Poly

The Winnie Series

M

arlee starts all her projects with a lot of odds and ends.

One thing she found piling up in her closet were empty shoeboxes. With some homemade wallpaper, furnishings and some real creative thinking, she transformed these raw and random materials into deccadent living for small figures. From bedrooms to restaurants, to day spas and meditation rooms these dolls have everything you could dream of.

Focusing her writing on the tumultuous middle-school and high-school years, Lauren Myracle is the author of several highly praised novels. The novel Eleven is aimed directly at the middlegrade reader. The novel chronicles the life of “Tween” Winnie Perry as she begins to realign friendships with her changing interests, gets a pet, and creates problems when she boasts to friends of having a temporary boyfriend on St. Valentine’s Day.

patterned paper. Today she has created over 20 different themed rooms and become more experimental with her materials.

A 50’s diner style restaurant features a macaroni and cheese dish created by chopped up plastic q-tip tubes as noodles.

Sometimes to get started on a new room she experiments with her materials chopping, gluing and piecing together and seeing what these things could look like or turn into.

Marlee’s advice to other poly girls is to try using materials that don’t need to be purchased, neutral materials allow for more creative freedom!

write your own ending

Her first room was a simple bedroom with beds built of cardboard and decorated with beginning by stuart b. baum I’m sure you’ve heard of children who have imaginary friends.

Perhaps you had or have one yourself. But have you ever heard of grown ups having one? Would you think they were a little crazy?

And what if they kept telling you that this imaginary friend was your older sister?

Deddy (short for “Daedalus”) kept hearing his parents talk about his older sister, Chandra, but he never saw her around. They would set out food for her, which she would never eat. Which was too bad,

because there frequently wasn’t enough food to go around and Deddy had to go a little hungry so his “imaginary sister” could have some, even though she never ate any of it.

Whenever Deddy asked his parents where his sister was, they would shake their heads, look very sad, and say, “We don’t know.”

Whenever he asked if he could see a picture of her, they would shake their heads, look even sadder, and say, “We don’t even have a picture of her.”

So, you can imagine that Deddy thought his parents were a little crazy, setting out food at dinner for a sister that, as far as Deddy could tell, didn’t exist.

Then one day, he realized his parents weren’t so crazy after all.

Submit your endings (3-5 ¶) online at www.polymag.com/writetheending or by mail at P.O. box 548 New York, NY, 10917 Also be sure to read submitted entries online and vote for your favorite!

By tying together two layers of fleece fabric I’ve been making blankets that I donate to shelters where people are staying after being evacuated from their homes during natural disasters - KELLYANNE, 13

I started a clothing drive to help recylce old clothes!

-VERONICA, 10

I wove together old plastic shopping bags to create a rug. I’m going to try to sell them to a local store!

- AUDREY, 11

My friends and I started making “giggle books” full of jokes and fun things for children in hospitals.

-LAURA, 9

I decorate bandanas for dogs and cats in shelters to help them get adopted!

- MACY, 11

I started a club at my school where we visit elementary schools and read to younger kids to help them learn how to read.

- MACKENZIE, 11

27% 15%

45%

my own thoughts and ideas

30%

looking online at others’ projects

25%

brainstorming with family or friends

58%

Kenneth E. Norwood of Burbank’s Planning Department envisioned a city where only 12% of the people lived in single-family homes, with 88% in multi-unit garden apartments made of plastic that were incorporated in commercial complexes. “These complexes are supposed to be the ultimate in urban living, combining offices, hotels, apartments, shops, restaurants, etc., in one continuous complex of buildings, malls and arcades,” he wrote.

G G L U G I J N Having a lot of interests is great but it’s important to find the right balance of activities that works for you

C AT artwork by sara stevenson

Pick and Choose: Make the most of your time by choosing activities that really matter to you. Hone in on those you like and stay with them only as long as you find them satisfying. If an activity adds too much stress to your life, it may not really be for you. Remember, nothing is written in stone! a quick glance at a tween or teen’s calendar tells a revealing story. monday hip-hop class, tuesday debate club, and wednesday girl scouts. add to that academic demands, family obligations, and an increasingly busier social life.

Soon, the calendar is completely full. So many activities, so little time. some girls thrive with a jam-packed schedule, but others feel stressed out. Although being involved in your school and around your community will aid in becoming a wellrounded, confident girl, everyone needs a little time to chill. A KidsPoll run by KidsHealth revealed that 90 percent of kids surveyed felt stressed because they were too busy! And 61 percent said they wished they had more free time to hang out or play with friends.

