February Edition of the Circle Gazette

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE Volume 2, Issue 05 FEBRUARY 2011

A Newspaper by Children for Children

IN THIS ISSUE WERE VIKINGS JUST VIOLENT THIEVES?

by Daniela Gómez, Age 10Margate, FL

The Vikings were daring people. They were fierce warriors and raiders, but also farmers and tradesmen. They lived in Scan-dinavia and they also settled in Iceland and Greenland. They were courageous, deter-mined and they excelled at ship building. Land and power were valued by the Norse-men.

Not all Viking ships were used for raid-ing and battles. Those that were are known as longships. Some Viking ships were for trading and traveling purposes only. Vi-kings never used maps, the stars were their compass. Within two hundred miles of land, they would normally release a raven, Odin’s sacred bird, into the sky. Released out at sea, the bird would head towards land and, in these cases, lead the Vikings ashore.

Children were raised to learn the skills and trades of their parents. A girl would grow up learning to cook and clean, and run the hall (house). She would also be taught to manage the farm, since a man’s wife was expected to keep the whole place running while he was away. A boy would be taught to hunt, sail, fish, and use weapons. Boys would also learn farm work. When they considered a baby too weak to endure the hardships of life, he or she was left to die;

but this rarely ever happened. Women were very well respected.

They had more legal rights than most other women in Europe at the time. All they needed to do to get divorced was de-clare in front of her husband and some witnesses, first at the front door, and then at the bed that she had shared with her husband, that she was no longer mar-ried to him. A married woman wore the keys to the food chests around her waist as a symbol of power and authority, and as the lady of the household. When the eldest son took over his family’s farm, he became head of the family. It was his responsibility to provide the food for all. He often went a-Viking, which meant to go on raiding adventures, and also hunted and fished. Men often braided their hair and beards when they would go raiding. All Viking women covered their heads once married. Marriages were arranged by a young girl’s parents. Girls were con-sidered women at fifteen to sixteen, but some were married as early as twelve. They then were expected to have the re-sponsibility to run a household. A usual dowry consisted of a loom, a bed, wool and linen cloth, and a spinning wheel. If she came from a wealthy family, she could also bring farm animals, gold and

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“A Scoop of Italy” in Boca Raton: Restaurant reviewby Aaron Cross, Age 13Boca Raton, FL

The Gelato Shoppe Petrini is an Ital-ian restaurant on Glades Road that mainly serves a frozen treat known as gelato. The decor of the place is architecturally designed to look like the inside of an Italian build-ing. As you enter the store you can see the counter with delicious flavors of gelato in a clear case below it. The people who work there seem eager to serve you, because they ask what they could do for you almost right away. If you go there often, they actually get to know you. When you order a meal from the menu, they bring it to your table as soon as it is ready. Gelato is scooped as soon as you ask for it, and usually they give it to you before you pay. Plus, while you are in the building you get free Wi-Fi wireless inter-net access. And just to top it off, the Gelato Shoppe is completely kosher!

Gelato is a creamy frozen dessert that is made and served similar to the popular treat known as ice cream. Gelato is like ice cream in a few ways, but it is not the same thing. The word ‘gelato’ literally means ‘cold’ in Italian. Ice cream is exactly what it sounds like, a creamy substance that is frozen. Gela-to can be divided into two categories, cream based and fruit based. Cream based gelato is made with cream and includes flavors like mint, chocolate, cappuccino, and cookies & cream. Fruit based gelato is made with fresh fruit and includes flavors like mixed berry, lemon, pineapple, and pomegranate; and at Petrini is made with the freshest fruit in season. Because of the way gelato is made, anything edible could be turned into gela-to. Ice cream is made with a limited range of ingredients and flavors. Gelato is made with no artificial colors or flavors (except

on some rare occasions). Most Ice cream is made with lab-constructed chemicals (al-though some expensive ice creams are not made that way). Gelato contains 0-8% fat, while ice cream can have up to 22% fat!

On the dessert menu, there are a few dif-ferent ways to buy this Authentic Italian ge-lato. For a small cup or cone you can get up to two flavors ($3.50) enough to satisfy most peoples’ sweet tooth. Larger sizes are available for people who have more than one. Medium cups give you a choice of up to three flavors ($4.50). And for the true dessert lovers, the Gelato Shoppe offers large cups and waffle cones which give you a choice of up to four flavors ($5.25). Top-pings are also available such as sprinkles, syrups, nuts, and Oreo cookie crumbs. Spe-cial orders are available for custom gelato cakes.

Authentic Belgian waffles are also on the menu. Styles include a plain waffle ($4.50), waffle with a scoop of gelato ($6.00), Two scoops on a waffle ($8.00), or two delicious Belgian waffles ($8.00). Whipped cream, Nutella, chocolate, and fruit sauces are of-fered on top ($0.50 each). Gelato blended with milk is served as a milkshake or frappe ($5.75). Italian coffee is also severed with gelato in it ($3.90 - $5.75).

