Peirce Middle School’s Student News Quarterly P a g e 2 Summer 2017

Inside this issue:

Cover Art by Nivi Anton

Overcoming Our Fears by Althea Mae Hutchinson 3

Equal Rights, 2017 by Nolan Prochnau and Althea Mae Hutchinson 4

The Evolution of Science by Mithra Sarkari 5-6

Protons, Electrons, and their Charges by Althea Mae Hutchinson 7-8

A Bear’s Perspective on Henlopen by Meredith Young 9

The Dog Days: Keeping Dogs Safe by Elizabeth Brennan 10

Some Summer Reading Suggestions 11

Summer Fun on a Budget (Plus: Mini Vacations Close to Home) 12-13

Life Hacks for Students by Abheya Nair and Marcela Bernal 14

What are Shadow? By Althea Mae Hutchinson 15-16

Summer Recipes by Gabi Fernandes 17

America’s Treasures: Our National Parks by Elizabeth Brennan 18

The Not-so-Daily Doodle by Braden Lieberman 19-

Summer Puzzle 20

By Althea Mae Hutchinson Worry is a weird thing, a thing we find ourselves worried about. We find ourselves worried, then grow concerned because we can’t identify the cause of our worry. We talk ourselves in circles, through worry, to concern, and past fear, and back again. We worry about nearly everything, and use the word interchangeably with fear. We wonder what people will think of us, about small things: if our hair looks okay, if our clothes are al- right. We worry about bigger things that affect our survival: if we have enough money, if we can truly trust our friends, if we will be accepted by the group. We fear judgement above all else. Where does this fear come from? Is it instinct? Is it learned? Either way, how can we move past it and live a life of contentment? Anxiety is a normal part of growing up. When there are so many possibilities and unanswered ques- tions, it is natural to feel some fear of apprehension about one’s place in the world. Furthermore, kids need to feel accepted by their peers. The fear of rejection is a strong influence on teen behavior, and when it goes be- yond fear and becomes reality, it can be life-changing. If someone experiences a snide comment made by a friend on an outfit another friend is wearing or a rude summation told blatantly to someone’s face that he or she doesn’t look half as good as the person originally thought, it can be incredibly painful. Beyond criticism of surface things, lies the things that are integral to who we are. Through hearing conversations condemning things we believe in, through hurt, we learn to fear. Sometimes that’s good. Fear is natural, it keeps us alive. It keeps us safe, it reminds us to lock our doors and watch our belongings and make sure we blew out that candle in the living room, even if we’re going to be late because of it. When we are little kids, we trust anyone, until we learn not to. At first, we fear only strange things, things that we do not understand, and when we get hurt by them, whether ‘them’ is the play- ground bully or a thunderstorm that takes us by surprise, we deem them scary and learn to avoid them to pre- vent being hurt. Worry leads to fear, fear to hurt, and hurt to worry. And we live our lives in this cycle, embarrassed by small things, trying too hard to determine a judgment that doesn’t really affect us. And many of us, most of us, pretend to be above all that. “The people who matter don’t care, the people who care don’t matter,” is saying often repeated, in variations and dialects and stories. But really, if they don’t matter, why do we care so much? It is important to understand the basis of our fears, and not let those fears hold us back from learning and experiences the good things that life has to offer. A lot of these experiences help us to build our character. While we are learning to navigate the people and events in our lives, we gain wisdom from times that we are able to overcome difficult situations. Realizing how to avoid pain is important, and understanding how to get past that pain and emerge as a stronger, healthier individual is part of the process of growing up. Summer 2017 Pa ge 4

