EDITOR’S NOTE

Featuring over thirty-five students from grades 7-12, the pieces featured in the 2019 edition of Tabula Rasa whirl from desert to battlefield to sunset-limned shore, excavating from each location–-and some of these settings, indeed, lie within the heart rather than in nature–-a pulsing kernel of identity, love, or perseverance, and a part of each Pinewood student’s unique story.

We are thrilled to present these works of creative writing and visual art, which underpin our mission: to provide an enjoyable reading experience while showcasing the diversity of Pinewood voices.

These pieces lift the quotidian into the magical––simple depictions of houses, fruits, fountains, and barren landscapes serve as entry points for our imagination to dive into lush landscapes, dystopian worlds, and wildly creative narratives. But these students are also unafraid to do the opposite. The magical becomes the norm as angelic healers take the stage and digital media hypnotizes a society.

Finally, these works remind us that there will always be magic in the everyday details, in the ephemerality of sunsets flickering from the horizon, in one-of-a-kind grandfathers who buy us ice cream, in accepting mental illness as a part of us, in the little gestures passed from grandmother to mother to daughter. We hope you will remember this in your day-to-day life, to search for the ribbons of beauty wedged in the crevices of mundanity.

Thank you to our advisors, Ms. Strand and Mr. Wells, for making this possible, and thank you to the Pinewood community for sharing your stories with us. It is our honor to present them so that each can be exhumed, relived, shared, and loved.

