THE M AG

THE WINTER EDITION

LITERATURE | ART | CREATIVITY

FEBRUARY 2015

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS

Our sincerest thanks goes out to all those who submitted to the second edition of the 2014-2015 National English Honor Society Literary Magazine. The diversity, creativity, and poignancy of the ideas displayed in the following pieces, speaks to the artistic ability throughout Stanton's student body. We feel privileged to display such excellent examples of this skil l. We thank our sponsor Mrs. Johns for her support and guidance, as well as Mr. Yadon and his Creative Writing students, for their enthusiastic participation. We hope all our readers thoroughly enjoy this issue, and are inspired to submit in the future.

Sincerely,

The staff of the Literary Magazine

Editor: Sindee Lee, Editor: Gloria Li, President: Matt Mcketty , Editor: Yordanos Molla, Editor: Charlotte Winship

A Winter Calling

All around town the snow recedes into place, but as the sun surges up and radiates off the snow our day has now begin, a day of ice f ishing. We need to get an early start so we will be ready when the sun drops. My f irst priory is to replace the lantern oil which begun to f l icker, so hopefully the new oil I will put in it will help is incandescence. A pyre will be required to keep us warm so next on the list is wood; I picked an erroneous day to go shopping because it was Christmas eve, but lucky the most popular General store was ran by a Jewish man.

At last my perilous ride up to Lake Washington in the southeast part of Minnesota began. The roads were covered in an oleaginous type of snow resembling black ice, only about a 2 hour journey from my home city of Olympia. When we reached the Lake we went ahead and set up our tent and began to cut out the ice which was a long process constantly making sure the ice you are standing on did not break. Luckily the lake was desolate, so there was not a single soul in sight.

My dear friend Jim was on this trek with me who was the only one who actually has experience in ice f ishing. So what he said goes. He was worried about going f ishing today because it has been abnormally hot for December. As Jim was almost done cutting out the ice we heard a vibrant sound, unsure of what it was I looked at Jim and his face was aghast, as my face slowly changed to his scared expression, I knew what happened, with no one to hear our screams we were expelled into the unbearable hiemal water.

"...the sun surges up and radiates off the snow...."

"...not a single soul in sight."

by Austin Evans

"the unbearable hiemal water"

Christmas is a lonely man?s worst nightmare. After the world has fallen into a restless slumber, he retires home, alone, with nothing but a throbbing achein his chest the unfamiliar feeling of desperation mixed with longing plucking at his heartstrings, creating a symphony in the hollow theatre of his ribs, giving the il lusion of a heartbeat. In the darkness of winter nights, he is starved of his humanity, forced to live as nothing but the mere shadow of a man.

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by Emily Lovett

Shadow

SONNET

Alice asked the sun once more to explain ?Why must you f lee from the beautiful night? I do think it is as they proclaim, The sky will carry on being blue, quite?

?Look outside your window and you will see The snow slowly fall ing, up high above you A thousand ideas and time that?s yet to be Stars sparkle with possibil it ies, true.

They will wrap you in their solacing rays And f il l you with a breathtaking wonder They will show you that love has endless ways To make your heart start racing, yet f lutter.?

And now that I have rid you of your fright, Let me lay with you in the soft star-light.

Julia Khan

"Cold"

by Dayi Fu

Noah Cuppy

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Noah Cuppy.

By: Ravn

Winterby Breanna Battinelli

She looks out her bedroom window. Through her tear-strained eyes she could see the snow fall ing. The depression was year round but it always got worse in the winter. Of course no one knew though; she was always the loud, happy one. The one that was so loud and happy it annoyed a lot of people. She always felt bad about annoying people with her half-ass happiness but she had to or else they'd know. She knew knowing led to judging, judging led to rumors, and rumors led to consequences. So, she wiped the tears, put on her hoodie and got in her car. Time to go out with her friends. 'Tis the season for fake smiles.

Winter Poems by Zalaawn Zeyab

The sky is a waterfall of snowWith an endless stream of crystalsEach one different from another,Hand in hand with each other. They grow apart, disconnect with their mother CaelumAnd roam free in free fall, until Terra herself catches them,Keeping them captive with their mother in tears,Until Terra bathed herself, the snow healing her.Caelum realizes that the snow wanted to help,And she was just holding them back all along.