My trip to the Gelato Shoppe was a yum-my experience. My Mom ordered an espres-so coffee with a scoop of almond joy gelato in it ($3.90). She loved it. “Awesome. The way espresso should be,” she said. Both my sister and I tried it and thought it was good. My sister ordered the wrap with tuna and pesto pasta on the side ($8.50). She seemed to enjoy it. “It was delicious. Yummy,” she said. However, I could not get any more de-tails from her. I ordered the grilled cheese panini ($7.00) and the egg salad wrap ($4.00) from the kids menu. The egg salad

wrap was simply egg salad and iceberg let-tuce in a wrap. The panini, on the other hand, was something I would order again. The soft and creamy grilled cheese on deli-cious Italian bread really hit the spot. Each kids’ meal comes with a small bag of Lay’s potato chips and a scoop of gelato in a tiny cone. We also ordered an Italian soda, which is Sprite soda with your choice of fruit sor-bet gelato in it ($4.25). On a previous visit, I had ordered an authentic Belgian waffle sprinkled with powdered sugar, doused with chocolate syrup, and topped with a scoop of cappuccino gelato ($6.50). The waffle was baked fresh when I ordered it, and the deli-cious smell of the dough cooking is noticed throughout the entire room. The outside of

the fresh waffle is a little crisp, but it yields a soft and fluffy interior. I also noticed that if you do not eat the hot waffle fast enough, the gelato melts all over the dish!

While I was there, I asked if I could go into the back and see how the gelato is made. They agreed and allowed me to get in the way – er, watch the chef!

The first step is to choose what flavor of gelato you are going to make. What flavors are made that day depend on other flavors that are already made (they make flavors that go with those), customer recommen-dations, and sometimes what flavors they

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Reporter Aaron Cross meets Dawn and Mauro Petrini, owners of Petrini Gelato Shoppe. Photo: Courtesy of R. Cross.

Creative

Journalism

NATURE FEATURES P3 Where in Florida can you see Nature and Technology side by side?

The Western Meadowlark

Under the Sea

emPiriCal Journalism

Live it then Report it!

An All-State Experience P4

An experience in student government P5

A practice in interviewing: Interview 101 P5

What the Super Bowl means to Alizdair Ray P5

Ever wonder what it’s like to act in a theatre production? P8

oPinion

KIDS & POLITICS President’s Pace P2

Of Thee I Sing: A Book Review P4

literarY

WorlD

FICTION

Meet “SUNNY, The Gold Fairy”, a new character from an original world of magic P11

Travel to 17th Century Japan P7

An account of a Desert Journey P9

Super Suspense: the exciting adventures continue for characters P10

A day at The Fair from a brand new perspective by Carolyn Kean P11

POETRY CORNER P6

The Love BugA Lark

Tribute to Victims of Tucson Tragedy I Love the SeaFive is Fun The Fight for Life

art BoX P12

Flowers and AnimalsAction and AdventureThree-Dimensional Media

reGular

Columns

Great Catches: Hook a Book P4

Theatre World: Orfeo ed Euridice P8

Did you know? Ecology, Culture and the Arts, Food and History Trivia.

A Word from the Editor P2

PAGE 2 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE FEBRUARY 2011

A word from the editor: Right brain, left brain?

The Enrichment CircleA Non-Profit Organization for the Advancement of Education

Patty Gómez, Editor-in-Chief

President’s Paceby Bilal Amodu, Age 13Deerfield Beach, FL

Hello, my loyal readers. Last month, President Barack Obama gave his State Of The Union ad-dress and I decided what better way to celebrate Presidents’ Day than write an article about how our President is doing politically. First, however, you may want to know what the State of The Union address is. The State of the Union address is basically when the sitting President of the United States presents his yearly agenda to Congress. The first State of the Union was given by George Washington in 1790 to that first Congress. It did not get the name, “State of the Union,” until 1934 when President Franklin D Roo-sevelt used the phrase and it was officially adopted thirteen years later. The address was first tele-vised in 1947 by President Harry Truman. This year’s address was Obama’s third State of the Union address. He discussed his plans to increase employment and im-

prove the economy. He also dis-cussed his plans to finally end the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Now this address was particularly important for the President since he had delivered it a year before the 2012 presidential election where he has the opportunity to win a second term. So far, people have mixed feelings about the job he is doing as President. He has a 51% approval rating as Presi-dent which is usually considered a good report for the incumbent president. However, he has had a lot of short comings these last two years after Republicans snagged control of the House of Repre-sentatives. On the other hand, he has had a productive session after the elections. My views are that the President has accomplished a lot during his term though he needs to work harder to cure the economy as well as ensure his reelection chances. Speaking of which, though it is rather early in the year, Republicans are already fighting over who should be nom-inated to challenge and possibly unseat Obama. I am not a psy-

chic, however, I think that the Re-publicans have a long way to go if they want to secure the Presiden-cy. The many promises the Re-publican Congress broke on their first day alone already is setting them at odds with the American people. Also, I do not think that we can approve of a Congress that spends their time chasing af-ter an already passed health care reform rather than pursuing jobs for the American people. How-ever, Obama broke his promise to the American people about rolling back the Bush era tax cuts on the rich. I think that while the next presidential election will be an interesting one, it is more than a year away and a lot can happen in that elapsed time. Until then, keep watching and listening and hope the lawmakers in Washing-ton spend more time working in compromise and less time fight-ing each other. Good luck!