Texans vs. LGBTQ Rights: The Introduction of Texas House Bill 3859

By Nolan Prochnau and Althea Hutchinson

National child welfare agencies have Seventy years ago, during the World War II "condemned the bill in a letter to lawmakers.” Hu- era, our country, along with other developed nations, man Rights Campaign writer Nick Morrow stated in forced LGBTQ+ people to suppress their 'feelings' his article, “HB 3859 is just the latest bill in a slate by either arresting them, or requiring them to take of unconscionable anti-LGBTQ bills being pursued medication. These practices were discriminatory and by the Texas legislature, which is undertaking a sys- damaging, and many individuals suffered due to tematic effort to roll back the rights of LGBTQ Tex- these unjust laws. Today, however, in our so-called ans, piece by piece.” land of the free, this same level of hateful discrimi- Upon reading the law transcript, we found nation has resurfaced. Texas recently passed a bill that the bill states nothing about LGBTQ individuals through Senate: House Bill (HB) 3859. HB 3859 in particular, but instead highlights conflicting reli- will legally allow child welfare organizations in Tex- gious values held by the provider. However, some as, including adoption and foster care facilities, to and/or denominations of said religions are turn away qualified parents, including LGBTQ cou- against LGBTQ people; therefore, they are also ples. HB 3859 will also allow families to force their against otherwise qualified parents who would be children into conversion therapy, once thought to be able to adopt or foster a child in need. a thing of the past. This law went into effect May 24, as stated in HB 3859 forbids the state government to can- the bill Chapter 45, Section 10, Subsection 2. How- cel a state contract with one facility. That facility has ever, passing this law in the Texas State Senate was a policy to subject LGBTQ kids to the abusive no small feat. The Senate voted 21-10, just over the 'conversion therapy.' This practice is not only sup- required ⅔ of the 30 senators present to pass through ported in Texas, but as far up the totem pole as the Senate. Vice President of the US, Mike Pence. The practice The discriminatory practices passed by this is to try to convert LGBTQ kids, in a mandatory bill are damaging to parents and children, and as 'special school' that does horrific things to those chil- such, it has been met with fierce opposition. Still, dren, forcing them to convert to their ‘normal’ orien- with the political support the law has in Texas, it tation, which can be traumatizing, if the child even doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon. survives.

THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENCE

By Mithra Sarkari

Science is how we define reality. Whenever we want the answer to anything our first

idea is to explain it logically through facts that we know of, regardless to how much it

defies our world. From Aristotle’s first beliefs of how matter went through four main phases, thus defin-

ing the original elements, to Dalton’s theories about atoms, science has changed basic human perception

to the point where the only limits we see our those we put on ourselves.

It is fascinating to contemplate how this style of empirical thinking evolved. How did our brains

develop from thinking about survival to having thoughts on multidimensional planes and universes in our

spare time? All of this comes to down to a few simple mechanics about how life on Earth has changed

and the basic human ideology and philosophy we have lived by over the centuries.

Where do people do most of their thinking? At work? Before bed? During their shower? It’s dif-

ferent for everyone, but the principal of thought draws down to when we have the most time, or when our

brain is not fully focused and can drift off on to random subjects. But why was that not possible earlier?

Why could none of the ancient philosophers, mathematicians, and, in general, scientists think of what we

think today? There are two central reasons for this: and survival. Many of the world’s greatest

thinkers were influenced by some beliefs, whether or family teachings. It always comes down to

what that brilliant mind in. The Greeks believed in the of Olympus and many other myths.

Thus, their scientists also stemmed their theories off of how the gods could control the weather, marriage,

war, and even going to the extent of creating life and death. Though this civilization brought on an era of

prosperity never before seen by mankind, it was relatively short lived. This is due to the other reason:

survival.

The Greeks, though powerful, lacked unity. They would quarrel amongst themselves, creating

discord that caused the fall of every empire known to man. After the death of Alexander the Great, the Greeks divided what lands they had conquered, and never again would they become the great civilization they were. What does this have to do with science? The Greeks divided for another reason as well: survival.

In times of great need and when humans have been at their most peaceful, science has flourished. Take any civilization that has controlled most of the world successfully at one point, and there will be some major sci- entific discovery that would have otherwise gone undiscovered. For the Greeks it was math, for the Romans it was architecture, for the Egyptians it was chemistry, and there are many more. However, all of these discov- eries were at times of peace, where humans did not fear the next day as another day for survival. With war comes struggle, and with struggle comes irrationality. This irrationality leads to less thoughts about how the world works and focuses the mind to think how we will live to see tomorrow. With less thought on science and more on survival, science would go into one of its darkest periods ever, not emerging again till the Re- naissance Era in Europe. However, war does propel one form of science much more dire because it is not geared toward survival, but toward destruction. In more recent times when we have had more resources, we have been able to create the deadliest weapon technology in history. Most relevant in World War II, the rush of trying to annihilate the enemy brought on a new drive to humanity that created the atomic bomb; human- kind’s most potent form of death. Thus, science brought on a . This was followed by the space race and many other international affairs. Science became a rushed process of due dates and deadlines. The will to outlast and beat the other gave birth to modern science.

