The STRIPES staff welcomes letters from its readers. What do you like about our magazine? Is there a special writer, poet, artist or photographer whom you would like to contact? Email all correspondence to our Faculty Advisor at SolomonL@mcvts.net
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SPRING 2022
Dear Arden Gonzalez,
I am writing you after reading your poem “Masks” . I want to ask you how the mask mandate affected you. How did it change how you interacted with people? Do you think wearing the mask made a change in your relationships? Were you were happy when you were wearing a mask? When reading your poem I liked the way you described people’s facial features as such pleasant things like “noticing cheeks blush like roses on a warm Spring day”. Since the lift of the mask mandate seeing peoples whole face has been great. Right after the lift of the mandate coming back to school and going out without a mask felt almost nostalgic. Thanks for taking the time to read this letter. Hope you have a great day.
Sincerely,
Collin Barcheski
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Dear Gillian Walker,
Reading this poem (“Roar”) reminded me of how important it is to stand up for yourself. Sometimes staying quiet is the right thing to do, but it’s also important to remember that letting people walk all over is unfair. I think being vocal in your thoughts is an important part of growing as a person. I loved this poem and the rhyming scheme you used.
Sincerely,
Caitlin Bieri
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Dear Nick Meli,
I just read your poem called the “Worlds Greatest Lie.” I have to say the way your words flow in this poem is amazing; it feels like every line was meant to go together. They all work together to create a story that really speaks to the main point which is the world’s greatest lie like in the sentence. “ It’s easy, and yet I’ve never done it before” This really shows the main idea of the story and is just such a meaningful line that fits the story really well. I like how the poem also has short sentences which to me makes it more effective because I have to think of every line a lot to get the true meaning of each sentence. All in all the poem is a work of art, good job Nick Meli.
Sincerely,
Jake Decker
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Dear Arden Gonzalez,
I really enjoyed your poem about “Masks.” It was really relatable given all I’ve been seeing is the top half of people’s faces. Now that we no longer have to wear masks, it is a joy to see everyone smiling and happy again. Thank you for this poem.
Sincerely,
Conor Donegan
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Dear Annabelle Medina,
I love your usage of the textual connection you give to the readers. The way you use your vocabulary and literary devices really helps to draw in the reader and keep them entertained. The mixture of words you decided worked great together and fit the theme well.
Sincerely,
John Juhusz
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Dear Jake Decker,
I really enjoyed reading your poem “The Legend Of The Boy and His Sheep” it has a very good story to and it is a very calm and easy poem to read it gives a feeling of a very passionate friend ship and reminds me of a lot if memories that i have with some of my close friends. When you said the boy has always believed that the sheep understand him it make you think of how you and your just understand each other. It also being about a shepherd and his sheep it gives that feeling of when there is one person in a friend group that just watches over and protects everyone. Thank you for sharing a great poem.
Sincerely,
Kenneth Lockman
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Dear Arden Gonzalez,
I completely agree with your poem and find it to have a true meaning behind it. It has been so different the past two years not to see someone’s entire face. Now we can see what someone’s facial expressions are their tone of voice and not have to see just there eyes. School has gone back to being what school was: a place to socialize and to feel emotions of joy being back with no masks.
Sincerely,
Darrell Myers
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Dear Izzy Sanchez,
THAT WAS SO GOOD! I love the suspense that you can wrap into a single word, you are such a talented poet/writer/lyricist and I want nothing but the best for your career. I am looking forward to reading and hearing more of what you create and seeing you inspire me every day. I love you girly!!!
Sincerely,
Ellie Saucier
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Dear Arden Gonzalez,
I really enjoyed your poem. It was really good and says all the things we have been feeling these past few years. I can say that I completely agree with you. It was sad to never know an expression on someone’s face, especially on a face I have never even seen before.
Sincerely,
Emma
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Dear Nicholas Meli,
Your poem is very nice, and I feel like it is very accurate to the book I am reading in class right now. I feel like our future is controlled by fate as well.
Sincerely,
Aidan Zarcaro
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Dear Arden Gonzalez
I chose your poem “Mask” because I completely agree about how much masks took form us. Like when you said, ¨We got used to the loss of connection¨ I could really relate to this because mask ruined high school for me as well. And your poem really put it in to words. So thank you.
Sincerely,
Isaac DeAraujo
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Dear Soul,
My name is Santiago Diaz-Londono. I’m 16, in eleventh grade, and attend East Brunswick VoTech.