Kids & PoliticsKids & Politics

Right brain, left brain? C’est là la question: That is the question.

Today, with so much informa-tion about brain functioning, it is common to discuss how much of a right brainer or a left brainer someone is. We tend, even more

every day, to see ourselves as more of one thing and less of an-other. We identify ourselves with such images and, without intend-ing to, we tell our brain how we want it to work.

This information on the brain is very useful for many institutional

and professional uses, but it can also cause great havoc in popu-lar culture. We tend to feel less whole and more compartmental-ized and specialized: “Oh! Sorry, I’m not much of a writer,” “I’m not much of an artist,” “I’m not that creative,” or “That’s not my brain type.”

There is nothing wrong with acknowledging our strengths, but our brain is a whole unit, and as such, it works at its best.

Bringing balance into our per-formance makes our strengths stronger. If you think you are more an athletic type and less a sitting down type: add some sit-ting down to your day. It will bring balance to your perfor-mance and will sharpen your athletic side. If you see yourself as anything but a writer or an art-ist, think again. Add some of it to your life and uncover what these highly (but not exclusive) right brain processes can do for you… and what you can do for them.

Send us your work.

ThinkGreen [[If every person takes one small step toward being more conscientious of the environment, the collective effort

will change the planet.

FEBRUARY 2011 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 3

The Western Meadowlarkby Maria Schlecht, Age 10Tamarac, FL

The western meadowlark is not really a lark. It is in the same family as blackbirds, orioles, and cowbirds. It is the state bird of Montana, Kansas, Oregon, Nebraska, Wyoming, and North Dakota. It eats seeds, berries, and in-sects, but usually not worms. The only way you can tell the eastern meadowlark from the western is by their song.

The only true lark in North America is the horned lark. In Australia, the magpie-lark, which eats everything, is also not a lark. And it is not a magpie either!

Under the Seaby Emma Gómez, Age 7Margate, FL

Life can take you under waterAnd under water is an amazing place. Under the sea you smell salt that is freshAnd in the sea you see starfish, corals, squids,A sting ray, by chance!And maybe from the sea shore you can see dolphins dance!Taste the salty waves,Does it taste good to you?Feel the smooth scales on the fish’s bodyUm, it might be a little slimy too.You hear the soft, little talking of the fishing,Shouting to the clams, who are locked up in their shells! I love the sea because life is free and calm there.

A Great Getaway: Where Nature Meets Technology

by Sara Cross, Age 10

Boca Raton, FL

In the year 1970, the Big Bend Power Station built its first smoke tower in Apollo Beach, FL.

The smoke tower was put to use making energy. Here is how it works:

The process starts with the burning of coal. The heat energy is then used to boil a fluid, and vaporize it. Then the superheated steam flows through a turbine, which ro-tates and creates electricity to power nearby homes. By passing through the turbine, the steam loses its energy, and cools down. Even though the steam is much cooler, it is not cooled enough to be heated up again to re-peat the cycle. To solve this problem, they take cold water from Tampa Bay, and use it to cool down the furnace. The heat is trans-ferred to the water, which is then released into the canal branching off of the Bay. That is the end of the cycle.

Because of all the warm water being re-leased, the temperature in the canal began to rise, staying in the high 70s and low 80s. In early 1986, the employees started spotting manatees playing in the canal. They found that when Tampa Bay became 68 degrees or colder, the playful sea mammals would come to keep warm, only leaving to feed. This is how the Tampa Manatee Viewing Center was born.

In late 1986 the Tampa Manatee Viewing Center was opened. Located across the canal from the power station, the Manatee View-ing Center is complete with a gift shop, but-terfly garden, tidal walk, explorium, mana-tee viewing boardwalk and dock. The dock overlooks the entire canal, and all the mana-tees swimming in it. The center was built to be a free tourist attraction, and a fundraiser. Although you can see the manatees for free, most tourists (like me!) can’t help but buy a

souvenir!On December 1, 2010, my father and I went

to see the manatees in Apollo Beach, Florida. We saw at least twenty manatees out play-ing in the canal. The weather was very cold, and windy, so the Tampa Bay temperatures were dropping, and our sea-cow specimens were evacuating to the warm waters. While we watched the manatees, a voice was play-ing through a loudspeaker, talking about the different manatees, and how to identify some of them by their scars. A few of them had been coming back for a long time! Then we went alongside the butterfly garden, a garden filled with butterfly-friendly plants, arranged in the shape of a butterfly. The boardwalk on which we walked curved around the Butter-fly Garden to the Tidal Walk. The Tidal Walk is a nine hundred (900) foot long boardwalk surrounded by mangroves, sea-grapes, and, on one side, the canal, and the manatees that swim in it.

I had such a good time there, and would gladly recommend this tourist attraction to anyone looking for a fun place to go!

For more information on this exciting ac-

tivity, go to: www.tampaelectric.com/mana-tee.

