The Rise of Democracy, Acrylic | Keira Zhang, 12 (Los Altos, CA), Stone Soup January 2022 A note from Laura This week I want to draw your attention to the play featured in January’s issue, Spring Will Not Die. It was written by a group of Syrian refugees living in Turkey who are members of Karam House, one of our Refugee Project contributing organizations. The play presents a fictionalized account of young people’s pivotal role in the anti-government protests that ultimately fueled the uprisings known as the Arab Spring. When I read this play, I think about a sense of ownership, a sense of belonging, or even entitlement to a place and to people, without which it is nearly impossible to envision change. The play begs the questions: whose world is it to change? Whose job is it to affect that change? The answer, of course, is that it is each of ours. But this notion can only be fully realized with a strong sense of belonging to a community and the social ties that make such a sense of belonging possible. If you are looking for a creative exercise this weekend, I urge you to capture a sense of community wherever it emerges for you, and with whatever medium you choose. Find a place in or around your home or community that is busy with people—preferably a place that you visit often (maybe it’s your own kitchen, a park or café nearby, your school cafeteria) and sit in observation for about twenty minutes. Use all five senses to observe and record everything that is happening around you, either with words or with the visual art medium of your choice. Be descriptive and pay special attention to the people in the space and how they’re interacting with one another. Ask yourself: Who is present and who is absent? Are people differentiated from each other in any way? Does someone appear to be in charge of the space? Do there appear to be spoken or unspoken rules that dictate behavior in this space? In capturing a space and the people that occupy it through your writing or artwork, see if you can capture a sense of community. As always, if you’re happy with what you’ve written or created, we would love for you to share and submit it to us via Submittable! An Update from the Refugee Project I had the privilege of conducting a similar activity to the one suggested here with young writers and artists at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya this past week. As the young people shared their texts and artwork describing scenes from their daily lives, many things were unfamiliar to me—a description of a confrontation with a lion after climbing down a mango tree and running into the river to escape a snake; hundreds of people lining a dirt road amidst throbbing music and rising dust during a miles-long bridal procession; a boy, alone in the middle of the road, his clothes and shoes tattered and worn from days of walking. But more striking than this were their vivid descriptions of the things that were familiar, the things that we can all relate to—people at the markets catching up and buying goods, “their white teeth chattering as monkeys;” students together after a long day, doing their washing, watering their trees, playing sports, relaxing, laughing, arguing, telling stories and singing together. In other words, their writing captured the universal experience of community as it emerges in daily life. I hope to share some of this writing in The Refugee Project portal of the website soon. To check out more writing and artwork by refugee youth, please visit the website. With best wishes, Congratulations to our most recent Flash Contest winners! Our January Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #185 (provided by Molly Torinus, Stone Soup contributor), which challenged participants to write a story in which the protagonist explained COVID-19 to people in the distant past. What a way to begin the new year! Molly’s thoughtful prompt led to a surge of creativity; these stories took us on journeys to Ancient Egypt and Greece, invented time travel via carrier pigeon, and centered on ghostly interactions. We even received a play set during the end of the Black Death! While each and every story was a pleasure to read, we narrowed down our selections to the usual five winners and five honorable mentions. As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! Congratulations to our Winners and Honorable Mentions, listed below. You can read the winning entries for this contest (and previous ones) at the Stone Soup website. Winners “What Are You Talking About?” by Audrey Billington, 10 (Hillsboro, IL) “Dear Jane” by Finoula Breen-Ryan, 10 (Bridgeport, CT) “The Warning: A Play” by Nova Macknik-Conde, 10 (Brooklyn, NY) “Old Answers” by Daniel Shorten, 10 (Mallow, ROI) “The Ghost of You” by Eliya Wee, 11 (Menlo Park, CA) Honorable Mentions “Covid-19 Explained to Ancient Egyptians” by Poorvi Girish, 8 (Fremont, CA) “Royally Messed Up” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “Dear People of the Past” by Zayda Parakh, 12 (Chattanooga, TN) “COVID-19.63” by Divya Srinivasan, 12 (Sammamish, WA) “COVID Time Travel” by Savarna Yang, 13 (Outram, NZ) From Stone Soup January 2022 Spring Will Not Die By a group of Syrian refugees in Reyhanli, Turkey with the support of Karam House—Afnan, 15; Ahmad, 16; Fatima, 18; Hayam, 16; Mohammed A., 16; Mohammed, 16; Mustafa, 16; Nour Al Huda, 16; Rasha, 16; and Sedra, 15 Welcome to all our guests. Revolutions, and especially the revolutions in the Arab lands today, aren’t simple events that can be conveyed in a play of less than half an hour. The reality is the blood of the people. It’s not easy to fully portray their pain and suffering. This play may not be one-hundred percent accurate or an exact mirror of reality, but it seeks to present the way in which the demonstrations the youth brought to the streets were driven by their passion for freedom. Thank you for
