KidSpirit Online

Gracie Griffin, one of the 2012 KidSpirit Award winners for poetry reads her poem “With a Pencil in My Hand.” Read the original poem on KidSpirit’s website: http://kidspiritonline.com/2011/09/with-a-pencil-in-my-hand/

When they come, they come in boxes.

They’re do-it-yourself kits, packaged with batteries and styrofoam,

Goody bags the siblings get at birthday parties, perhaps,

Or the dog the family eagerly promises to love and take care of forever—

Go fetch, they say, the red rubber ball a blur against the blue background.

First, he is gazed at,

lovingly, amazedly,

silently. a few, long,

never-to-be-forgotten seconds—

And then it’s snatched by the nurses in bloody white coats who have babies waiting at home

Read the rest of Akash’s stunning poem at KidSpirit!

Ang Lee’s filmic interpretation of Yann Martel’s wildly successful book Life of Pi is unapologetically fanciful, visually stunning, intellectually valuable, and it is undeniably a great work of art.

Read why Zachary Kligler had this to say at KidSpirit’s site! And let us know what you thought about the movie!

And then there was — flight.

It wasn’t the usual sort of thing to actually experience, she mused, a flock of butterflies swaying upwards like an exhale, darting here and there before finally settling back on the branches of the bush. She stood in their midst and held her body still, her breath quiet, eyes soft. They flickered around her like bits of tiny tattered color in the intense blue of endless sky.

Read more…

What do teens think about God? First, a whole lot of things; and second, a whole lot of very intelligent, often beautiful and equally often heartbreaking things. Here are a few of the things they’ve written so far in our Winter issue. Keep checking back for more!

http://kidspiritonline.com/magazine/issues/the-god-issue/

A year at KidSpirit with our teen writers, artists, and photographers talking about what makes KidSpirit such a unique forum for youth.

That’s what teen writer Elizabeth Berg asks in her feature this week.

“Cynics criticize the Slow Food movement as elitist, because not everyone can afford to buy only local, organic produce or spend the time to make dinner from scratch every night. The fact is that there’s a reason that fast food chains, large factory farms, and genetically homogenous crops have all become commonplace: for a comparatively low cost, they produce a lot of food. Organic farms don’t use pesticides, which means they have to throw out a greater percentage of their harvest than other farmers. The United States currently has 1 million farmers, but if we wanted to feed everyone only organic produce, we would have to increase this number to 40 million.

“I understand that our society has progressed past the point at which we can only eat what’s produced locally, and it just isn’t feasible for every farm to become organic or for smaller businesses to replace all fast food franchises. However, even if Petrini’s original goal may never be attained, I agree with the Slow Food movement’s original ideology and the intention of the movement’s name. When people quickly grab a fast food meal, they are eating only to fulfill a biological need. Every chapter may strive for Petrini’s original goal in different ways, but simply by focusing so intently on food, they are instead turning meals into experiences. I believe that this mindset is the most important and universally accessible aspect of the Slow Food movement.”

Slow? Fast? Is there a middle ground?

Read her whole article on the KidSpirit website.

“Fog lingers like the words of a friend or even a stranger. Obscuring much, it is a protector, concealing hidden fortunes, only to timidly reveal them when the time is right…”

Read more of Sam Fraley’s connection to time in his piece, “One Among Many,” at www.kidspiritonline.com/2012/06/one-among-many/ 

Photography by Merrell Hatton

Life and death, the main events,

The moon, rising up out of the midnight sky.

The beach with all of its happiness

And stars way up high.

Shadows lurking in the distance

You their final prey,

And colors fill the sky and earth

Every night and day.

Falling in the midst of nothing

Through the blackness of your heart,

And poetry in all its beauty

The finest form of art.

By Alexandros Hubert

For more teen poetry, visit www.kidspiritonline.com!