The Manatee Viewing Center is located on 6990 Dickman Rd, Apollo Beach, FL, 33572. It’s open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., November 1 through April 15. The center closes on Thanksgiving at 3 p.m., Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Easter.

Photo taken by Sara I. Cross of hand painted sign at entrance.

“They found that when Tampa Bay became 68 degrees or colder, the play-ful sea mammals would come to keep

warm, only leaving to feed.”

Did You Know...… that manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows? There are three living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee, the West Indian manatee, and the West African manatee. They measure up to 3.6 meters (12 ft), and have paddle-like flippers. The name manatí comes from the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning “breast.”


An All-State Experience! by Ismail Ercan, Age 13Coral Springs, FL

Although many people do not know it, the Florida All-State is one of the finest and largest music events held in the nation. Each year thou-sands of music educators, students, and their families travel to participate in the Florida Music Educators’ As-sociation’s (FMEA) annual confer-ence clinic held in Tampa, Florida. The conference clinic, held once a year, is usually the first or the second weekend in January. This great event is held at both the Tampa Conven-tion Center and the Straz Performing Arts Center in downtown Tampa. It is the highlight of the year for many music educators, students, and teach-ers, who come from far and near to participate. The main purpose of this event is to promote the advancement of music education in Florida, the professional development of music teachers, and to give the opportunity to music students to perform with the best musicians in the state.

At the conference, music educa-tors have the chance to observe mas-ter clinicians, conductors, and other teachers working in many different workshops and lectures. There are also many exhibits at the convention center where both teachers and stu-dents are allowed to browse through music stores, instrument shops, and many other booths selling other prod-ucts. There were even music schools from around the country looking to recruit new students as well!

The main facet of the event, how-ever, is the All-State performing groups. Here, musicians who have qualified for this honor from school bands, orchestras, and choruses, as-semble together to rehearse and per-form with each other for the next two or three days. The FMEA also hires conductors from all around the nation to head these groups of talented stu-dents. The groups are mainly divided by grade level.

A few weekends ago, I had the great honor of traveling to Tampa to participate as a violinist in the seventh and eighth grade All-State orchestra. If I qualify next year, I will be in the ninth grade All-State orchestra. This is a great opportunity for students to perform compositions that are much more advanced than that of their school’s performing arts group.

This was my second year partici-pating in All-State and I was very excited to reunite with my old musi-cian friends again. Among them was my friend Cole, to whom I sat across from last year. This year, I was joined by another orchestra member from my school, Kyle Ockerman. This was Kyle’s first year in All-State and he was also very excited to be partici-pating. It took tons of hard work and practice to qualify for All-State this year. For most All-State bands, or-chestras, and choruses, the qualifica-tion process is the same. The FMEA first posts the auditioning music, dates, and locations on their website, five or six months in advance of the auditions. The audition locations are held in each county where volunteers record student’s auditions. The tapes are then mailed to a location where judges listen to them and score them. This means that our sound quality must be flawless. The All-State or-chestra for the seventh and eighth grade only accepts up to seventy kids in the orchestra, of which only up to 36 can be violins. On top of that, since the judges are listening to a record-ing, they cannot see me auditioning. They can only hear my violin sweetly singing through the recording. So that means that I needed to practice vehe-mently in order to qualify. The results are posted online within a month and finding out that I made it was a great feeling. Pride swelled through my chest, and excitement pounded my heart. I was going to Tampa!

Our rehearsals were being held at a Wyndham hotel, a few miles away from the convention center. After

reseating auditions were complete, all the musicians took a seat while the coordinator of our orchestra, Mr. Randall Love, introduced to us our conductor, Dr. Marilyn Seelman. She is the Assistant Professor of String Education at Georgia State Universi-ty in Atlanta and the Music Director/Conductor of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra of Atlanta. We quickly got to work, rehearsing eight or nine hours the first day -with breaks of course. In between rehears-als, the musicians were quick to so-cialize and make friends. For lunch and dinner breaks, we often went to the mall down the street to eat and talk. By the end of the day, I could literally stop, rewind, forward, and replay all of the music that we were playing at the concert. We practiced that much!

Day two was much of the same. Dr. Seelman tweaked a few spots in our pieces here and there, and after a full run through of the whole pro-gram, we were ready for the concert. Dr Seelman told our parents during rehearsal, “This has been such a won-derful experience for me. The kids are great and we are going to have a great concert tonight at the conven-tion center!”

During our lunch break, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Seelman a few questions. I was curious on her musi-cal background and she kindly agreed when I asked her.

Question: Is this your first year conducting All-State in Florida and what do you think of your experience so far?

Answer: I got invited by the FMEA to conduct this year. So far, I am hav-ing a fantastic time and this orchestra has been one of the best orchestras that I have conducted for this age group.

Question: How did you get in-volved in music to start?

Answer: At my elementary school in North Carolina I started off play-ing the cello, however I was too small to play it and my school’s orchestra did not have a small enough cello for me. Instead, I converted to viola and I have been playing it since.

Question: Who is your favorite composer and conductor?

Answer: There are so many great composers to choose from with many great compositions. If I were to pick out a favorite, I would say Johannes Brahms. As for my favorite conduc-tor, I love the Venezuelan conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.