Commander Archie in a deep battle with Maxie,Fortified his base in the coldest way he could,His icy cold reign chilling all those that entered his leadership.Maxie fired up his cannons, threatening warArchie froze in shock, and then quickly thawed out with a plan,which would burn Maxie's fort down. Maxie's barrage of cannon ballshad proved ineffective against Archie's superior fort, and both returned fireuntil dinner called for a retreat.Their battle would ensue the very next day however.

6Anna Wilson

Edwin Forem an's snow shovel slowly scraped the black , icy sludge between the edge of the dr iveway and his car, f inal ly al lowing h im to gain entr y to the passenger side door. H e dropped the shovel , and fum bled for the keys in h is jacket pocket. The leather gloves around his num b fingers gr ipped the key chain, and he pul led i f fr om his jacket, pushing i t in to the lock and opening the door. Edwin sl id in to the car, closing the door behind h im . Throwing the keys upon the dashboard, he slowly thrust h im sel f over the gear shi ft and in to the dr iver 's seat. H e quick ly adjusted h im sel f, before reaching for the keys and ign i t ing the cold engine.

The old stat ion wagon revved up with a disgust ing groan, before f inal ly sett l ing down. As Edwin sett led h im sel f, he buck led h is seatbel t , and glanced at h is star t led reflect ion in the rear view m ir ror. H e winced, as i f he didn 't know what to expect. Edwin 's face had grown older. H is sk in was wr ink led and loose around the neck , and his eyes had begun to gray past the crow's feet that entrenched them . H is hair was losing color quick ly. Edwin broke h is gaze fr om the m ir ror, adjusted h is glasses before throwing the car in to reverse, and back ing out of the dr iveway.

I t had on ly been a shor t m om ent, when Edwin fel t a thud and heard a m uffled crack beneath h is car. H e put the car in to park , and stepped out of h is door to see what had occur red. As he rounded the bum per of the car, i t slowly began to sink in . H e saw the shattered rem nants and spl in ter s of h is snow shovel , broken in hal f beneath h is heavy black t i r e. H e hust led to the chunks of wood and m etal that lay before h im , dropping to h is knees in great pain . Tears began to form in h is eyes as he scooped up the two salvageable halves of the shovel . H e held one hal f in each hand in disbel ief, before he began to whim per, and fu l l tears dr ipped down his cheeks, st inging m ore with every inch.

H e crawled to h is feet, and shuff led to the garage door in fr ont of h is house. H e ar r ived inside, and placed the two fr agm ents of the shovel there, m ul l ing them over in anguish. Edwin wiped the last tears fr om his face, and returned to h is car, shutt ing i t off and lock ing the doors before walk ing in through the green fr ont door of h is hom e.

The in ter ior of Edwin 's hom e was m i ld. I t was a sm al l hom e, but warm and welcom ing. A few rouge Chr istm as decorat ions l i t tered the assor ted room of the house, and a shor t, m eager ly decorated tr ee sat in the corner of the l iving room . The wal ls and tables were l ined with photographs of fam i ly m em bers, but none were m ore prom inent than those of a handsom e, r ugged m an his porcelain sk inned blonde wife and a young brown haired chi ld, no older than six years old, that sat wi th them .

Edwin dropped his gloves on the l inoleum k i tchen counter, before quiet ly inching down the hal l of h is carpeted house. H e ar r ived at a door at the end of the hal lway. H e slowly creaked the door open, and peered inside at the brown haired teenage boy sleeping hal f naked in h is bed.

"Aaron, wake up," whispered Edwin through a crack in the door. "I t 's Chr ism as Eve."

Aaron groggi ly m oaned and rol led over onto h is back , r ubbing h is eyes open.

"Thanks, grandpa," m um bled Aaron as he threw the m any blankets off of h im sel f, and gathered to h is feet. "H appy Chr istm as Eve."

Edwin gr inned.

"Any plans for today?"

"Yeah, actual ly... I , uh, I gotta go pick up a few last th ings for tom or row at the store."