From the beginning where science was described as magic to now where science is a competition, it has evolved and changed beyond imagine. In our modern world, our resources allow us to think less about survival and more about how the universe works. Each advance has built on top of the other, creating more and more prosperity in the world. Science has clearly evolved a great deal and so it will change in the near future. The next question is how. Protons, Electrons, and Their Charges

Althea Mae Hutchinson

It’s a commonly known fact that protons have a positive charge, and electrons have a negative

charge. Each possesses a charge of either 1 or -1 respectively, and therefore balance each other

in their electrical charges. However, while this is well known, there is very little reason for it.

Most people, when asked, answer simply with, “Because they are,” and have little to no further opinion or information on the matter. Which begs the question – is there a definitive answer behind such a well-known and much recited fact? Given the scientific nature of the problem, there must be a logical process behind a conclusion that is so central.

The easiest place to start is with the smallest unit necessary, the quark. Quarks are elementary parti- cles and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, an umbrella which includes protons and neutrons. There are six types of quarks, known as flavors: up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. For the sake of this particular argument, we only require two flavors – up, and down. A quark is not simply positive or negative, but instead is subject to color charge. Color charge states not two charges, but three, most commonly called red, green, and blue, although they have no connec- tion to visual perception of color. Each particle has a corresponding anti-particle. The antiparticles for red, green, and blue are, respectively, anti-red, anti-green, and anti-blue. All three colors mixed, or a color and its complement (anti-particle) is deemed colorless, or white. While each of these three colors and each of the anti-colors are different, they are completely arbitrary, and completely interchangeable. They exist only to mark difference, not to define it.

Electrical charge is a physical property of matter – the physical property that causes it to experience a force, when placed in an electromagnetic field. There are two types of electric charge – positive and negative.

Like charges repel; opposite charges attract. A proton is a subatomic particle, found in the nucleus of every atom, possessing slightly less mass than a neutron. Each proton contains exactly three quarks, two up and one down, of red, green, and blue. The color assignments are, again, completely arbitrary, and only exist to show the differences between the particles. In fact, they can be exchanged between the particles with no con- sequence, as long as the three particles remain balanced with one of each so called color. Benjamin Franklin was supposedly the first to label a proton as positive and an electron as negative, sometime in the late 18th century. His model of electricity assumed that charged objects contained fluid (an electrical charge of a continuous type). Of there was too much of the fluid, which he identified with a plus sign (+), it was identified as a positive electrical charge. And while some claim that he simply made a 50/50 guess and either got it ‘wrong’ or ‘right,’ the problem itself is more complex than simple wrong or right. For example, convention notation of electrical flow shows electric charge moving from the positive (or surplus) side of the diagram to the negative (or deficient) side. Electron flow notation, however, shows electric charge moving from the negative (surplus) side to the positive (deficient) side. It can be asked who, then, labeled the particles ‘wrong’, and why, but if an electron is labeled as positive, it makes the proton negative, which caus- es your neatly positive atom to be negative. The labels, however, are much like the color charges of the quarks, because as long as the much needed balance exists, the labels can be interchanged.

Not to say that interchanging the signs would necessarily be ‘better’ in any way. If an electron carries a positive charge, protons and nuclei would be inherently negative in charge, which would upset the balance our understanding of these particles is built upon. In short, protons have no reason to be positive. Electrons have no reason to be negative. The signs are completely arbitrary, and could be interchanged as easily as quarks’ color charges, with no impact to the particles or the atoms themselves. The most logical reason that we label these particles the way we do is to make sense of them for ourselves, in order to structure our world into a thing we can understand. Negative numbers are inherently messy and chaotic, and positives are far more graceful in the eyes of human kind.

How can you ask ‘why is a proton positive’, without knowing a proton is, in fact, positive? We label them as positive and negative when they aren’t, and as negative and positive when they aren’t. The truth is they are both, and neither. So to answer the question of why, to solve the mystery of why protons are posi- tive, it’s because they must be, to satisfy us. The charge attached to them is the opposite of the charge at- tached to an electron. But in reality either could be negative. We only call protons positive because, histori- cally, that’s what was believed, and historically, that’s what makes the most sense to ourselves. We label them to mark their difference, but we choose their label to comfort ourselves, which makes the very concept of negative and positive a construct of humanity, and therefore, leaving the question unanswerable.