I like your fan fiction essay about John Proctor. The personification and imagery made a great story and made me believe you were John Proctor. What gave you inspiration to and creativity to make the essay? Also how long did it take you to make the whole essay? You gave a good idea of how John Proctor’s days went after was accused of being a witch. The dialogue between him and some of the characters in the book was very realistic. Thank you for taking your time to read my letter.
Sincerely,
Santiago Diaz-Londono
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Dear Sharon Ramos,
“The Fields Across Thy Brain” is a very beautiful piece of writing. I really liked how used all of these very complex words so they flow in very pleasant way. What was inspiration for this poem? If I got it right then the poem is about change and flowers are actually a memory. Is it based off a specific memory of yours? I liked your poem “The Fields Across Thy Brain” because your use of words painted a beautiful picture in my head.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Martinez
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Dear Shayne Gonzalez,
I really enjoyed your story about Romeo and Juliet. I liked how the nurse expressed her emotions throughout the story. I also like how the nurse reacted to Juliet’s “death.”
Sincerely,
Samantha Bonarrigo
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Dear Angie Freese,
I really like your poem “Cased lens”. What I really like about your poem is when you use a cog to show that they understand the true meaning of the world that wasn’t supposed to be shown. I don’t know if you had asked for that picture or you chose it but I think it’s cool.
Sincerely,
Mikalah Carter
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Dear Arden Gonzalez,
I felt like your poem was so good and so realistic because of the events going on right now. The reason why I loved your poem is because it describes what is happening in todays world right now. It was also so clear to hear the words from the poem that I can imagine the words in a picture such as “finally able to admire the dimples on a laughing face again”, which I can imagine would be great to see to along with nice faces.
Thank you ~
Sincerely,
Jovel Feliciano
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Dear Nicholas Meli,
The poem “The World’s Greatest Lie” reminds me of climate change. We do everything we can to change this world. We promised that this world was going to be all right. Great leaders make plans. Even the lower class has made plans. Lots of scientists make positive and negative opinions. But we can’t change past mistakes. We can only prepare for what’s coming. Thank you for the time for reading this letter.
Sincerly,
Miguel Garcia
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Dear Angie Freese,
I loved your poem. I liked how you phrased it. I liked the pace of it. Truly phenomenal. I can relate to seeing the world in a monochromatic way. But when you venture away from the usual way, you see differently. You see color. I loved the symbolism in this poem. Definitely one of my favorites.
P.S. I really enjoyed Sara’s art.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mari Hakobyan
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Dear Arden Gonzalez,
I like your poem the best because I felt the same way. It covered people and who they truly are. I am glad most people do not wear them anymore and I get to see what everyone looks like and who they are.
Sincerely,
Deryk Jones
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Dear Arden Gonzalez,
My name is Kristina Krisko and I read your poem on “Masks.” I liked that poem because it told the truth about the masks. The mask made it so hard to see if people were happy and/or blushing under their masks. I liked that it said no more mouthing to your friends in class because that was so true when you wanted to talk to your friends you really can’t. When the masks were lifted you saw brightness in the rooms when you see people coming in smiling and laughing.
Sincerely,
Kristina Krisko
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Dear Izzy Sanchez,
The poem you wrote called “The Body”, was really good. I loved how it started off detailed on what was being done at the moment and how it says “The water splashes on my face mascara running, stripes of black on my cheeks, stains of red on my hands rinsed away.” I feel like the poem has a lot of depth to it and is quite amazing. There is tons of detail and it really helps me picture it in my mind to the fullest.
Sincerely,
Giuliana Novello
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Dear Sharon Ramos,
I have just recently read your poem, “The Fields Across Thy Brain” It was so inspiring yet so mature for a high school student. There were words I had not yet learned and phrases I have not yet used! The workmanship was of the utmost quality and I felt as if I could read on for hours. Your artwork that was used to go with the poem was spectacular. If I had a vision for your poem, It would be the art you made. It was so synchronized that I thought you made the poem off of the work itself! I truly enjoyed your poem and I thank you deeply for constructing such a strong piece.
Sincerely,
Edward Ott
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Dear Izzy Sanchez,
I wanted you to know I really liked your poem “The Body”. I’d like to know what got you inspired to write the poem, because it sounded like something from an actual story! Was the inspiration from a book you read? The poem reminded me of some stories I’ve read with poems very similar to yours
I wanna say thanks for reading my poem, and I hope you have an awesome day!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Pineiro
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Dear Sharon Ramos,
I really like your poem, “The Fields Across My Brain.” Its very well written with good usage of vocabulary; some words I didn’t even know what meant because they were different. The poem is mature and put together nicely. I think the meaning behind what you said was also interesting and entertaining.