–– Sarah Feng, Katherine Chui, and Reilly Brady 2018-19 Editors

6 WORTHY OF RETURN , Ela Diffenbaugh

9 SUBCONSCIOUS , Katherine Chui

10 HOMEWORK , Ajay Krishnan

10 ZENTANGLES , Makena Matula

12 SLEEPSWIM , Sarah Feng

14 RICH WHITE WOMAN IN CHINA , Aimi Wen

17 MASQUERADE SERIES , Aimi Wen

18 GRIP , Katherine Chui

21 JUST FACE IT , Katherine Chui

22 ANGEL , Florencia Rodriguez-Steube

22 CONTRASTING THOUGHTS , Kiley Haberkorn

22 REACH FOR THE STARS , Bridget Rees

24 THE FOUNTAIN , Katherine Han

24 JELLIES , Katherine Chui

25 ARMY OF 1000 MEN , Sam Kavich

27 RED , Ellery Mitchell

27 UP IN FLAMES , Olivia Page

28 BOB THE NOT A WEED , Magnolia Lemmon

28 TATOOINE , Annika Duan

30 GUILT , Maya Zhan

30 STRINGS ATTACHED , Bella Fuller

31 INEVITABLE CAPTURE , Reilly Brady

32 KREED , Peirong Li

32 STILL LIFE , Michelle Chen

34 I AFFIRM THE RESOLUTION , Srinivas Balagopal

34 IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE , Michelle Chen

37 JAPANESE SCHOOL , Michelle Chen

38 MUSIC , Cecile Smith

41 HAMMERED , Kiley Haberkorn

43 EFFECTS OF TIME , Reilly Brady

44 REMNANTS , Hailey Alexander

44 LOTUS FEET , Aimi Wen

45 SUNSET AT WELLINGTON POINT , Emily Takara

45 SUNSET AT WELLINGTON POINT , Ben Mulder

46 AN OPEN LETTER TO MY ANXIETY , Tasha Epstein

51 WRITTEN IN NOVEMBER , Yonu Oh

50 FELLOW TRAVELER ,Elizabeth Peters

52 I HOPE IT’S OK TO LOVE MY MESSED-UP GRANDPA , Eva Liu

54 FIGURE , Micaela Rodriguez-Steube

55 RIPPLE , Olivia Page

56 IT’S MY DUTY , Makena Matula

56 INSIDE YOUR HEAD , Austin Farhoudi

58 SUMMIT , Carter Brady

59 OVERGROWTH , Elizabeth Peters

62 THE GATE TO HOME , Olivia Page

65 MIRRORED , Olivia Page

65 MEREDITH AND OLIVIA , Janet Liu

66 THE GOOD BROTHERS , Sarah Feng

67 ALL TIED UP , Reilly Brady

68 RETURN OF A FRIEND , Sophia Cheng

69 SHELLS , Anna Kokorich

71 BUTTERFLY POND , Nicole Mineatis

71 MIDNIGHT MOON , Sahana

72 AND I LOVE YOU SO , Reilly Brady

74 METAPHOR POEM COMPETITION , Will Ahrens, Marco

Calia, Lulu Diffenbaugh, Sean King, Owen Terry, Alea

Budge, Peyton Chui

78 NON-HUMAN PERSPECTIVE COMPETITION , Natasha

Moretti, Nicole Maneatis

Worthy Of Return

By ELA DIFFENBAUGH, 12

Yucatan Peninsula, 300 B.C.E: stones echo as Mayans ascend ziggurats. Rapa Nui, 1500 B.C.E.: grass bends as tribes congregate in front of moai. Old Kingdom Egypt, 2300 B.C.E.: displaced sand races to fill ephemeral footprints as the route to the pyramids appears... Civilizations like these fascinate me. You can tell a lot about their people by their well-worn paths. The places I return to paint a picture of who I am.

Below the ethereal mist of the Santa Cruz mountains and the intoxicating incense of the Hanuman Temple stand guard an army of Christmas trees, planted each year by my family. These triangular silhouettes interrupt the horizon -- nature’s Terracotta Warriors, at once uniform and unique. Deep believers in the power of learning and developing through spirituality, my grandparents founded Mt. Madonna, an intentional community centered on the idea of selfless service.

Overlooking Christmas trees resides the temple honoring Hanuman, Hindu deity of lifeforce and service, the values that fuel the place. Against this multicultural tapestry, I have grown up with a Jewish dad raised in a Vedic tradition and a mom with a Christian background. When it comes to religion and culture, I have never been shepherded into one lane. Celebrating Advent, Yom Kippur, and Guru Purnima, I have learned that dissonance can harmonize. This openness invites me to develop my own opinions and find familiarity in complexity.

On the rail of my maternal grandmother’s houseboat, Sal the Seagull perches, patiently awaiting his hand-delivered treat. He ignores the chaos that is a dock in the morning: fog horns bellowing, crab traps clanging, and less sophisticated avians screeching. Business as usual for Sal. To supplement his muscles, we offer him a hard-boiled egg -- enough to keep him coming, but still a wild bird. With Sal by my side, I lie on the splintery dock, plunging my arms into the Pacific. Collecting vials, I evaporate water to determine salt content and delight in treasures that show up. Moon jellies pulse in my jar -- orbs of clear, glittering epidermis and mesoglea. Soft, squishy, seraphic. After conducting complex (or so I thought) experiments on water characteristics, my grandma, the newspaper, Sal, and I rock to the lullaby of the soft waves lapping against the hull of the boat. As much as Sal enjoys his Continental Breakfast, I like to think he comes for the company as well.

Dwarfed by intricate pillars and a gilded dome, I once again marvel at the architectural palette of the Royal Alcazar of Seville. Here, Gothic mingles with Baroque, Renaissance, and Mudejar. With each empire, a different religion and style has been incorporated into the palace. As an art history enthusiast studying abroad in Spain, I make it my mission to immerse myself and my visitors in the blend of cultures that layer Andalucía. Luxuriously lost in the Gothic labyrinth of gardens, I inhale Márquez’s Doce Cuentos Peregrinos and soak in all that has come before this moment. Far from home, I am drawn to this coexistence of cultures because I come from one myself.

Layered with artifacts and rituals, these places communicate my passion for culture, learning, and adventure. While I have appreciated growing up alongside verdant Christmas trees, Sal the Seagull, and curvilinear arches, I recognize that other paths will beckon and become part of my story. In college and beyond, I will make my own path too, contributing my commitment to diverse backgrounds, curiosity about the world, and quest for new frontiers.

Mount Madonna, 2001: spruce saplings soar as incense floats. Sal’s Perch, 2003: docks creak as moon jellies undulate. Real Alcazar of Seville, 2016: boots click against marble as jaws drop... Past, present, and future, these places to which I return speak volumes about who I am.

BY KATHERINE CHUI, 11

BY KATHERINE CHUI, 11