Henlopen 2017

By Meredith Young

I was just relaxing in my forest, when sud- denly, I heard the noises. I knew it was that time of year again, a whole school of children come for an entire week. An entire week with them disrupting my woods! An entire week of screaming and high

pitched squeals! Absolute torture! I have been do- ing lots of observing, and noticed that they are scared of pretty much everything! All the older people yell orders, while the little children run around screaming. How annoying. Though I do notice that many children tend to have a great time. My favorite part is watching them go onto the beach and catch fish, I think it’s called Seining? Sometimes they even leave some out on the shore, which I gladly go eat of course. But I also enjoy the night hike that the tall people take the children on. It is fun to see them get frightened by the silly stories, I always laugh, even though I have no idea what they’re saying, I’m a bear! What do you expect? I do have to hide myself well though, and I laugh to myself when I hear them talk about me. The older people are always talking about how “there’s absolutely no bears!” so I have to be very careful. I almost got caught once while I was eating the remaining fish on the shore! The end of the week comes so quickly, all the children are basically crying when they leave. And I am a little sad, too, because, even though the children are awfully disruptive, I will miss them. Well, all except that song about the moose. Why don’t they make a song about me? I’m much better than a moose. There was a bear, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, and he had a lot of hair, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo... The Dog Days: How to Keep your Dog Safe in the Summer Months By Elizabeth Brennan

With summer fast approaching, it is im- A General Tip: portant for us to take a minute and remember our four-legged friends. Dogs are loyal, and If you cannot bear to have your dogs are trusting, so it is up to us to keep them hand on the pavement or a deck for safe in the heat. 5-10 seconds, it is too hot to leave your dog outside. Dogs cannot tolerate the heat as well as hu- mans. Dogs sweat through their feet, so don’t rely on fans to keep them cool.. Here are some tips according to the Humane Society to make sure that your best friend is happy and healthy throughout the dog days.

 Resist the urge to give long-haired breeds a cut. That long hair actually provides circula- tion to help regulate body temperature. Signs of HEATSTROKE in Dogs

 Whenever possible, keep them in the shade or in air conditioning.  Rapid panting  Bright red tongue  Don’t walk your dog during the hottest part  Depression of the day. Early morning or evening walks  Weakness are best in the hot months.  Diarrhea

 Vomiting  Provide plenty of cool drinking water. SMALL AMOUNTS of ice cubes or ice wa-  Wobbly Legs ter are fine. If you see any of these signs in your  Never leave your dog in the car, even with dog, use cool wraps or towels to lower the windows cracked. Temperatures inside his temperature, give him plenty of the car can rise quickly. water and call the vet immediately. Summer 2017 Pa ge 11

Enjoy a great book this summer! We know you are looking forward to sun, fun, and nothing to do, but while you are lazing around at the beach or by the pool, try one of these great reads to keep you occupied. Realistic Fiction The Warden’s Daughter by Jerry Spinelli Imagine what it would be like growing up at a prison. That’s the life Cammie lives in this recent novel by the author of Maniac Magee and Knots in my Yo-Yo String. Spinelli creates a vivid world with unforgettable characters that readers will love. Science Fiction Last Days on Mars by Kevin Emerson In the futuristic world of 2213 Earth is a thing of the past. The solar system as we know it is largely uninhabited, but for those who do remain, Mars is their home and it is getting more strange and mysterious by the minute. Graphic Novel One Trick Pony by Nathan Hale The author and illustrator of this new graphic novel creates an amazing world of aliens, robots, and humans where Strata must survive with the help of her extraordinary robot pony. It is a tale of good conquering evil, and it will be sure to keep you enthralled until the end. True Stories Dive!: World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific by Deborah Hopkinson This book is sure to interest history buffs and others with first-hand accounts of sailors who served on submarines during WWII. It is full of visuals to give the reader a clear picture of the life these brave individuals led. Mythological Fantasy

The Dark (The Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan Apollo must suffer the life of an awkward teenager before Zeus will allow him to return to Mount Olympus. During his journey across the North American continent, Apollo seeks to please his fa- ther by restoring Oracles to their rightful lives. He meets friends and skirts danger along the way, making this another of Riordan’s amazing rides.