Sincerely,
Ruben Simoes
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WINTER 2020
Dear Theodore Lenahan (“Teddy”),
I scrolled through all of the entries in the Winter 2020 issue of Stripes and I kid you not, my mouth fell open when I found yours– “American Students in the Midst of a Pandemic.” I always knew you were an overachiever (which is a very good thing, I have a lot of respect for you), but wow! You went above and beyond and I appreciate your dedication to sharing the facts.
In your article, you discussed our workloads, grades, and mental health, which are all things that have been on my mind as of late. I have to say, I was not surprised when I saw that over 70% of students felt that their workloads increased and that nearly 50% of students had worse mental health than they had in March. As one of your friends and one of the people you interviewed, I already knew that I could trust your results. But after seeing that you also asked 70 other people and cited reliable websites, I was even more inclined to do so (even though you should never trust a guy who wears jeans to his own wedding. Haha inside joke).
Your article is by far my favorite because you shed light on issues affecting our school– both students and teachers. Hey, maybe you’ll even help the students at MCVTS talk to our teachers and ask for a lighter workload. I just feel so much less alone after reading it. Thank you for putting so much time and effort into your piece!
Sincerely,
Isabella Sanchez
The title of my favorite poem in your Winter 2020 issue is “HOW TO BE A DEER IN 2020” by Adamaris Perez. I gravitate towards it because I honestly found the title amusing. The poem is about the year 2020 and how horrible it was. They used the imagery of a deer to describe the year. The use of imagery was pretty amazing. I don’t read poems that often, especially unrhymed, but it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless. This was my favorite poem by far. For its unique symbolism, I enjoyed it. The poem is pretty depressing like the year itself. It moves me on an emotional level and I am happy to have read it.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Jurusz
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Dear Editors,
I’d like to start before anything else by thanking you for editing Stripes. You may or may not recognize my name from some of the submissions, but I’m gracious for what you do. It allows many young people to challenge themselves or to show their skills off. And I’m grateful that you’re here to present it all to the world, or at least for our small community to see. My favorite poem from the Winter 2020 issue was “Covid Calendar” by Isabella Sanchez.
It was a heartfelt poem right off the bat, I could tell. It didn’t have a rhyme scheme, sure, and perhaps was a bit choppy at times, but that fact that it was heartfelt was what won me over. You could see that the poet recalled each month for like scripture and that some months were more difficult and surreal than others. It felt human, and natural, and unforced. The idea is unique as well, to create a poem each month, and detail what happened to her, or to the world and to the people around us. That’s what captivated me as well. That it wasn’t just her in those months, she detailed everything and used imagery to only make her poems even more surreal. Just like the months of 2020, her poems taught lessons, or better yet, reminded us of the lessons of each month and life as whole. But her poems ended abruptly, and 2020 is now over so I wonder if she had written the poems for the months now, would there have been a greater take away she’d leave us with?
To be able to see from another person’s point of view is what’s beautiful about poems like these. It helps you break out of your boxed in world, and realize everyone’s going through the same troubles as you. Editor, I do not know what your favorite from this year’s selection would be but I thought you’d appreciate seeing that your editing provides people with a place to gather their ideas and thoughts and share with the world.
Thanks again,
Louis Meagher-Di Ello
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Dear Crystal Genthe:
I enjoyed reading your poem about quarantine. It wasn’t too much; it was just right. What I mean by this is that it was exactly how I was feeling; there wasn’t a single thing in your poem that wasn’t how I was feeling. I could relate about staying in the house all the time looking through a window just thinking, and more. You went into detail and the poem just got interesting and more interesting. Honestly, I couldn’t stop reading it as I went through the poem and read each line. I would just like to say I would read more of your poems in the future.
Sincerely,
Shiniese Mesa
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Dear Editors:
Thank you for always being able to make our Google Docs and Google Slides look good; I am grateful for your work.
Sincerely,
Conor Donegan
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Dear Crystal Genthe:
I really enjoyed your poem “Take Me Back.” It’s one of my favorites mainly because it’s bluntly honest. Your poem describes what’s going on in not only my life but the lives of so many other students and people. I easily relate to it, mainly because I’m going through it right now. But I love how you get to the point quickly; the poem doesn’t feel rushed. One of the reasons I love it, is that the poem itself is real life and you don’t shy away from that. I hope to see more of your poems in the future.
Sincerely,
Alyssa Mendez