winners
Flash Contest #39, January 2022: Pretend you’re explaining COVID-19 to people in the distant past—our winners and their work
Our January Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #185 (provided by Molly Torinus, Stone Soup contributor), which challenged participants to write a story in which the protagonist explained COVID-19 to people in the distant past. What a way to begin the new year! Molly’s thoughtful prompt led to a surge of creativity; these stories took us on journeys to Ancient Egypt and Greece, invented time travel via carrier pigeon, and centered on ghostly interactions. We even received a play set during the end of the Black Death! While each and every story was a pleasure to read, we narrowed down our selections to the usual five winners and five honorable mentions. As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! In particular, we congratulate our Winners and our Honorable Mentions, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “What Are You Talking About?” by Audrey Billington, 10 (Hillsboro, IL) “Dear Jane” by Finoula Breen-Ryan, 10 (Bridgeport, CT) “The Warning: A Play” by Nova Macknik-Conde, 10 (Brooklyn, NY) “Old Answers” by Daniel Shorten, 10 (Mallow, ROI) “The Ghost of You” by Eliya Wee, 11 (Menlo Park, CA) Honorable Mentions “Covid-19 Explained to Ancient Egyptians” by Poorvi Girish, 8 (Fremont, CA) “Royally Messed Up” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “Dear People of the Past” by Zayda Parakh, 12 (Chattanooga, TN) “COVID-19.63” by Divya Srinivasan, 12 (Sammamish, WA) “COVID Time Travel” by Savarna Yang, 13 (Outram, NZ) Audrey Billington, 10 (Hillsboro, IL) What Are You Talking About Audrey Billington, 10 I was in the process of trying to beat my jump rope record when I saw it. I tripped over my incoming rope, catapulting towards the ground. With my arms crossed, I peered at the blue-gray animal pecking at bits of dropped popcorn. A scroll, small and white, was attached to its skinny legs. A scroll! That was unbelievable. Carrier pigeons were things of the past. Who on earth could be sending me a message using a carrier pigeon?! Curious, I left my jump rope lying on the ground and rushed towards the animal. Upon seeing me, it abandoned its station by the popcorn and let the paper drop out of its legs. “Thanks,” I muttered, unaware of the contents inside. An old-fashioned stamp was plastered on the paper to keep the scroll together. Even if the sender was determined to relive the past, they probably couldn’t find a stamp like that. It wouldn’t be cheap, anyways. The stamp appeared to be an artifact from the 1950s: monochromatic with a president’s face on it. Zig-zag lines blurred together. While still wondering how the sender could have gotten access to that stamp, I ripped the scroll open. Even though the whole scenario showed signs of a historical writer, the note surprised me much more than I expected. It was written in cursive! No one used cursive in 2022. The weirdest thing was that it was penned in ink. Not pen ink, though. Quill ink. “Dear Linda, I live in disorder now. Polio is just a terrible pandemic. I constantly live in fear. I don’t even want to have you over for a slumber party! It’s all too risky. I wish life would return to normal. I don’t want to stress over the idea that I might acquire paralysis. Why? Why must this happen to us? Can life not return to normal? Oh, Linda, it’s all quite terrorizing. I miss the old days. Oh, I miss them so much. Your friend, Susan.” The letter read. My eyes exploded. Polio? Linda and Susan? Paralysis? What did all of this mean? I toyed with the idea that it might be a prank, but I went against it. I knew from personal experience that pranksters couldn’t write that well. This was something more serious. I wasn’t exactly sure what to tell her. I brainstormed a selection of both dumb and serious ideas. Eventually, I settled on a few sentences that didn’t make me sound like an idiot. “Dear Susan, my name’s not Linda. It’s Jordan. I think you might be confused. Did you mean to send this to me? I’m assuming not. Also, polio? Do you mean COVID?? Please clarify. -Jordan, not Linda. P.S.: What year is it?” I threw the last sentence into my letter as a fun addition. Just in case time travel was real, I had to ask whether or not she lived in 2022. There couldn’t be any harm done. That night, I squirmed in my bed. I was unable to sleep. My anxiousness to see the reply from Susan was uncontrollable. I attempted to fall asleep, but my eyelids fluttered at a rapid rate. To my pleasure, the pigeon appeared in my driveway the next morning. Its eyes appeared to water at the assortment of fruits sitting in a woven basket. I took great happiness in providing my messenger bird with snacks. My heart was flipping over and over as I sprinted to retrieve the scroll from the bird. The fatigue caused by my unwelcome all-nighter didn’t cancel my thrill. In fact, it only enhanced it. I couldn’t believe my luck. A person who was possibly stranded in the mid-twentieth century was trying to communicate with me through letters! Anyone else would’ve deemed my situation impossible. “Dear Jordan, it’s weird not writing Linda at the top of this letter. I’ve never written to a Jordan. I feel as if you are the confused one. What are you talking about? Jordan, it’s 1955. The polio vaccine was released a few months ago. Do you not know what polio is? Are you unaware of the raging pandemic sending us into quarantine? What is COVID? A disease of your imagination? And yes, I didn’t mean to send this to you. I intended to reach Linda, my dearest friend. I have no idea how the pigeon gave the letters to you. It’s all so confusing! -Susan” I wasn’t sure whether or not the response excited me. For one thing, I could