Fun Things to Do This Summer* *when you’re on a budget

By Gabi Fernandes Take a nature walk Visit a local park or reserve and take a walk Catch fireflies around to admire all the beautiful wildlife and This one is cliché, I know, but catching fireflies greenery. Being outside is great during the can be so much fun, and it also takes you on a summer, and going for a walk is a great option trip down memory lane. Imagine you’re on a cooler day. younger, and make a cool Have a yard sale game out of it, Make spring cleaning like trying to summer clean- see who ing! Put signs up amongst your in your neighbor- friends can hood about your catch the yard sale, and most! find things to sell that you don’t want. This is a great way to re- Go stargazing on a clear night cycle old things and to make some money On a warm, clear night when you don’t have any- while you’re at it. thing better to do, try going outside and look- ing at the stars. Find a quiet spot in your back- Bake something delicious yard with lots of open space, and gaze away! Baking is a great way to pass time and create Test your imagi- something yummy. Make your favorite cook- nation by trying to ies, brownies, or cup- make pictures cakes and then spend with the stars, like some extra time deco- you would with rating them. You could clouds during the even distribute them to day. your neighbors!

Wash the car Start a collection Okay, so this one might not seem so appealing at Whether it be rocks, stamps, buttons, quarters, first, but don’t think about it from the ‘work’ lollipop wrappers, or whatever else your heart aspect. Cleaning the car can be a lot of fun, desires, make sure it means something to you. especially if you make it an activity with your You can even create a cool container to keep friends or family. And, on the plus side, you your collection in! will get a clean car! Do some work for neighbors Do some at home or in the park Giving up a little bit of your time to help others is Did you know that practicing yoga helps you stay not only generous but kind. You can offer to flexible and strong mow the lawn, water the plants, or take the as you age? It’s pets out. You could even offer to babysit the amazing! And, not children in the neighborhood while the parents only does it keep enjoy a night out! you fit, but it re- laxes all of your muscles as well and relieves stress.

And if you are still looking for ideas, here is some local summer fun for you and your family to en- joy.

You don’t have to go far or spend a ton of money to enjoy a new perspec- tive this summer. Check out this list of fun and interesting destinations that won’t break the bank.

Magic Gardens Located in Philadelphia on the world famous South Street, the Magic Gardens has dozens of exhibits for artwork indoors and outdoors. The Magic Gardens, which uses “nontraditional materials such as folk art statues, found objects, bicycle wheels, color- ful glass bottles, hand-made tiles, and thousands of glittering mirrors” has been open to the public since 2008. It is an amazing exhibit that will surely charge your creative spirit.

The Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is one of the most innovative, family- friendly museums nearby. With dozens of exhibits, you can explore a world of science and have a hands-on experience! You will love the Sports Challenge, which uses virtual reality to make you feel like you are really there. At the end of the visit, relax in the IMAX Theater as you watch a film on the 79-foot tall screen.

Marsh Creek This state park covers 535 acres of land around marsh creek. At the creek, you can paddleboard, kayak, fish, or just relax in the summer heat. There is an outdoor pool and splash fountain that you can go to for a small fee.

Hershey Park Really, Hershey Park is three parks in one. Included with admission are the amusement rides, the 11 acre Zoo America with 200 North American animals, and the water park where families can enjoy 15 water attrac- tions including a lazy river and wave pool.

Rickett’s Glen This is a beautiful spot in upstate Pennsylvania. It is made up of over 13,000 acres The seven-mile waterfall trail is a fantastic hike that leads you up to the highest waterfall, Ganoga Falls at 94 feet. After spending the day exploring, you can relax at a fully equipped campground or rent a boat and cruise out on the lake.

