Create a notebook or document dedicated to recording your dreams. To begin, write down as many dreams as you can remember from your life, then try to record your dreams daily as soon as you wake up. Use this repository as inspiration for a poem, story, or piece of art.
COVID-19
Daily Creativity #1: Sharing Hope using Spoken Word
Radio producer Cathy Fitzgerald is inviting everyone to share their experiences during this time, through the power of spoken word. She wants to hear your voices talking about how you are feeling, how daily life has changed, and what you are doing that brings joy, comfort, courage, solace–and hope. She is collecting recordings from people all over the world, and making a radio show, Life on Lockdown, out of them. Everyone is welcome to join in. Simple messages take work.* So, for today’s activity, think about what you might like to say in your message to the world about who you are, where you are, and the things that make or keep you hopeful during these times. Write down some of your main ideas and feelings, and craft them into a few short sentences. Read your message aloud a few times to make sure you like what you hear and how it sounds, and then record it on your phone or other device, or directly from your computer using the tool on the LOL site. You can do this activity either by yourself or with other members of your family. If you are happy with what you’ve made, and you are doing this activity close to the date it was posted here, you can submit it to Life on Lockdown (LOL) for possible inclusion in the radio program for the UK’s BBC. Read all the details on how to do that at the LOL website. You could also (or instead) make your own recording and submit it to our Bloggers category for inclusion on the Stone Soup blog, at any time. * Lots of famous people through history have been credited with signing off their letters with an apology for it being so long, but they didn’t have time to write a shorter one. If you are looking for an extra bit of distraction, you can read more about that here: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/04/28/shorter-letter/
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