Question: What main instruments do you play?

Answer: I play viola profession-ally, and have my own private studio. I also play the violin, but not at a pro-fessional level.

After our final rehearsal and before the concert, I also asked Mr. Love why the FMEA selected the city of Tampa out of all the cities in Florida. He told that there were many things that were taken into consideration

for cities hosting All-State. First of all, many cities bid to host this event because it brings much tourism to their city. Also, the city should be close to the middle of the state so it is an equal distance for most people to drive. “You must always remember the economy,” he said, “The reason we didn’t choose Orlando as the host city is because it is too expensive for middle class families, teachers, and administrators, to stay for over three days. Tampa has also been used for a while now, and it has worked out well.”

As we arrived to the Convention Center, I departed from my family to go backstage to unpack. Our whole orchestra brought our instruments and music to a designated area to-wards the front of the audience while the Honors All-State Orchestra per-formed before us. (The Honors Or-chestra is less advanced than the All-State Orchestra) After they finished performing, we shuffled on stage, and sat down. We were all so excited to show off our hard work to our friends and family. As Dr. Seelman walked

on stage, we stood as she received the applause and sat down again to begin our performance.

That night we performed: The Double Dealer Suite by Henry Pur-cell, the Lullaby by William Hofeldt, and the Folk Tune and Fiddle Dance Suite by Percy Fletcher. At the end of the concert we received a standing ovation and we took many bows to conclude. As Dr. Seelman walked off stage, she called out to us, “Contact me on Facebook!” We all chuckled to that!

As we returned back to backstage, we realized that All-State was over in a flash. We received an All-State badge from Mr. Love, posed for a few group photos, and all hugged each other goodbye. We all promised everyone to see each other next year, and we wished each other good luck.

I cannot wait to go back to All-State next year. It will require much practice, but it will be worth it. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity, that I have been fortunate enough to have done twice so far in my life! I am looking forward to it!

President Obama’s latest book :“of Thee I Sing: A letter to My Daughters”

a Book reviewby Shadya Amodu, Age 11Deerfield Beach, FL

President Barack Obama is in a tight twist of the economy, but that doesn’t affect his love for his daughters. Since he is sometimes too busy with the government, congress, and senate to tell them how great they are, he instead wrote about it for everybody to see. This book describes how he, as a parent (not an important po-litical leader), thinks his daugh-ters are like a lot of American

heroes and heroines. This book also describes American heroes like Jackie Robinson and Helen Keller who carried a strong mes-sage that everybody can make a difference. The phrase, “America is filled with all kinds of people,” (Barack Obama) is very true and very deep, and is the main idea of the book altogether. I also like how Loren Long illustrated this lovely book. It looks really amaz-ing and you can get the exact message. I strongly recommend you to read this book for it is very inspiring, and I know you will love it. I just know it!

Great CatCHes!Fall in love with a book this Valentine’s Day!by Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Hello my loyal readers. Welcome to Great Catches, the monthly book review. The month of February is a very im-portant month. It is the month of Valentine’s Day, President’s Day and Black history month. Try to see if you can fall in love with these catches. You may also learn a thing or two about our leaders, as well as the life of African Americans.

Gifted HandsAuthor: Ben Carson

Age level: 3rd grade and up.Rating:

Throughout history, many people have had to overcome great struggles to achieve goals. Mr. Carson was aspiring to be a doctor from his childhood, even though he was raised by a single mother in the poorest part of Michigan during the time when African Americans had little resources. He used his sense of humor, his faith and his mother’s encouragement to become the famed doctor he is today

A Charlie Brown ValentineAuthor: Justine Fontes

Age level: 1st grade and upRating: For many generations, kids

of all ages adored the Peanuts stories. For our generation, I am taking the liberty of recom-mending a book with Charlie Brown’s Valentines Day ad-ventures where he tries to get a

girl he admires to go to the school dance with him. This will be an exciting story.

Mr. President: A book of U.S

PresidentsAuthor: George SullivanAge level: 4th grade and upRating:

This is the best print source I know of right now that provides information about the leaders of our country. From George Washington to Barack Obama, this book provides information about every president along with more fun facts, electoral history and job description in-formation than you can handle.

Ismail Ercan at the Florida All-State Music Convention. Photo: Courtesy of M. Ercan.


INTERVIEW 101by Jordyn Adler, Age 8Coral Springs, FL

Once I went to a writing workshop. I met a girl named Gabby Thompson. We inter-viewed each other.

She is six years old and she is in first grade. Her dad works at ‘Auto Parts.’ She does not see her mother that much. She likes to go to the pool or beach on the weekends. Gabby loves to read Freckle Juice by Judy Blume. Her family is a re-ally important thing for her. At school, she loves to do math.

Editor’s Note: Young writers at this workshop practice developing ques-tions for their interviewee, conduct in-terviews, and then turn their questions and answers into an article. Creative

Writing workshops are a monthly event at the Northwest Regional Branch of the Broward Library in Coral Springs. For details and registration call 954-341-3965.