Cedar point (A little farther away, but worth the drive!) This amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio has tons of thrilling rides for your family. It’s been rated to be one of the best parks in the country. Daily tickets online are $45. Philadelphia Museum of Art- The Philadelphia Museum of Art has one of the largest collections of art in the country. The steps that lead up to the museum were featured in all of the “Rocky” movies. Take your picture on these famous steps and then explore the museum. From Medieval to modern, there is something for everyone. By Abheya Nair and Marcela Bernal Helpful Free Websites and Extensions: As the school year is coming to an end of year projects, essays, and finals are coming up fast. Here Easy Accents: When you are writing in google are some tips and tricks to keep doing your best until docs it is not always easy to put on accents. Easy Ac- school’s out and next year. cents is an extension that gives you accents for over 10 different languages. These languages include ones Student hacks: we learn at school such as Spanish, French, and Lat-  Use a locker organizer to put your stuff in the in. Once you download go to tools and click on Easy place it belongs to. Use color coordination on Accents. Once you pick your language a bar on the your notebooks, this will allow you to put your side will appear with all the letters and their accents notes in certain areas and save them that are used in that language. Download it in the Google Store  Make a “To Do” list, this will help you keep yourself organized get you motivated Grammarly: This extension is like spell check on  Do your homework: Write down the home- steroids. It is a helpful tool that when you type it will work either on your computer or on your assign- tell you if you are spelling something wrong and rec- ment book. ommend other words that you could use. Not only  When you finish an essay, copy and paste it that but it can correct your grammar mistakes much into Google Translate and listen to it . This way better than a standard grammar check. This extension you can listen to your errors right away. is extremely helpful when writing English essays and  A quick and easy way to re-open a tab you spelling and grammar count. recently closed is to press “Ctrl+Shift+T  Get a flash drive and make a copy of all of your documents Khan Academy: Khan Academy is an online  Buy many packs of gum at the beginning of learning tool that teaches you step by step everything the year and keep them in your locker. Take one from math techniques to science concepts. These vid- or two every locker break and you will never run eos will especially help you in math class when you out of gum or have to go around asking for gum. don’t understand a topic. You get points for watching  Go to scholar.google.com for much more rel- videos and taking mini quizzes on the topics. Not on- evant information than just google.com and more ly does it have math videos but you can learn how to credible sources. code, art history, and they are always adding new partners such as NASA to teach the public.  Use quizlet, I bet there are hundreds of kids www.khanacademy.com making sets of flashcards to study with  Whenever a teacher tells you to write an essay on any topic, choose the topic that infuriates you. Bibme: Teachers You will be able to rant about it, and write pages are always asking and pages of the topic. for students to cite  Always listen to game/movie soundtrack their work. Bibme songs, they are picked out so they don’t ruin the makes this task easi- concentration. er by giving you  Use post-it notes to help you keep track of some parts of the your tests and activities, just remember where source. It is much you will be leaving them. more user friendly than Noodletools and a great website.

What are Shadows?

By Althea Mae Hutchinson

From the far reaches of space, a transmission disrupts the silence of a lone monitor in the control room…

“…What are shadows? For many, they’re simply an absence of light, which follows them, a slightly cool- er patch of sidewalk that disappears at mid-day. But I don’t think that’s quite right. I think they’re something else, something darker that hides from light in a way we can’t quite form into words. Something not quite sinis- ter, but altogether strange.

The same people who say shadows are simply that are the same who know for a fact that magic isn’t real. For many, there’s no inexplicable power beyond that of their dogmatic beliefs. There simply can’t be pix- ies or fairies or gnomes or any type of magic, beyond the tiniest everyday miracles that they truly can’t be both- ered to dwell on. It’s just silly to even think about it, a child’s tale, nothing more. And yet, our lightest dreams and darkest nightmares, that unmistakable chill we feel alone in the dark, that universal but much denied belief in ghosts, the draw of a horrible tragic story that we know is awful but we find fascinating anyway, all that must come from somewhere. And it does.

Magic isn’t what we think it is. It’s not rhyming spells over cauldrons or wands and broomsticks. Magic is in the smallest things. That perfectly crisp autumn morning that clears your lungs and forces you to smile, the keys to your car being right on top of your purse when they really should be at the bottom, sitting down on the couch and catching, by accident, your favorite episode of your favorite t.v. show after a long day. A sick child’s fever going down without cause, suddenly gone, forgetting bad things and simply moving on, your lawn remain- ing green and cropped when you haven’t mowed for those two weeks of mid-July. The tiny lies we tell ourselves to explain the inexplicable, and the inexplicable itself, that’s magic. Or what’s left of it.

And that in itself is such a human concept. This idea, this word that says that people and things can have powers beyond an ordinary human. That broomsticks can fly, cats can jinx people, that broken mirrors can bring bad luck, that one person could kill another with a flick of their wrist. Magic, they call it. Powers. Abilities, strange and peculiar. But it’s not. It’s not human, or even close to it, and it’s existed for far longer than they have. Rather, it existed for far longer than they ever will.