With the smorgasbord of activities to choose from, it can be easy to go overboard on activities.

Ask yourself these questions to determine if your plate is full and enough is enough: -Do you feel tired all the time?

-Are you having trouble sleeping (or are you sleeping too much)?

-Are you experiencing uncharacteristically low appetite or eating too much?

-Do you feel grumpier than usual?

-Do you have regular headaches or stomachaches?

-Are your grades slipping because you are having difficulty completing homework on time?

-DO you find yourself dreading school and extracirriculars?

If you answered “yes” more than “no”, it’s time to reevaluate your commitments and figure out how to cut back to reduce pressure. By doing so, you’ll strike a balance before you’re burned out on activities you used to love.

Tips for balancing school work, clubs, sports, and other activities and lowering your stress.

Map your week: sometimes it can be helpful to see what your day looks like.

Create a weekly calendar that shows exactly what you’re doing and for how long. List the time you wake up and how long you spend getting ready; how long you spend at school; start and stop times for homework, dinner, sports, music lessons, and any other regular activities.

Then stand back and take a look. Is there any breathing room in there? Time for reading a book you love, taking a walk with your family, or just listening to music and talking to friends? If not, then keep reading!

First Things First: Determine your priorities and review them regularly to ensure you stay on track. Take charge of your time by making a list of your absolute must do’s along with those activities you want to do. When you make your to-do list, order it from most important to least important.

Schedule Me Time: Set aside some quiet time each day just for you to stay in balance. Read a magazine, do yoga, listen to your iPod, take a walk-whatever helps you unwind. Everyone needs time to relax, hang out, and have fun. This unstructured downtime will help you better focus when you hit the books to work on homework.

Just Say No! Knowing your limitations and saying no sometimes can be the mature choice that helps you keep a healthy balance between school activities and your social life.

Overcommitting can lead to feeling overwhelmed.

Use the following tool to help you prioritize and organize your time

water fights to egg huntsdiscover all the ways the world celebrates the start of spring

ARTWORK BY CARRIE SCHULTZ

In early spring, frost may still rime the windows in the morning, but we can feel the promise of a new season in each passing day. Almost imperceptibly, the sun warms, the day lengthens, and the air seems pure and thin as it takes on the scent of freshly turned soil, emerging green, and soft rains. Spring is a time of awakening, of healing and renewal, of the dawning and planting of new ideas. The world seems young and virgin again.

The spring equinox is one of the four great solar festivals of the year. Day and night are equal, poised and balanced, but about to tip over on the side of light. The spring equinox is sacred to dawn, youth, the morning star and the east. The Saxon goddess, Eostre (from whose name we get the direction East and the holiday Easter) is a dawn goddess, like Aurora and Eos. Just as the dawn is the time of new light, so the vernal equinox is the time of new life.

White House Easter Egg Roll President Obama gathers with schoolchildren on the White House lawn for the annual Easter Egg Roll. Held on Easter Monday, the yearly tradition is commonly believed to have started in 1814, organized by First Lady Dolley Madison.

Spring wouldn’t be the same in northern India without this annual festival.

Celebrated by Hindus, who throw colored powder at each other, this vibrant festival of colors celebrates the season’s many hues, as well as events from Hindu mythology, such as when a devotee of Lord Vishnu was saved from death.

Nowruz

Songkran Water Festival Known as the Water Festival by visitors, this annual festival in Thailand falls shortly after the spring equinox. Songkran (based on a Sanskrit word for “astrological passage”) is celebrated in the country as the traditional New Year’s Day. Along with visiting elders and going to a Buddhist monastery, festivities include throwing of water – this case, with a little help from an elephant!

Holi

Semana Santa An important holiday in largely Catholic countries like Mexico and Spain, Semana Santa (Holy Week) showcases colorful parades, Masses, fireworks and elaborate ceremonies, like these celebrants in Roman garb placing crosses on a stone overlook. Semana Santa also coincides with spring break; you may see a sand sculpture of the Last Supper on a Mexican beach during this time!

Widely referred to as the Persian New Year, this annual festival also marks the first day of spring -- which is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox (usually around March 21). Nowruz is celebrated throughout Central Asia and here, in Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishek.

Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling & Wake Competitors race down a steep hill -known as Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester, England -- as they vie for the day’s ultimate prize: a round of Double Gloucester cheese. This centuries-old tradition is held on the UK’s Spring Bank Holiday, attracting not only locals from the nearby village of Brockworth but also people from all over the world.

