Ring, ring, ring. My alarm went off, and it flashed 6:30 am. I had to get out of bed because we were on a tight schedule. I put on warm clothes to face the brisk weather outside. I had an exhilarating morning ahead. My dad, my brother Max, and I piled into the car and left the house. It was a beautiful but chilly morning, and I could see the sun rising. The sky was shades of pink and orange, and it was clear with almost no clouds. We had to be at Hessel Park before 7:00 am. When we arrived at the park, I saw about thirty other people all gathered in a circle near a tree. In the middle of the circle stood Josh Whitman, the University of Illinois Athletic Director and former Illini football player. Mr. Whitman has a tradition of leading a four and a half mile jog every time there is a home football game. We were all there to run. The general course started at the park, then went through the community to campus, and finally looped back to the park. Mr. Whitman started the run at exactly 7 am, and we left the park heading to the quiet University of Illinois campus. It was silent because all the college students were still asleep. We ran on the streets, and the cars did a sudden stop and let our group pass. We kept running towards the Quad and Alma Mater on campus. These two landmarks were our halfway point, which meant we had run about two and a quarter miles. I was starting to feel tired, but I pushed myself to keep going. We were running at about an eight and a half minute mile pace. Max was a very motivational partner, and he cheered me on. I started to remember the sights around me, and before I knew it we were back at Hessel Park. I was breathing hard and sweating, but I was happy that I had accomplished this long run. I was smiling ear to ear when I saw my dad waiting for Max and me. After the entire group finished, Mr. Whitman shared donuts and water, the breakfast of champions, with everyone. I was parched and drank the water bottle quickly. The donuts tasted extra delicious, and it is a tradition for Mr. Whitman to take a picture with everyone who ran. After the picture, we thanked him for doing the run and returned home before 8:00 am. I had plenty of time to go back to bed.
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Undying Glory, Reviewed by Daniel, 10
Have you ever been discriminated against or treated unfairly for an unjust reason? The 54th “Glory” Regiment definitely was during the Civil War. All the soldiers in this regiment were Black, but even though their desire to serve their country burned bright in their hearts, they were heavily discriminated against because of their skin color. During the time of the Civil War, Black people were often treated unfairly because the whites thought they were superior. Even at the beginning of their career, when they were not even officially in the army, the 54th Regiment was treated unfairly. They were not given a bounty, which is the money that you get when you join the army, and their pay was very low compared to the whites. They weren’t given extra money to buy clothes like the whites, and every rank of Black soldiers got the same pay, whereas the higher ranking white soldiers in the army got a higher salary as they were promoted. It was only until nearly the end of the war that the regiment’s pay was raised, and even then, it was only for the soldiers that had been free before the war started and alive at the time the pay was given, which was still only a fraction of the number of Black people that had enlisted. Also, even when the 54th Regiment was hard at work storming Wagner and Charleston, an anti-Black riot spread throughout the Union. It was a devastating experience; many Black people were killed, and many others were forced into asylum. It is not the typical civil rights protest, where people hold up signs with big, bold, words displaying a motto or opinion; it was an all-out, kill or destroy the first thing or person that you see that is related to African-Americans. It was like Doomsday for the Blacks. Keep in mind that when the 54th Regiment departed to fight, they were treated like heroes. What happened to the Black people’s reputation? Finally, toward the end of the war, they wanted to promote Sergeant Swails, a member of the 54th Regiment that had served faithfully with his leadership, to an officer. However, their request was denied by someone that had previously warned people to treat Black and white people equally. How hypocritical for him to go against his own word when the choice fell into his hands! Finally, after much persuasion and pressure, Stanton, the Secretary of War, finally approved his becoming an officer. Now you ask, why did the whites think they had a reason to treat the Blacks differently? According to President Lincoln, if they enlisted Black men, the slave states in the Union, which included Illinois, Alabama and other states, would join the Confederacy. However, the whites’ enlistment rate was dropping, yet the Blacks were still willing to join. The government had to grudgingly admit that if they kept holding back the Blacks, they would have no soldiers at all. But, even though Black men were finally allowed to join the army, they were still seen as dirty and unclean, simply because their skin was darker than the Americans. Ironically, the Black camps were much cleaner and well-maintained than the whites’. Even though racism is not as liberal and outspoken in America anymore, let this be a lesson to you to never bully, tease, or judge someone because of what they are. One of the most common types of discrimination is pitying someone. When you see someone that is disabled, is your first reaction, “I feel so bad for him/her?” Know this; the pitied are often ashamed of themselves. So, instead of just standing there, reach out for him if you really do pity him. Prejudice is in human nature; it’s natural. As Mark Twain said, “The very ink with which history is written is merely fluid prejudice.” So why not just change the ink, and make the world a better place? Undying Glory: The Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment by Clinton Cox. Scholastic Biography, 1993. 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!