MOMS Club® of Coconut Creek, Fl 501(c)(3) nonprofit

MOMS Offering Moms SupportWe are a support group designed just for you, the at-home mother of

today! You are interested in the world around you, want a variety of activities for you and your children, and are proud of your choice of

at-home mothering for your families! Email Christie [email protected]

for membership inquiries or to find a chapter near you go to International MOMS ClubSM www.momsclub.org.

STudEnTS TAkE CHARGEby Reagan M. Olenick, Age 10

Weston, FL

Obama move over, kids are taking charge! At Ever-glades Elementary School, 4th and 5th grade students make up a government. The students are chosen by their peers early in the school year and are later sworn into office.

I remember it like it was yesterday… the treasurer was leaving the stage after the president and vice pres-ident had gotten inaugurated. “Will the new secretary

please come to the stage,” Mayor Eric M. Hersh an-nounced. I made my way up to the stage.

The moments that I spent on that stage must have been the scariest and the most exciting ever. To cel-ebrate, the council got strawberry and banana Juice Blendz smoothies. I never thought that getting inaugu-rated would taste so good!

Super Bowl XLV

by Alizdair Ray, Age 7

Davie, FL

The Super Bowl will be in Arlington, Texas on Feb. 6, 2011. I’m excited about the game and I love this time of the season. My family and I love football and we go to a few NFL games in Florida and North Carolina. I play flag football but it is my second favorite sport after soccer. I have

been going to football games since before I was born. It is a tradition that we love to do as a family. My Dad went to the last two Super Bowls in South Florida. The Colts played in both games. The Carolina Panthers is our home team and we cheer for them good or bad. They did go to the Super Bowl in 2003 and lost. I think what the Super Bowl means to people is that you watch it with your family and friends. You dress up in your team jerseys and cheer and yell for your team to win. The Super Bowl is the biggest game for teams in the NFL.

Everglades Elementary School Student Government with Mayor of Weston, Mr. Eric M. Hersh.

Jordyn and Gabby at Creative Writing Workshop, Northwest

Regional Library.

“I’m excited about the game and I love this time of the season”


A Larkby Maria Schlecht, Age 10Tamarac, FL

At the parkA yellow larkHops in grassMoving away From a lass

He pokes his beakIn the groundTo find some wormsHe has one-But it squirms

He doesn’t careHe gulps it downAnd looks aroundFor anotherBrown muddy spot

He found oneHe fliesHe flapsHe sailsOver the acorn covered ground

He hurries overTo eat againThen fly awayAnd over again‘Til dark is over the land

FIVE is FUNby Sofia Serrano, Age 5 (in February)North Lauderdale, FL

When I’m five I’m going to grow.Five is…BIG!When I’m five I’m going to be able to read.Five is…SMART!When I’m five I’m going to get a cuddly bunny.Five is…HAPPY!When I’m five I’m going to live in Germany.Five is…EXCITING!I can’t wait to be five.Five is…FUN!!

I Love the Sea by Daniela Gómez, Age 10Margate, FL

I ride the tideQuite silentlyAnd at my side,The stormy sea I move my armsAnd rushing wavesThat bring no harmForm wet, wet caves I slide and glideThe rip currentThat urges: Ride!That is just meant I love the sea

The Fight for Lifeby Sara Itka Cross, Age 10Boca Raton, FL

A cold wind blew as the battle began, between the world we know and man!Our species fights as hard as it can, against the ferocious animal clan!

Battle cries of ambush rage the air, of the great eagle and magnificent bear!Thousands of animals cry out in despair, to the lion king, with his sinister glare!

The bloody battle rages on and on, from dawn to dusk, and from dusk to dawn!All the parrots screech their battle song, as all for man suddenly goes wrong!

Man is outnumbered, one hundred to ten, on their skills they must learn to depend!Don’t care if they win, themselves they must defend, because the battle is about to end!

The Love Bug by Shadya Amodu, Age 11Deerfield Beach, FL

Here and there Love is everywhere Up in the skyDown in the blue Someone is watching you Beware this personFor he makes your heart tickleAfter he’s done he lets out a giggleSo beware this person for he’s not stupid For he is the very own Cupid

Tribute to Victims of Tucson Tragedyby Bilal Amodu, Age 13Deerfield Beach, FL

It was an ordinary January dayPromising to be lovely and pleasant,Nobody could prepare the Tucson people For that egregious event. On that Saturday, at a supermarket,Customers scurried by,Eager to meet a local lawmakerJust stopping over to say hi. In the midst of the morningShots rang out,Pernicious and unforgiving!They wounded many swiftly, without warning. Those who had not been wounded, Concurred to stop the culprit.They succeeded in subduing him, Calling justice to finish it. The accident had tragically revokedThe lives of six innocent people,And although it may just be a paucity of casualties to usTheir families will always be emotionally shocked. The victims were hospitalizedWith acrimonious injuries.But while physical wounds could be healed,They would emotionally be traumatized. Alas, the lawmaker involved, is in critical condition,Though she is making good progress. However, other lawmakers fear Of carrying out their duties under the people’s duress. The assassin is inexorable,Still refusing to cooperate. Hopefully aware that his bad ethicsCould lead him to a terrible fate! This is much more than an accidentOr inane history pieceThis is an example How bullets for ballots don’t bring peace. I want you to see the moralAbout how violence ruins everything. For we can lead with compromiseO, think of the peace that it will bring! The only way the above can workIs if we all concur.For it was all this scurrilous fightingThat made us what we were So let me end this poemOn a hopefully thoughtful note Flagrant bullets are inferiorTo the power of a vote.

