*In Next Issue: Ant-B-I Agent has the Results of Murder in HoneyPot Town and Interview with Chef Arthro-Ant
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Zen Garden, by Ashley Rodarte Fragile White flower buds with light pink tips Wait to grow on vivid green leaves. Sturdy branches above my head tease Me to swing, sit, and stay with the peaceful breeze In the garden. A sea of green leaves, trees, and bushes Mush together and push The city around it, away. Rustling leaves and chirping birds Slightly mask the motors of cars and shouts of my classmates. The low branches of a tree act as a hook, Holding the metal bird cage that floats Above the sprouts of long grass and fallen leaves. I sighed letting out all stress and Inhaled the gratitude of Me time.
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Garden of Nature, by Kristyn Hiyake Up above, the sky Is masked by a dark canopy. The tops of tall trees Wave to me in the distance. Leaves crackle as the Gentle wind ruffles them. A lone bird calls to The sky, to its family. Rushing water flows, Tumbles from far away. A bushel of flowers Emit sweet scents That carry me away. To touch the soft velvet, The petal of the single blossom. Bell flowers ring as they drip, Drip off of the elegant branches. As I stand, beautiful scarlet Flowers say hello. A proud and tall bush Of flowers stand on the right. The calming of an ocean Washes through my mind, cleansing Every part of me.
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The Mute Bubble, by Mara Raygor Above me, willowing green arms reach up to the pockets of blue. The sky seems to be fighting an inner conflict. I think it just won. The broken silhouette of clouds Spills onto the trees behind the buildings. Monochromatic colors start high in the sky. As it slowly recedes, Colorful hues get thrown into the dull palette, Until the ground has turned into a surreal painting. The smell of rain having seeped into the dry sidewalk Fills the air. The cool smell has been buried into the air, With no escape. A floral scent wafts through the weeds and cactuses On the ground. My fingers taste the vines that weave into the rusted arbor. The veins of the leaves, More defined on the smooth underside of the leaf. Wind whispers through the branches. Birds chirp from a remote source. But mostly I hear nothing. I don’t hear the dull hum that blends into life, Keeping us oblivious. Instead, This place is a mute bubble, In the middle of a sea of sound. A small haven for the flowers and trees,
THE ANT JOURNAL
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Organism of the Year Speech, by The Ant (Arthropod) Hello, I am an ant. We ants are also arthropods, just for future reference. I would like to tell you humans why we ants are crucial to the environment, therefore we should be greatly considered for the Organism of the Year award. Soil is a vital part of our environment, for people and organisms. Soil supports all human beings and organisms by providing nutrients for plants to grow. Plants give living beings oxygen to breathe. Soil is very important in the farming community because you need soil to grow plants. Soil gives plants all the nutrients they need to be able to grow. Many organisms find homes in soil including us ants. Many of our friends make the soil rich and good for growing plants in. Soil also helps to control the water that comes from rain and snow. Some of the water will flow into the rivers and oceans while the other water will be stored for plants.It has also been proven that soil modifies the climate change happening in our environment. There is much carbon stored in the soil. The soil prevents this carbon from being released into the atmosphere which slows the process of climate change. Loss of soil is a growing problem that has very damaging effects on what humans eat and breathe. As you know, people need oxygen to breathe and the plants give off the oxygen, but those plants could not grow because of bad soil, or no soil. If there is bad or no soil, crops could not grow. There would be no healthy organic food, not even crops that have been sprayed with pesticides. Could you imagine eating canned beans for the rest of your life, if you couldn’t be able to find enough oxygen to live? Soil is being taken away by wind that blows it away and water that carries the soil away. But us ants can help with all these problems. We break down everything we eat and poop out the nutrients so the plant and soil can absorb it. Without us, you would not be able to make crops or plant trees because there would be no soil. We ants play a critical part in the soil ecosystem, and in shaping the environment. Even though you humans think we look disgusting, and try to swat at us at every chance you get, we ants are very important. So you had better be nice! Like earthworms, we aerate and move the soil, which then helps produce good soil. Usually we ants turn over soil as much, or more than earthworms do. We recycle HUGE amounts of nutrients each day by cutting up leaves and twigs and moving the soil around. We collect a significant amount of plant material which then slows litter input into the the soil. Also, in a lot of ecosystems, we ants are the ones that disperse the seeds that the humans harvest. There are several thousand species of us that inhabit the soil, if you can believe it! Some of our species feed on dead plant materials (the herbivores), and some of us are predators to other organisms that live in the soil! So as you can see, we make the soil that YOU use rich and good for growing plants in! We need to step up the game and do our work. As ants we need to adapt to what changes happen in the world. We can be hopeful for a better day but we "must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gahndi). If people didn’t kill us off, then we would be able to continue our job of helping aerate the soil.