Saturday Newsletter: January 11, 2020
Pond, Tomb of Rekhmire, approximately 3,300 years ago, Egypt. A note from William Rubel Last week, editor Emma Wood wrote about a painting by “outsider” artist Morris Hirshfield. If you missed that newsletter, please read it here. Emma wrote about the artist’s evocative and yet not exactly realistic way of depicting scenes. Keeping with this theme, this week I would like to offer you this painting of a pond with people and trees that was painted on a wall in Egypt 3,300 years ago. What I want to remark on is the way in which the space is depicted—specifically, the trees that are painted around the rectangular pond likes spokes around the center of a wheel. This way of depicting trees around a pond has a very strong meaning for me. When I was in sixth grade, in 1963, I painted a pond with the trees organized just like this. I will never ever forget what my teacher said. She said that this was wrong. That the bottom trees should be upright, not “upside down.” And she laughed! I was so upset. That pond had meant a great deal to me. I had just moved to Los Angles from Washington, DC, and it was spring. I missed going with my mother to the see the cherry trees blooming around the tidal basin by the Washington Monument. When the teacher said that the trees should be upright, I remember thinking, “But the leaves will get wet!” I vowed at that time to never paint a painting again. And, somehow, I managed not to until I was in college, when I took an art class. This terrible memory of being bullied by a teacher into depicting a memory the way she wanted me to, and not the way I imagined it, was actually one of my inspirations for starting Stone Soup in 1972—just 10 years after my terrible sixth-grade experience. So, please, all of you—whether you write or draw or compose music or dance or whatever else you may do to record what and how you see and feel—follow your personal star! I will also point out that by depicting the trees surrounding the pond in the way this ancient Egyptian artist did, we can see the people in the pond and exactly how the garden around the pond was landscaped. Notice how very clearly you can make out the different kinds of trees around the pond—in other words, this “unrealistic” way of representing the space actually gives us more information that a more “realistic” painting would. As Emma said last week, “I hope this painting will inspire you to create something similarly strange, striking, and beautiful.” Until next week, Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! On Tuesday, we posted Lucinda’s second installment in her series 103 Elements and their Interesting Facts. Want to know which element makes up the majority of the yellow surface of Io, one of Jupiter’s moons? Or how about what foods have potassium or iron? Read the post to find out! (Plus, read the first post here.) Have you ever chosen to do something because you wanted to, even though it wasn’t very popular among your peers? Maya describes her experience of magnet-making in the library, and how even though she had reservations about doing something by herself instead of choosing a more popular activity, she enjoyed herself (and it turned out one of her friends did show up!). Canon PowerShot Sx600 From Stone Soup January 2020 A World Without Color By Elyse Bambrough, 7 (Bristol, UK) Art: Eternal Hourglass by Sage Millen, 11 (Vancouver, BC) Dear Diary, I woke up again yesterday and saw the hammering rain pouring harshly down on my small little house. It was the worst sight I had seen in years! It was quite a boring sight, though I’m used to it, so I wasn’t that surprised. I had another amazing dream. I dreamt that I was in a forest with tropical trees and exotic flowers. There was spikey grass and even tigers! I guess it didn’t come true. I had to try to tidy the rubbish by sifting and sorting, burning and burying, but it didn’t work. However, while I was sorting the rubbish, something caught my eye. It was a tiny tin flower! Suddenly an idea planted itself in my head. The idea sprouted and grew roots. Day after day, the idea got bigger. While I was feeding on the rubbish, a forest emerged under my hand. It was not the forest of my dreams, but it was a forest just the same. In the forest, there were tigers, toucans, tree frogs, and even butterflies! I was still a bit disappointed because it was a very dull forest with no color at all. As I walked through the forest, my heart was aching with emptiness. Listen to a recording of the author reading her story, see the artwork in more detail (and read more from the January issue) on the website here. 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.