“Five.” Illustration by author. Crayons

on paper.

“Western Meadowlark.” Illustration by author. Color pencils and soft pastels on paper.


17th Century Japan

In Japanby Emma Gómez, Age 7Margate, FL

This morning I woke up to hear beautiful music playing outside. I thought that it could be the music coming from court and I jumped into my bright pink and blue ki-mono, and ran outside.

I saw children playing happily

and I went to join. We played and danced to a fast tune. The music came from the royal band. There was a festival because spring was coming.

In spring, the cherry trees bloom in a baby pink shade. Green grass shoots up from the ground and the place is filled with color.

Japanese Girl Festivalby Liora Elkoby, Age 9Fort Lauderdale, FL

Today, I will be meeting my

girlfriends at the Cherry Blossom Forest to make Hina dolls for tomorrow’s Japanese Girl Festi-val. We are meeting at our usual magical spot in the center of the forest under the largest tree. I am so excited. Every year I love cre-ating my doll and then whisper-ing happy wishes for myself in her ear.

As I walk to our special spot, I notice my friends are not there yet. I sit down under the tree with my back against the trunk. I look at the beautiful trees, their blos-soms are so exquisite. I pick one and put it in my hair. I get another one for my doll. The pink and white colors look wonderful in her blond straw hair.

As I sit and wait the sun feels so warm in the spring air. I feel so drowsy… I can hardly keep my eyes open.

But wait! I see a Saru, a Japa-nese monkey scurrying past me. I look at him and say out loud, “Oh, aren’t you a cute little fel-low,” expecting him to run off. To my surprise, he turns around and walks right up to me and says, “Good afternoon, kind Ma’am.”

“You can talk?” I ask. “Indeed I can,” he says. “You must be magical. You

must grant me a wish.” I am very excited!

“I’ll try my best. What do you want?” he asks.

“Oh, a beautiful porcelain doll with flowers in her hair.”

And he says, “It shall be.” He calls out my name and taps

my shoulder and then he sudden-ly disappears. But I can still feel the tapping on my shoulder and someone calling me. I open my eyes to see my three girlfriends calling me and tapping my shoul-der.

My friends are finally here. We make our dolls. Each one as beautiful as ourselves. I make my doll so pretty with her hair made out of straw. I try to make the hair curly, but the straw just will not curl. Finally we are fin-ished. I rub the doll on my kimo-no sleeve so that all the bad luck of the past year will rub off onto my doll. I whisper my special wish into her ear. Then, we carry our dolls carefully to the river at the edge of the forest. Gently, each of us lays our doll in the water. We watch them as they slowly drift upon the water with our hopes of a good year.

Japanese Painterby Daniela Gómez, Age 10Margate, FL

Walking by the perimeter of Japan, I wished I could venture out into the outer world so I could paint some other mountain and some other land. I climbed a cher-ry tree to see around me, I saw my family working in the garden and I saw the mountains surrounding us all. My mother stood outside the door sweeping and watch-ing my children who played in the dirt. I saw them laugh and I smiled. I slipped down the tree and looked for my paintbrushes and paints. Then, sitting still in the grass, I sketched my daughter, her kimono stained in the dirt. I sketched my son as he leaped in the air in his game. I painted in the sketch and signed my name at the bottom. I turned the painting on its back and wrote the name: ‘Playing Children.’

I climbed the tree again and saw a tunnel leading to where I could not see. Filled with cu-riosity, I came down from the tree and slid down the tunnel un-til I stopped and saw a light far away. I realized the tunnel sloped upwards instead of leading to a room or cave under the ground. Knowing that it was a secret way to some place, I climbed up and saw water coming up at me and my feet where covered in sand. I

looked out and noticed that I had found a way to get out of Japan

unnoticed! I knew that my mother and father would come with me

to a new land; they had waited to find a way out. We could make the tunnel bigger and we could drag a boat into the tunnel then set out for adventure!

“Mama!!” called my daughter as I walked back home. “Mama, I pretended that I was in Russia with everyone.” I smiled at her and walked inside.

Did You Know...… that Haiku (plural haiku), is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras (units of sound), in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respec-tively. Although haiku are often stated to have 17 syllables, this is inaccu-rate as syllables and moras are not the same. In Japanese, haiku are tra-ditionally printed in a single vertical line and tend to take aspects of the natural world as their subject matter, while haiku in English often appear in three lines to paral-lel the three phrases of Japanese haiku and may deal with any subject matter. Haiku in English is a development of the Japanese haiku poetic form in the English language. Matsuo Bashō (1644 – November 28, 1694), was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. He is recognized as a mas-ter of brief and clear haiku.

