Lost Love

Artwork by Angelica Rodriguez

For months I anticipated you, my love. 

But you only stayed briefly, 

They felt like seconds. 

They had to be seconds.

I cry out for you.

This yoke has done its job in confining.

No longer can I chase after you.

Was I ever able to?

My yearning attachment for you so big,

and so pitiful; heart-rendering.

I am disturbed for what has happened 

to you, my beloved, for your legs are so frail, 

your eyes so benign. Where could you have

gone?

My body aches and I weep for you,

renders nothing for you, and me.

-Angelica Rodriguez

Author's note: I wrote this piece at 3:00 on May 22. I couldn’t sleep and I thought about that mother cow I watched in a documentary, how she probably felt helpless and maybe even culpable for a disaster that was never her fault. She missed her calf so dearly, I wonder why we eat these creatures.

Haiku

By Justine Rose

Bright tangled flowers
Vibrant colors etched in mind
Summer's last dancers

Endless summer

 By Kelly Jose

Warmth, humidity, harsh sunlight

When will it end?

Will it ever end?

It’s getting warmer and warmer

Why does it feel like my blood is boiling alongside the weather?

Was it like this last year?

It didn’t seem like it.

Maybe I don’t remember correctly.

Too warm

No no I’m sure it was cooler.

And it didn’t stretch this far into the year.

The warmth lasted for so long.

And I thought it was hot last year

It didn’t even snow

Warmer than it has ever been before

The warmth humidity, and harsh sunlight of this year has already beaten last year’s 

I wonder what next year will hold.

Warmth and more warmth?

Buzz

 So annoying.

Stop bothering me so much.

All you do is buzz buzz buzz.

It’s amazing how I’m still untouched.

What is it you’re thinking?

What is it you want?

Why are you so close to me?

Is buzzing not enough?

How am I entranced?

What’d you do to me?

Why do I keep staring?

You’re just a stupid bee.

Resistance is crucial.

Stop being so cute.

Maybe I’ll just watch a bit.

I have nothing to lose.

Now you’re clinging to me.

It’s not like I mind.

How did I get so attached

To a bee with all-but mind?

-Anonymous.

Like many students, teacher prefers shorts year-round

Eric Echelberger (left, in shorts)
and Doug Harrison 

By Star Friend

WINCHESTER - “The nice thing about Wednesdays is that we can wear shorts,” Handley German teacher Eric Echelberger remarked on a cool morning outside school as he and other staffers handed out materials to distance learning students.

While JHHS teachers are expected to dress professionally when students are in class, they can be more casual on workdays and when students are distance learning on Wednesdays this semester.

Echelberger is one of many men and boys who prefer to wear shorts year-round, even when the weather is cold. It is a phenomenon that has been observed by confused parents and teachers for many years, and was even the topic of a January 2020 article in The Atlantic.

Observers note the habit is much more common among boys. Theories about the reasons behind it vary.

For Echelberger, who tends to feel hot when others are cold, it’s an issue of being comfortable. He thinks it’s a matter of physiology.

“I told Caitlin, ‘My thigh is as big as your waist’,” Eric said, referring to his wife Caitlin Echelberger, who teaches math at Handley. “She said it wasn’t, but we measured, and my thigh is as big as her waist.”

Handley English teacher Beth Healey has the opposite issue. She’s more likely to be cold when others are hot. Healey said she has noticed boys wearing shorts in the winter.

“I have a cousin who does that - always shorts, unless it’s like a wedding or something,” Healey said.

A mother of three boys, Healey said her sons do enjoy wearing shorts.

“They always want to wear shorts when it’s cold out, but not usually when it’s super cold, and I mean, I let them.”

Fire in the sky

Fire roars across the forests

The sky bleeds bright with rust

Smoke consumes the dimming horizon

Flickers of flame turn to dust

Safe in your mansion of apathy

“Let the blaze put on a show”

As it spreads its wings across the world

Not caring where it goes.

-Anne Larsen