Which brings us back to shadows. Because they are not, will not, and have never been, just an absence of physical light. They’re an absence of power, and absence of metaphorical light, and absence of goodness. Shadows aren’t evil. Far from it. But the place they come from is forever beyond our comprehension. There’s no word for it in any human language, although nearly every culture has tried to convey it in some way or an- other. Magic isn’t a faceless power, it’s a nameless mass, tapped into by small moments in a world slowly being eaten by the shadows of skyscrapers that hardly begin the reach the heavens.

The shadows are coming, creeping between the stars and over planets, destroying colonies and tech. The Martian colony was a failure, losing contact with Earth after just 18 months. The Lunar colonies on the so- called dark side of your little moon disappear too, lost without a trace in ‘accidents’ blamed on network failure, solar flares, and tunnel collapse. If only that was the extent of your problems. We’ve held them off, using what little of what you call magic remains, for as long as we could. But be warned. We’re falling, one by one. They’re coming…”

As the door slid open for the fourth time that morning, I sighed. So much for a quiet start to the lunar cycle. But there’s no such thing as a peaceful new moon on a lunar colony mission control base. “What is it now?” My voice was loud, too sharp for the small space, and I winced. My secretary didn’t even blink as he crisply stepped through the doorway.

“Sir, transmission.”

“From a colony?”

“No. From Deep Space 12.”

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. Deep Space 12 was a probe sent out towards the center of the galaxy half a century ago. We’d lost contact a decade ago, and scrapped the project completely.

“Send it over, then, I’ll read it when I get a chance.”

“Sir, you’ll read it now. We’ve lost all contact with the lunar colonies.”

“Colonies?”

“All of them blinked out at once, about…” he paused and tapped his handheld twice. “a minute and a half ago.”

“So what does this transmission have to do with anything?”

“I’m not sure I can explain it. Just, read it, sir.” I looked up for the first time. He looked tired, worried. I would have put it down to the stress of a new moon cycle, but this was something more. “I’ll look into it. Thank you.” He nodded, and stepped back out. The door sealed automatically. Quickly, I opened a new screen and tapped open the transmission. Surprised to see a block of text instead of a series of data points, I began to scan the information.

“…What are shadows?...” By Gabi Fernandes Agua de Fresca Teddy-at-the-Beach Cupcakes

Fresh fruit waters, or Aguas de Frutas, made with Here's a fun way to end your day at the beach! crushed or blended fruit are a common and popular drink all over Mexico. This recipe is extremely fla- Decorating the cupcakes are so much fun and vorful and refreshing, especially when fresh straw- the teddy grahams give them a delicious, unique berries are in season flavor! Ingredients: 1 box super moist cake mix 4 cups of strawberries -Water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for 1 cup of sugar on the cake box 8 cups of cold water 1 lime cut into 8 wedg- es 2 drops blue food coloring 8 fresh mint sprigs 1 cup whipped vanilla frosting ½ cup teddy grahams crushed In a medium bowl, 12 regular teddy gra- mix together sliced strawberries, sugar, hams and 1 cup of water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator 6 life savers for 4 hours. 6 goldfish Remove the strawberry mixture from the Heat oven to 350 refrigerator and pour into a blender. F. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 Blend on high until smooth. Pour the regular-size muffin cups. Make and bake blended berry mixture through a wire cake mix as directed on box for 24 cup- mesh strainer set over a large mixing cakes. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove bowl; discard the pulp and seeds. from pans to cooling rack. Cool com- Add the remaining 7 cups cold water to the pletely, about 30 minutes. Tightly wrap pureed strawberries and mix well. Place 12 cupcakes; freeze for later use. the Agua de Fresca in the refrigerator to Stir blue food color into frosting until blend- chill for several hours or pour over ice ed. Frost remaining 12 cupcakes with and serve immediately. Garnish with frosting. lime slices or mint leaves. Use remaining ingredients to decorate cup- cakes as shown in the photo.

Summertime Crossword

Across

2. this is what you wear if you don't want a sunburn

3. a refreshing beverage made from a sour fruit

4. you won't have to do this in the summer

6. an activity done in the water

7. a sandy place where people go to relax

Down

1. in this sport, three strikes means you are out

2. a yummy fruit-based drink made in a blender

5. this is a solar event that will hap- pen in the southern US this August

8. the quantity of water vapor in the air