Reflection by Margaret Fulop, 11 (Lexington, MA), in Stone Soup February 2020 A note from Jane A few weeks ago I went to a lunchtime concert of music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The lead performer, a viola player called Maxim Rysanov, specializes in transcriptions of Bach’s music. This means that he rewrites music originally composed for one instrument so it can be played on another one. For this concert, he had transposed Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 for viola, arranged a selection of two-part inventions from The Little Keyboard Book for viola and and violin, and rewritten the Sonata in G Major for viola da gamba and harpsichord to be played by viola and concert organ. The performance was recorded by the BBC and broadcast on Thursday as part of their lunchtime concert series. You can read more about it and listen to the recording via BBC Sounds. The music is incredibly beautiful, but my reason for mentioning it in this week’s newsletter is to suggest this idea of musical transcription as a tool you can use to develop your writing. Just as the viola player revealed another dimension of a familiar piece of cello music by transferring it from the voice of one instrument to the voice of another, so too might you discover more about your story’s characters by writing a poem about them, or writing a poem in their voice. Maybe you can understand your poem’s emotional landscape or setting by transposing it into a story or a drama. Perhaps drawing your imaginary landscape or painting a portrait of your lead character will help you to see them more clearly. We all learn that writing is often mostly about rewriting. I don’t know about you, but sometimes that feels like something I don’t really want to do—a bit of a chore. Why not try transposition as a way of coming at rewriting from a fresh perspective? You might not use your transposition in the final work, but you might create a whole new work to sit alongside the original one. Either way, you can hit the refresh button and have fun trying! Until next time, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Sascha, 13, reviews Jacqueline Woodson’s Harbor Me on the blog this week. Read the review to find out why Sascha “would unquestionably recommend this novel to anyone that is interested in gaining a higher perspective of people from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.” Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube? Matthew gives us some background about Rubik’s Cubes on the blog this week, plus an easy method that you can try. From Stone Soup February 2020 The Creases of Time By Tara Prakash, 12 (Chevy Chase, MD) Time—did it slip through my fingers, flow Subtly as water? My little big brother, Running across the pastures with his kite, where did that go? Footsteps trailing mine, hands clasped tightly—my mother. I can see the time pass in the creases of my Grandfather’s eyes, his skin lined with the trick of time. If only It wouldn’t go so fast, then we wouldn’t need to say so many goodbyes All too soon. If just once, my world could live forever . . . But if all worlds lasted forever, when Would new ones be born? Babies gaze at the world with big eyes, bright, Seeing things they’ve never seen before. The old watch with Eyes that have seen too much, the pale that follows a dark night. Time forces us to make use of what we have, unfurled, It forces us to say goodbye and hello to the ever-changing world. Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s Advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Rubik’s Cube
The first ever Rubik’s Cube was invented in 1974 and the community instantly started to figure out how to solve it.The cube was created by a person named Erno Rubik.At first he wanted to learn how to crack the code of the Rubik’s cube. It took him almost 3 months to learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube. It didn’t take long until competition started to take place. There is a certain way to solve the Rubik’s Cube. The way to solve them is called algorithms, certain steps in order to get to the solved state. There are multiple ways to solve the cube. The one that I use is called Beginner method because like… im a beginner. The most advanced one is called C.F.O.P which stands for Cross, F2L, OLL, and PLL. All of those Acronyms stand for something. F2l stands for First two layers, OLL stands for Orient Last Layer, and PLL stands for Permute last layer. So that’s CFOP the most advanced way to solve the cube. This is a step by step in pictures. Now about the World Records that have happened, there was a guy named Ronald Brinkmann and he solved it in 19 seconds in 1982. Compare that to today’s World Record, Yusheng Du solved it in 3.47. Cubing competitions are a whole community that people love. Everyone is very happy for you if you get a new personal best, and the time you need to go to one is like 5 mins so if u can solve it in under that you can go to one. I feel that everyone can solve the cube, just look up a video there are thousands of tutorials of it. In cubing competitions there are many things you can do, there is blindfolded, feet, and even one hand solving. There are many different cubes like a MegaMinx a 2×2 a 4×4, pyraminx, skewb and even more. There are even puzzles that aren’t cubes like the clock.
Harbor Me, Reviewed by Sascha, 13
In the novel Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson, six kids from Ms. Laverne’s class (Haley, Amari, Tiago, Ashton, Esteban and Holly) must meet every Friday of the year to talk – alone, with no adults in the room. They choose to name this special room, the ARTT Room (an acronym for “A Room To Talk”). With the ARTT room, they now have a safe space in which they are free to talk to each other about what’s bothering them, free from judgement. Whether it be Haley’s father in prison, Amari’s fears of racial profiling, Esteban’s father’s deportation, or Ashton adjusting to his family’s new financial situation, the six of them know they can count on each other to listen. They can talk about things they usually wouldn’t talk about: their feelings, fears and thoughts. Haley, Amari, Tiago, Ashton, Esteban and Holly all learn that they have the ability to express their emotions freely and ultimately grow braver. The unfamiliarity of the ARTT Room eventually becomes a place that they now look forward to going to every week. This novel is written in first person, from the perspective of the main character, Haley. What I liked about this, is that readers are able to hear how she, in particular, is feeling during a specific time. This allows the reader to understand the evolution and growth of the character (in this case, Haley), as the book progresses. Haley was an extremely influential character in the book, and hearing from her point of view, helps readers to grasp a better understanding of the story. Another aspect of this novel that I enjoyed was that it is a book that doesn’t require much focus. There isn’t much of a plot, and certain parts weren’t very structured throughout the novel. The book lacked most of the traditional elements of a story, such as, a climax or a main problem. The constant use of imagery within Jacqueline Woodson’s writing, helps readers to visualize what is happening in the book and guides them through the story. Woodson’s style of writing engages all five senses, while also directing readers to gain deeper insight of what is going on in the novel. This shows the reader what is taking place in the story, rather than directly telling them.I gravitated towards this book because I was able to learn about other people who are unlike myself and their personal struggles. While the students were talking to each other, they spoke about issues that many kids all over America have to deal with on a regular basis. I learned about things that many kids my age worry about, that I wasn’t aware of before reading this book. Through hearing about the students’ problems and concerns, it opened my eyes to how real problems in America can affect children personally. For example, Esteban’s father’s deportation caused him and his family a lot of stress and anxiety. Undocumented immigrants are clearly a source of controversy among Americans, and it was interesting to see how people are affected by this problem. Readers are able to educate themselves on cultural issues in America and what difficulties this can cause children. After reading Harbor Me, one can learn that it is crucial for children to express their emotions. Furthermore, having trustworthy people around to advice and support them through difficult times, is important in order to overall better themselves and achieve successful relationships. Presuming that the students in Ms. Laverne’s class hadn’t opened up to each other and expressed how they were feeling, they might have struggled to cope with the challenges that they faced. This book discusses a wide array of themes, such as, privilege, race, self expression, loss, identity, friendship, culture, and more. Overall, I would unquestionably recommend this novel to anyone that is interested in gaining a higher perspective of people from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson. Penguin Random House, 2018. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? Let us know in the comments below!
