Us Magazine Spring 2022 by St. Andrew's School

Us Magazine

Spring 2022

Xin “Mia” Li ‘22

Us St. Andrew’s School’s Literary and Arts Magazine Spring 2022

Editors: Vivian Brochu Ana Dornback Qiye “Kingsley” Chen Joseph Demopulos Soraya Fanion Anna Fox Shelby Green Nate Hall Zyah Johnson Sarah Knight Alessandro Lancia Xin “Mia” Li Julio Lopez Carter Lynch Nick Morgan Preston Murphy Chris Nolan Nick Oliveira

Adam Osorio Heidi Sarris Nirmaan Singh Rhiannon Sousa Horacio Vicioso Run “Mackenzie” Wang Jhijie “Jack” Wang Shipeng “Tony” Zhao Bohong “Aleck” Zhou Jiacheng “Scott” Zhou

Faculty Advisor: Ms. Berry Special thanks to Ms. Anna Wingﬁeld and Ms Kara Dunne for supporting the collaboration between writing and art, without their help this publication wouldn’t have been possible. 3

Table of Contents Title

Author/Artist

Page

Dreaming Firepit “This is Community…” “little cat…” Kitten Mt. Fuji Under Mt. Fuji Night in the Desert Starry Night Boy’s Face Grandpa’s Teeth Street at Night “Music is like pearls…” Violin The Mourning Croak of a Frog Jakub “You've come a long way down..” Success

Xin “Mia” Li ‘22 Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23 Julio Lopez ‘22 Shipeng “Tony” Zhao ‘22 Jiaao “Danny” Chen ‘23 Jackson Wolf ‘23 Jiacheng “Scott” Zhou ‘22 Julio Lopez ‘22 Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23 Cixin “Olivia” Tu ‘24 Run “Mackenzie” Wang ‘22 Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23 Zhijie “Jack” Wang ‘22 Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23 Sarah Knight ‘22 Jiaao “Danny” Chen ‘23 Nirmaan Singh ‘22 Kon Makris ‘23

Cover 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 10 11 12 12 13 13 14 15 16 16 4

Title Wave From a Ladder to a Diving Board Ocean Maocheng Middle Road Girl’s Face Still Life

Author(s) Sydney Luna ‘23 Vivian Brochu ‘22 Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23 Run “Mackenzie “ Wang ‘22 Cixin “Olivia” Tu ‘24 Cixin “Olivia” Tu’ 24

Page 17 18 19 20-21 22 23

Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23 6

This is our community following the truth of what real company is with peace and love, everyone reunited. This is our community, diverse, kind; we complement each other, we help each other. This is what solidarity means, empathy, love, ﬁre everyone feels it; but not everyone understands. This is more than a community, together we thrive, together we succeed, together we are stronger, holding each other accountable. Julio Lopez 7

little cat she jumps up and down with swift limbs, so that you only hear the sound but not the shadow. She walks up to me without a noise, ethereal like a white cloud. She turns up her soft black fur, opens her pearly eyes wide, exuding infinite charm. With non utilitarian love she rubs against me, either consciously or unconsciously, taking away all my worries, soothing the tumult of the mundane. Falling in love with her, I bring her the life of a queen, inexhaustible food, water, and a warm refuge from the rain. She feels tired after a day’s play, she sleeps sweetly. Look at her drowsiness, listen to her wheezy snore. She is so carefree bringing me to a sea of peace. I wish you sweet dreams my little cat. Shipeng “Tony” Zhao ‘22 Jiaao “Danny” Chen ‘23

Under Mt. Fuji The immortal guest comes to swim outside with the clouds. The divine dragon inhabits the old cave abyss. The snow is like a froth, and the smoke like a handle. A white fan hangs upside down in the East Sea sky. Jiacheng “Scott” Zhou ’22 Jackson Wolf ‘23

Night in the Desert The stars shine brightly, The Saguaro grows still, and my life stands beside me. Grains of sand will join and come to the surface as new rocks. The dry wood absorbs heat into itself until night, then it ticks away the hours it learned in silence. There is a flat stretch of sameness between the fade of color at noon and the hours to follow. In the distance leading equally to nothing is the dying and different strands of heat. Julio Lopez ‘22 10

Zhenye”Steven” Feng ‘23 11

Cixin Olivia Tu ‘24

Grandpa’s Teeth My grandfather has almost no teeth, and the remaining ones are shabby as the house he was born in, yellow, as the sunlight he works in, dark as the night; he sleeps alone in. He sits in front of the table, drinking Soju, one bowl after another. He lays on the sofa, smoking cigarettes, one pack after another. His teeth get yellower, his life repeats one day after another.

I wonder why his favorite food is candy; is it because his life lacks sweetness? I hope he can go to sleep, without his heart bleeding, without worrying whether his ﬁsh will sell on the street.