Flash Contest #38, December 2021: Write a creation story for a fictional world you create—our winners and their work
Our December Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #181 (provided by Molly Torinus, Stone Soup contributor), which challenged participants to write a creation story for a fictional world of their own imagination. For the third consecutive month we set a record for number of submissions, all of them worthy of recognition. Molly’s ingenious prompt led to a breadth of creativity, with creation stories for fully realized worlds containing mathematical sets with biblical influence to anthropomorphic clouds to the misadventures of a musical note. In the end, we selected our usual five winners and five honorable mentions. As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! In particular, we congratulate our Winners and our Honorable Mentions, whose work you can appreciate below. Winners “Darkness” by Kimberly Hu, 9 (Lake Oswego, OR) “Adventure to the Lost Kingdoms” by Tang Li, 9 (Palmetto Bay, FL) “The Beginning, the End, the Rebirth” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “The Fearful Cloud” by Julia Ma, 11 (Portland, OR) “The World of the Grand Staff” by Maya Mourshed, 10 (Silver Spring, MD) Honorable Mentions “One Dance” by Audrey Billington, 10 (Hillsboro, IL) “Math: The Origin” by Lucas Hinds, 13 (Lenoir City, TN) “The Creation of Warland” by Sophie Li, 11 (Palo Alto, CA) “Eternalia” by Brooke Negin, 11 (Kanata, ON, Canada) “The Fourth Dawn” by Divya Srinivasan, 12 (Sammamish, WA) Kimberly Hu, 9 (Lake Oswego, OR) Darkness Kimberly Hu, 9 Where am I? What am I? Why am I here? What even is this place? Is this even a place? What is happening? I glance around. Complete darkness. Complete darkness is everywhere. There is only one word to describe it. Darkness. That’s it. Silently, I repeat the questions over and over. Still, no answer. I don’t know what I’m expecting. Here, there is just darkness and no accompaniment. Just nothing. I am in the World Of Nothing Darkness. I wonder, are there really any other creatures out there? Am I the first? Am I the last? Am I really the only one? But deep down, I know it’s pointless asking. I am the first and last. I am the only one. But the first thing I need is— A name. A name. What even is a name? Something like Martha? No. I am lone. I am alone. I am the only one in the complete darkness, the nothing. The World Of Nothing Darkness. So yes, my name is Lone. Will I stay here for eternity, with no meaning of creation, but then, where do I even come from? How did I end up here? Those questions repeat in my mind over and over, and all the questions I have possibly asked, here in my mind. Those questions remain unanswered. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to think. Can I even speak? I search myself. I search my insides. I close myself, looking in the deeps of Lone. Of me. And I find something surprising. I find… the bit of creation that was used to create me. But why is it left in me? I find feelings. I can feel? What can I do? Do I truly have a meaning for existing? A spark of hope jolts through me. Do I? I dig deeper, willing myself. I find creation. More and more creation. I find… I can. I can! I, Lone, eagerly, willingly, opening my mind. I want to create a world. Not a nothingness world, a true world. Where peace can be found. What will the world contain? A mysterious whispering voice asks me. I feel more hopeful at the thought that another exists, but first I reply: A world full of creatures. Creatures that live in peace and harmony meaningfully, beings. I picture the creatures in my mind. I can imagine! Does my existence have a true reason now? Now, I create. I create more and more. Things I never imagined I could create. Plants—like flowers. Animals—like birds. More creatures—like kyones. Things that couldn’t be seen with the ordinary eye. I create Artara, the world of pure magic and wondrous creatures. I create Universe, the world of mortality and simplicity. I have created all. My name is not Lone. I don’t know what my true name is, just yet, but I will figure it out. I, the creator of the Two Worlds, have finally learned that no one’s life is meaningless. Mine included. Tang Li, 9 (Palmetto Bay, FL) Adventure to the Lost Kingdoms Tang Li, 9 Introducing the Kingdoms Plantasia: This kingdom was a clutch of forests and meadows. In this lush green territory lived all sorts of plants and animals as well as Plantasians. The Plantasians had the ability to create plants. Their enemy was the inhabitants of Virsca. Their king was Pothos and their queen was Lily. If humans didn’t protect nature, Plantasia would disappear. Virsca: A kingdom full of devils and monsters, along with fire-breathing dragons. All these creatures were banned from the other kingdoms and were given this piece of land. The land was rough and many parts were covered with lava. All the trees were dead. No outsider has ever been able to get out of there alive. The Virsacans had the power to destroy things. Their enemy was the Plantasians. The land had no laws and no rulers. Cloudpolis: In this kingdom made of clouds, everyone had flowing blue, pink, or white hair and their hair was as soft as silk. Their queen was Cloudia and their king was Cirrus. The cloud fairies collected children’s dreams and turned them into soft silky clouds. It was said that if the world below them ran out of dreams, Cloudpolis would disappear. Cloudpolisers was the name of its residents. Munchville: A piece of land that was made of food. The houses were made of gingerbread and the windows were made of pretzels. And the mountains were crackers and cookies. The snow was ice cream. The clouds were made of cotton candy.