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Reflection, by Mara Raygor Over the past week, I have learned a lot during the soil unit. I think that it mostly opened up my eyes to the beauty and how interesting soil was, after seeing it in the Arlington Gardens, and in Descanso Gardens. I learned a lot about soil itself, and I also learned about soil not so literally. I learned about how soil stood for so much more than just dirt. I first started thinking that there might be different sides to soil when we were at Arlington Gardens, and we had to write a poem about our surroundings. Maybe it was because of the flowers, maybe it was because of the soil, but after having to write the poem, I started to look forward to seeing how soil could be interpreted in such different and intricate ways. I also really liked how the Victory Gardens subject was tied into the soil unit. I thought it was really cool how even though it was a soil unit, we got to learn a little bit of American history that related to soil, and then we got to reenact it. I really liked the Victory Garden poster because we got to incorporate art into soil, and we got to come up with a slogan, while although challenging, was really fun. Unfortunately, I wasn’t at school for the Soil Unit on Thursday, because I had a track meet. So I can’t reflect on the events of the soil unit on Thursday. I think a part that was challenging for me in the soil unit was writing my poem, and the Organism of the Year speech. For my poem, I had a lot of trouble trying to use descriptive language, yet not sounding cliché at the same time. I suppose I figured out how to resolve that problem in the end in my final draft of my poem, but the problem of descriptive language will just be one of those things that I will have to learn as I grow more experience in my writing. For the Organism of the Year speech, it was hard because for the report, I didn’t get a lot of time to collaborate with my group. What happened was that we did it on Google Docs, and we all just wrote a paragraph separately, without planning anything beforehand. That was a pretty challenging part. And to add on to the “noncollaborating” aspect of the Organism of the Year, it was hard because we didn’t really talk over the cover, so I hope my group will like the name of the magazine I chose, and the style of the cover. Although that previously explained part of the Organism of the Year speech was challenging, the most challenging part of the assignment was creating the cover. I had to learn how to use Photoshop, and it was extremely hard. I had to pretty much just see what happened when I pressed a certain button. But I think I worked it out in the end. It was just really hard for me to figure out in the beginning. Overall, during this past week, I learned not only about soil itself, but about myself as a writer, and as a thinker. I hope to explore the aspect of soil related subjects further. And I hope that after this week, it will have given me more knowledge of my surroundings,
THE ANT JOURNAL
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Reflection, by Kristyn Hiyake The whole soil unit was such a great experience because it opened my eyes and showed me how important soil is in everyday life. Before the soil unit, I was always thinking about why we had to learn about soil. Why did we have to learn about dirt? After we started the unit, I started to realize just how important soil actually was and how many organisms it supported. Without soil, rabbits, badgers, and many other animals wouldn’t have homes. If there was no soil, we would not be able to have food to eat. The soil provides the nutrients needed to grow vegetables and fruits. We learned about many new things. For example, we learned that there are a lot of micro-organisms living everywhere; in your saliva, in the soil, on your skin. We also learned about the Fibonacci sequence. When my group and I went out to look for the Fibonacci sequence in nature, we found many examples. Poor Grace counted up to one hundred ninetynine petals on a flower and found that it wasn’t one of the Fibonacci numbers! The soil unit has also created many memories that I will always remember. When Ashley, Mara, and I were working on the propaganda poster, Stephanie came up and stole Ashley’s Eos lip balm. A couple minutes later Ashley realized it was gone and chased after Stephanie until she got it back. The soil unit will always be something I will remember because it has taught me so much about the importance of soil. The memories I will take away from this will also stay with me for a long time. The soil unit has inspired me to take care of where I step and to be mindful of the organisms that are helping our planet thrive.
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Ashley, Mara, and Emma hugging a tree.
TULIPS!
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THE ANT JOURNAL
Tree Drawings
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Never Before Seen: VICTORY GARDEN POSTER!
Grow A Victory Garden! Nothing is better than fresh food that is organic and has no pesticides, being healthy has never been this easy.
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