"Alr ight, wel l , I 'l l leave the keys on the counter for you. I 'm going to go cal l your aunt. Tr y to be back by dinner."

Shor t ly after Aaron had left for town, Edwin rushed to the att ic. H e pul led down the ladder and cl im bed in to the stuffy r oom . Just past the entrance, he found a black hard-shel l case. H e took i t wi th h im down the ladder. I t was a black Fender Stratocaster, som ething Aaron had wanted for years. Al though his grandson had m oved in with h im a few years ear l ier, m oney had been t ight, Edwin decided to spare no expense th is year. H e wrapped the box in si lver paper, and sl id i t under the tr ee.

That n ight, Aaron ar r ived hom e just as Edwin was putt ing dinner on the table. H e had cooked chi l i dogs, a Chr istm as Eve tr adi t ion Edwin star ted with Aaron 's father. The two exchanged Chr istm as m em or ies as they snacked on their food, chuck l ing and rem in iscing on the great hol idays of past years. As i t grew later, the to depar ted for bed, wi th Chr istm as await ing them in the m orn ing.

That m orn ing, Edwin awoke ear ly and cooked a fr esh cup of coffee as he always did. H e scam pered to Aaron 's door in exci tem ent.

"Aaron, wake up," W hispered Edwin. "I t 's Chr istm as."

Aaron rol led awake, but th is t im e quick ly, jum ping to h is feet and throwing on a shir t . the two hur r ied to the l iving room to the Chr istm as tr ee. Edwin stared as Aaron knel t down and rem oved the si lver paper fr om the present. Aaron hesi tant ly opened the case, h is eyes l i t up. I t was a gui tar.

"Grandpa... H ow did you."

"I t 's noth ing, I just want you to en joy i t"

Aaron 's exci ted face quick ly turned to one of t im idi ty.

"W hat 's wrong?"

"I t 's noth ing, I got you som ething but there's no way i t could be as great as th is."

"That 's nonsense!" Shouted Edwin "Br ing i t here!"

Aaron went to h is r oom and returned with an abstract shaped present. Edwin took the object and began to unwrap the gi ft . A wave of pain fu l glee washed over h im . H e gr ipped the object as the paper fel l to the f loor. Tears rol led down his face and both rose to wrap their arm s around each other in a vicious em brace. Edwin grabbed Aaron shir t , pul l ing h im t ighter and gr ipping onto a brand new m etal shovel .

Hudson Black

Holiday Gaiety Derek Ro

Cold days and warm smiles.

For me, the joy doesn?t come from The presents, or even the religious aspects of the season. No, none of that.

The happiness of other people

And seeing a sudden joll ity around me: That?s what gives me goosebumps.

I treasure happiness, and f ind it more valuable

Than anything the world could offer.

And because of that, I treasure the holidays.

This is the only time of the year to show your holiday glee,

So acquire it now because you can?t f ind it under a tree.

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IT IS BY: ANONYMOUS

It is Hope. It is Faith. It is Love. It is Happiness

It is, Every smile on the face of a child,

It is, Every moment of long awaited forgiveness,

It is Peace. It is Light. It is Thanks. It is Life. It is,

Every knock on the door of a new year, It is,

Every blessing mailed from state to state. Nothing can compare to the sheer beauty,

It isAnonymous

Two Poems by Megan Stallings

Dear Winter Dawning

Darkness fal l s i n ear ly duskCrystal f lut ters along the rustFl i cker ing l ight wi thin the wal l s Br ing forth warmth to fami ly wal l sMarking peace wi thin the bedsCrystal sheet that covers deadWhen al l that l ives, hides awayWe know the cold i s here to stay

Grey eyes, Grey skies

The stage i s set for the story to beginGrey skies l i ne the bi t ter t ree branchesThe branches l i ne the snowThe snow l i ne the st reetsAnd everything in viewThe st reets l i ned wi th bundlesThe bundles out l i ning facesWi th eyes that out l i ne the snowThough one's are dul l i ng wi th reddening noseBundled up so t ightStanding in the st reetsDrawing in the snowWi th a branch she had foundIn the bi t ter t ree branchesLined by the grey skies