Run “Mackenzie “ Wang ‘22 Zhenye” Steven” Feng ‘23 13

Music is like pearls falling on jade plates, rain knocking on the windows, ﬁngers tapping bamboo knuckles, bringing ripples to the quiet, to real life, to the listener's heart as if to see another kind of life spectacular, gorgeous, and beautiful. It is the flower of each other's world, it is from the blood and soul of the deepest throb. The four strings of a violin intersect with the bow digniﬁed with cruelty and sadness, full of heavy feeling like a drum batting the towering mountains. It is everywhere and omnipotent, incisively and vividly you are immersed in pure sound, in the inner voice of time. Society is full of the falsehoods of human nature, but music can tell me the purest and holiest sounds in the world. Zhijie “Jack” Wang ‘22

Zhenye” Steven” Feng’ 23 14

The Mourning Croak of A Frog dripping, circling, spinning, and cycling behind houses, through ponds, under bridges it rushes the connection between the homes so far apart spilling over dirt roads to farms heavy with heat the stillness away from that tumbling river the halloween i saw my neighbors, the job i never got a winding street takes me to a place i half remember from a time before i knew why i hated the violin sentimental scents encapsulate a snapshot of childhood in a fleeting moment of clarifying memory sticks and rocks worth bottomless chests of riches given to me by an old friend rising from the expanse of dead grass is a tune composed by the ticking of a clock a metronome of cool air from fleeting summer and the voice of a siren

the car passes by a never ending ﬁeld of red floating to the top of the water just bitter enough for a curly mop of brown hair who runs across a beach of cement to soft green and pink our favorite cat wandering from the dark woods swampy with wetness and ditches as moats for a window to claw at and warmth to surround candlelight and pink sands floating through the air in the culmination of that river a waterfall crashes into a misty haze the ﬁnal remains of a mill torn down and a forgotten swimming hole but the river is often patient waiting and collecting where pads of green can surface chirping rises from these ponds in a disharmonic symphony of chirping among the chatter is a soulful tune— a requiem to what once was

Sarah Knight ‘22

Jiaao “Danny “Chen ‘23 16

You’ve come a long way down, Don’t cry , don’t drown There is nothing that you lack Stick to your decision Bring clarity to your vision Work with passion Embrace your choice Remember you’ve got to do this for you Adhere to your point of view Close your eyes and see, Is this who you thought to be? Is this the best you can do? Can this much effort get you through? Do you ﬁnd yourself in peace? Or are you entangled in the crease? Continue, for this is what you want! Continue, so regret has no room to haunt! Nirmaan Singh ‘22

Kon Makris ‘23 17

Sydney Luna ‘23 18

From a Ladder to a Diving Board

I must prove to myself that I can do this, that I am capable of taking that ﬁnal step.

I'm climbing up the ladder. Each step feels like an eternity, but at the same time, it feels as though time is moving quickly. I take it slow, while making sure not to look back, Because I don't want anything to keep me from reaching the top— from reaching my full potential.

"Come on. You can do it," I say to myself, "You know you're ready. You just have to go for it!" I hear the loving voices of my family, cheering me on. I hear the voices of my teachers and peers— all the people who helped me get to where I am today. All the people who walked beside me during the journey that is high school.

Finally, I make it to the diving board. I'm ready for the next step—jumping off. I've already conquered the ﬁrst stage, after having taken one step at a time— each step a milestone in my young life.

I take a long, deep breath. I am standing at the very edge. My toes are clinging on for dear life. In a moment of excitement and bravery, I jump. I'm jumping into the next big stage of my life, into college, into adulthood. I've almost passed completely under the threshold of adolescence, into the waiting arms of maturity— arms that are waiting for me to grab conﬁdently.

I pace back and forth. A mixture of excitement and fear coursing through my veins. My heart races, my palms sweat, and my legs become numb. I want to jump. I've gotten this far, haven't I?

Vivian Brochu ‘22 19

Zhenye “Steven” Feng ‘23

Maocheng Middle Road Maocheng Middle Road is the road I am most familiar with.

I walk on it every day to school,

I know every store along this street.

and back from school;

Reciting the order of them

through primary school

from the closest to my house to the last;

I am friends with every single tree on the street,

middle school.

knowing when they change their leaves. I am familiar with all the cement on the street,

It holds

drawing it when my eyes are closed,

the hours in the book store, reading,

small square,

going on adventures with imaginary friends;

rectangle,

moments in the open square,

big square,

watching and dancing with happy elders.

curve,

The seconds in the convenience store,

line,

sneaking in and buying a bag of “forbidden” instant

dot.

noodles. 21

My normal childhood is encompassed in this normal street, no drama,

but now I have learned and see,

no violence,

no one is coming for me.

no crime;

If I want it,

just the occasional worries of air quality,

I have to think,

as the sky begins to wear more silk,

Try,

and more fresh products appear 365.

Learn and

Many times,

Be.

the ordinary me imagined encountering “my prince” as if anything I wanted, would just appear in front of me

Run “Mackenzie” Wang ‘22

effortlessly;

Cixin “Olivia” Tu ‘24