DIY clothes projects are the perfect fit for your style and your budget

by rebecca moss artwork by jamie Damon

For 14-year-old Audrey Sanders, clothes shopping has little to do with the mall.

She’d much rather go to secondhand stores to buy shirts, scarves, jewelry and jeans. Her shoes might be a cheap pair of flats, spray painted with jewels added on.

“I like to be different than everybody else and start new trends. And it’s a lot cheaper and you get to buy more clothes,” says the high school freshman from Pickerington, Ohio. She figures that she and her mom spent just over $100 on back-to-school clothes, far less than many of her classmates.

From the first days of rock’n’roll to punk and emo, some teens have always had an alternative style. But these days it’s becoming cooler to try and create your own look. Along the way, young people are finding it’s cheaper to do so.

“We’re trying to change it up a bit and add our own edge and a little twist,”says Gabrielle Pharms, a 19-year-old thrift shopper who’s a sophomore at Houston Community College in Texas.”I have yet to find anyone who has the same clothes as I do.”

vintage clothes has other drawbacks.

For one, it can take a lot of time to rummage through clothes racks to find the good stuff.

FPO

“Many stores have clothes that are just plain old and cannot be salvaged or worn differently for an updated or innovative look,”says Demi Tzamaras, a high school sophomore in Bethesda, Md., who calls thrift shopping a hobby.”And the idea of wearing clothing worn by unknown people does have me wondering if these secondhand outfits are clean, even after a washing.”

tear out handbook with DIY thrift store projects

Other teens doubt they’ll ever have an interest in secondhand shopping.

“There’s a few kids who try to be independent. But some people look down on those stores,”says Amanda Scherner, a high school sophomore in Plainfield, Ill.”It kind of shows your social status at school.”

A business major with an interest in fashion, Pharms is one of six young”ReDesigners”chosen this summer to be back-to-school advisers for the thrift store chain Savers, known as Value Village in some parts of North America.

She’s among the many teens who still prefer shopping at higher-end mall stores such as Abercrombie&Fitch and Hollister.

“We have definitely noticed that secondhand clothing is receiving notably increased attention from the teen set,”says Amanda Foley, a spokeswoman for the chain, based in Bellevue, Wash.

Even as mall-based retailers such as Abercrombie&Fitch and Wet Seal posted better than expected numbers in August, those who monitor fashion trends have noticed more teens working up the courage to break the mold.

“There’s only so much they’re going to find from a department store, so it’s sending them searching for other options,”says Tina Wells, the young CEO of the New York-based Buzz Marketing Group, who works with a network teenage trend spotters all over the world.

They tell her the secondhand trend is partly an outgrowth of the vintage and”retro”clothing craze. That could find a teen wearing anything from a 1930s era dress to 1980s leg warmers or looks that range from rocker chic to bohemian, to a more traditional style with cable knits and tweeds.

Amanda wanted to spend $500 on school clothes, but ended up getting about $300 from her parents instead. She says it can be difficult to maintain a fashion image on her limited budget.”But I kind of like living up to the pressure. It keeps school more interesting,”she says.

Many retailers and teen brands are attempting to compete by offering”vintage collections.”

Wells says young people’s fascination with customization also is fueling the growing interest in individualized fashion, whether they’re shopping at thrift stores or high-end retail shops.

Theirs is a generation that’s into”massclusivity,”or exclusivity for the masses _ iPods that can be tailored for individual listeners and televisions that can be programmed with TiVo. Fashion is no different, with apparel and shoe companies _ from Nike to Juicy _ allowing customers

I have yet to find anyone who has the same clothes as I do

to personalize their merchandise.

Some wonder if the intense focus on fashion and creating a one-of-a-kind look is getting a little out of control, even for teens who are shopping at secondhand shops.

Audrey, the secondhand shopper in Ohio, doesn’t worry about the naysayers.

She says classmates used to make fun of her self-made designs _ but more recently, she’s as likely to hear,”I love your outfit!”

“Now they’re the ones who are wearing the clothes,”she says.

“There’s a lot of pressure at the younger ages _ with boys, too _ to feel fresh and new,”says Eric Messinger, editor at New York Family magazine, a Manhattan-based monthly for parents.”Kids are so fashion conscious _ even at 8, 9 and 10.”

After attending a freshman orientation and hearing about all the clothing students can’t wear to school _ largely those that show too much skin _ Audrey’s mom, Lori Sanders, says she’s more than happy to take her daughter thrift store shopping.

While they might not see the problem, some teens concede that shopping for

“It’s refreshing,”she says.”And it’s a great deal!”