My Sister (pencil) by Crystal Fu, 12; published in the September/October issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma Wood Hello, friends! As many of you know, my family and I recently moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. I was surprised to realize that, even though Chicago is a mere four-hour drive away, Ohio is on Eastern time—and in fact, Indiana, the state directly to the west of us, is on Eastern time too! This means the mornings are shorter and evenings are later. When it’s evening, I love that it’s still light. But every morning, I wish the sun were already up; it’s hard to wake up in the dark, and it’s only September—which means we have many more months of dark mornings ahead. The tension between my mandated time zone and what feels like the actual time has prompted me to think more about time—and especially about the way I’ve adapted to this new relationship to daytime hours and sunlight. In the September issue, there are a few poems about time: you can read two by Madeline Male, 14, here and here, and one by Sonia Kamnitzer, 10, here. Over the coming weeks, I encourage you to reflect on your relationship to time and to explore it through writing or visual art (or both!). As always, consider submitting your work to us after—we’d love to consider it for publication! Otherwise, I hope everyone is settling into a calmer back-to-school routine. My daughter started her first year of preschool this week, and we are all still adjusting! If you don’t already subscribe to the magazine, we are currently running a promotion for 30% off our annual print and digital subscription with the code BACK2SCHOOL30 for the month of September. Please consider signing up this fall, or urging your friends or your child’s school to do so. As always, we appreciate your support of Stone Soup! Yours from in front of an open window with perfectly cool air wafting in– 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.
Newsletter
Saturday Newsletter: September 2, 2023
Rothko Mountain (acrylic) by Dongeun Lucy Rhee, 13; published in the September/October issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma Wood Hello, everyone! I chose Dongeun’s incredible painting of a mountain, in the style of Rothko, for this newsletter because in this past month, I feel as if I have scaled a mountain; earlier this month, we moved for the fourth time in the past three years—with a three-year-old and a one-year-old, only a week before Conner and I both started new jobs as writing professors at Xavier University in Cincinnati. I’m still in survival mode, and am starting to suspect I will be for a while, but Cincinnati is a wonderful, welcoming city with lots of wonderful parks, and we love our new neighborhood. Everyone is happy to be here and adjusting well! There have been a lot of transitions at Stone Soup in these past three years as well—a new operations manager, a new director, three new board members, and now, a new editor for the magazine and books as well as a new editor for the blog. Change can be invigorating and exciting—it forces change and growth. It helps us see more clearly. But, it can also be exhausting and destabilizing. I am feeling hopeful that as my life stabilizes, the life of Stone Soup will as well, and I am excited to help make that happen. This month, we are all back to school—and my three-year-old daughter Margot will be starting preschool for the first time. Class will soon be back in session for Stone Soup, too; Conner Bassett will, for the first time, be leading a novel writing workshop, starting September 16th! To ring in the new school year, we’re offering 30% off annual print + digital subscriptions. Use code BACK2SCHOOL30 at checkout! Only three spots left! This fall, we’re offering an all new course: Novel Writing! Class begins Saturday, September 16th at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time, and seats are filling up quickly, so register today! Join us this fall for Novel Writing, a multi-week, virtual course instructed by writer, translator, and professor Conner Bassett that will teach you how to write a novel. We will focus on the basic techniques and tools of good storytelling: voice, description, setting, character, plot, conflict, and dialogue. The course will consist of brainstorming activities, in-class writing exercises, readings, and workshops. By the end of our time together, you will have a complete novel draft. Register now! 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.
Saturday Newsletter: August 19, 2023
Lazy Cat (oil pastel) by Tutu Lin, 13; published in the July/August issue of Stone Soup A note from Laura Moran Hello all, I start this week’s newsletter with exciting news! Refugee Project contributor Parwana Amiri, has just published her collection of poems, We will fly higher. Parwana is a young refugee poet from Herat Province, Afghanistan. Her book is available at Barnes & Noble and other major booksellers. Congratulations on this exciting achievement, Parwana! I imagine the majority of our readers will receive this week’s newsletter on the cusp or at the start of a new school year! I can also imagine the myriad of emotions that accompanies this time of year. Indeed, I don’t even have to imagine—the air is thick with nerves and excitement in my house as my daughter is about to begin her first year of high school and my son is set to enter the third grade, both in new schools. Whether you are excited or nervous, or a bit of both, I hope you had a fun and restorative summer. One of the highlights of my summer was teaching Anthropology of the Everyday as an offering of Stone Soup’s Young Author’s Studio Camps hosted in collaboration with Society of Young Inklings. It was inspiring work to see what students came up with as they set out to explore and think critically about their everyday lives and environments. I am so excited to be working with our new Refugee Project collaborating organization, Humanitarian Service Team, to offer elements of this workshop to young people in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda this fall. Following the workshop, we hope to provide an opportunity for young writers in both sessions of the course to share their work with one another. I look forward to telling you more about it soon! Until then, best of luck with the start of your school year, and while you’re feeling that tangle of emotions that comes with new beginnings, why not take a moment to write a poem about your experiences? As always, if you like what you’ve written, we hope you consider submitting it to Stone Soup. Best wishes, From Stone Soup July/August 2023 The Sun’s Sister by Katja Muckle Eizenberg, 9 I am the sun So big and bold My seeds leave me When I’m old I stand and sway watching them fly away to freedom Bobbing in the breeze And finally landing in the shade beneath The trees But now it is Spring And I am blooming bright Now it is Summer and I am still a lovely sight Fall is here and I look like the moon All of my seeds will leave me soon Soon is here as they blow away Soon is here as one little one stays The moment is here The moment is sad but happy Bad but good The moment is here as the last seed blows away The moment is here as I close my eyes And enter a long winter’s sleep Click here to read more from the July/August issue… Don’t wait until it’s too late! This fall, we’re offering an all new course: Novel Writing! Class begins Saturday, September 16th at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time, and seats are filling up quickly, so register today! Join us this fall for Novel Writing, a multi-week, virtual course instructed by writer, translator, and professor Conner Bassett that will teach you how to write a novel. We will focus on the basic techniques and tools of good storytelling: voice, description, setting, character, plot, conflict, and dialogue. The course will consist of brainstorming activities, in-class writing exercises, readings, and workshops. By the end of our time together, you will have a complete novel draft. Register now! 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.
