s where the name is from!) between the two is extremely easy; the only thing you need is an HDMI cable, since everything else is included with your purchase of the Switch. All you need to do to set up your Switch TV connection port is to first plug an AC adapter into the port that comes with the Switch, then use an HDMI cable to connect the port into the TV. After you have it all set up, if you want to take your Switch experience onto to the TV, all you need to do is slide the Switch console screen into the port; likewise, if you want to take your Switch games on a trip, just slide the screen back out of the port and put it in your travel bag. With the Switch, you’re all set for fun everywhere you go, however you like! Compatibility 3. Compatibility of controllers. There are two Nintendo-made controllers that are compatible with nearly every game on the Switch: the Joy-Con controllers and the Pro Controller. Both of these controllers’ appearances can be customized. The Poke Ball Plus is a Poke Ball-shaped controller that is only compatible with Pokémon games. In addition, there are accessories for the Joy-Cons, including a regular grip and a charging grip, both of which can hold two Joy-Cons, and a wheel for racing games which can hold one Joy-Con. There are also many third-party companies that manufacture Nintendo controllers, most notably PowerA. Many of these controllers actually look much cooler than Nintendo-made controllers, with many more customization options, are usually much cheaper, and have the exact same capabilities as Nintendo-made controllers. There is a PowerA Switch controller that is designed exactly like a Pro Controller, yet it costs just $20; $50 less than a Nintendo-made Pro Controller. In addition, it has a Legends of Zelda theme, with the game’s symbol, gold buttons on a black controller, and an engraving of Link on it. In addition, a company called Kinova made Joy-Cons that charge by USB instead of using some expensive charging pad or the Switch screen. So in conclusion, if you have a Switch and need more controllers, even if you are on a low budget but still want something flashy, there are still many options! 4. Compatibility of games. While you might think that the best game on a Nintendo console is going to be a game made by Nintendo themselves, to some people, this may not be true. Like basketball? No problem; NBA 2K is compatible with Switch. For fans of other sports, soccer (FIFA) and football (Madden NFL) are available on the Switch. For action games, a third-party game company called PlatinumGames is the ideal choice; they created the acclaimed game Astral Chain and, for those who play Super Smash Bros., the games Bayonetta is from; Bayonetta and Bayonetta 2. Marvel fans are not left behind: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order sports nearly all the Marvel superheroes up till now. For those who like first-person shooters, Doom, developed by id Software, is one of the best ones, not only for Switch but among