Did You Know...

… that the Edo period, or Tokugawa period, is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate. This gov-ernment established a policy known as Sakoku, under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death, and remained in effect until 1853 with the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and the opening of Japan. It was still illegal to leave Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. The first ruler of this period was the sho-gun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

“I climbed a cherry tree to see around me, I saw my family work-ing in the garden and I saw the mountains surrounding us all”

Illustration by author: Soft pastels on textured paper.

The Mousea haikuby Daniela Gómez, Age 10Margate, FL

The mouse looks around

And scurries around the field

Away from a hawk.

a haikuby Emma Gómez, Age 7Margate, FL

Rain splatters with joy

Excitedly, splashing, free

Now she is quiet.

“I jumped into my bright pink and blue kimono, and ran out-side.” Illustration by author. Watercolor pencils on paper.


On January 20, I went with my mom and sisters to the Kra-vis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. We were going to a dress rehearsal of Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice) performed by the Palm Beach Opera and composed by Christoph Wil-libald Ritter von Gluck (July, 1714- November 1787), based on the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus. It was a ‘semi-staged’ performance meaning that it had no elaborate set: the orchestra was in the middle of the stage and the choir behind them. It was sung in Italian with English supertitles. Orfeo was played by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. The director/choreographer was Doug Varone and the con-ductor was Bruno Aprea. Six dancers filled the stage with the mood of the play: Natalie Desch, Alex Springer, Julia Burrer, Eddie Taketa, Ryan Corriston and Erin Owen.

The opera opened into a happy, fast-paced overture that the dancers filled with beau-ty, but the music took a sad turn. Orfeo’s beautiful wife, Euridice (performed by Na-dine Sierra), had died. Orfeo was grieving and singing his sad songs with the choir as the dancers spun around in sor-row. Amore (Irene Roberts), the god of love, came to Orfeo and sang a song to him say-ing that it was possible to go to the underworld and retrieve his beloved, but on one condi-tion. He must not look at her or tell her why until they had left the underworld. If he did, Euridice would be lost, this time forever! Then, Amore left the spotlight.

Orfeo decided to go to the underworld. His only fear was that he would not be able to re-sist peeking at Euridice. When Orfeo was entering the land of the dead, the Furies (played by the choir) came. He pleaded to them, with a song, to have pity, but they refused to give passage with loud “No’s.” However, they soon had to give in to his sweet, sad mel-ody. The dancers leapt lightly around in the dance, and acted out the spirits of the heroes of the world that had done good. Orfeo found his wife and re-joiced in silence, resisting the urge to look at her. Eventu-ally, though, Euridice began to believe that Orfeo no longer loved her and that she would rather stay in her comfort-able home in Elysium. Orfeo grieved and suffered, and at last looked at Euridice, mak-

ing her die again. Eventually, after almost killing himself and with Amore’s help, Or-feo did get his wife back. The opera ended with the rejoic-ing song ‘Trionfi Amore.’ The choir, Orfeo and Euridice sang in praise of the god of love!

The costumes were as sim-ple as the set. Orfeo wore a purple shirt, a belt and black pants and Euridice had a pur-pleish-blue dress and her hair was loose and in large curls. The choir wore grayish uni-form costumes and the dancers were dressed all in white. The orchestra played wonderfully and connected with the audi-ence. The dancers performed with agility and the choreog-raphy was very graceful. The choir portrayed such different

parts like the happiness and praise of the people in ‘Trionfi Amore,’ and the Furies’ anger and determination that no liv-ing person should ever enter the underworld unharmed. It all blended well with the beautiful voice of soprano Na-dine Sierra (Euridice) and the stunning one of countertenor Anthony Roth Constanzo (Or-feo).

For more information on the Palm Beach Opera 2010-11 season go to www.pbopera.org. Also go to www.kravis.org.

I hope that I have reviewed this opera in a way that you could see the actors dancing and hear the voices singing to Amore. I encourage you to watch a lot of theater and to come with me as the lights go out!

My Favorite Shorts

Opens up in March 2011 at the J-CAT

by Liora Elkoby, Age 9Fort Lauderdale, FL

Next month, I will be perform-ing in a theatre production at J-CAT. It’s called “My Favorite Shorts.” It has very short plays in it. My favorite ones are “The Proposal” and “Attack of the Moral Fuzzies.” They are funny plays. They make me giggle so much.

One of the shorts that I will be performing in is “The Fisherman and his Wife”. I enjoy playing the mystical character in this play. I also get to do pantomime. I like the way pantomiming gets you to use your imagination to make it so real that the audience believes they are actually seeing what is not there. I will also appear in a couple of other shorts.

I like performing on stage as I get to play different characters and get the feel of what it is like to be them. I also watch the other actors perform. Some are really good!

The Director, Michael, is won-derful and interesting, and also very funny. He always makes me laugh. Sometimes he is very strict. He works with the children

very well. Without Michael the show would not come together very well. I like learning from Michael about theatre. It’s im-portant to listen to Michael as he gives us direction and informa-tion about the plays. He teaches us about theatre as we go along and rehearse. He gives us tips on how to be a better actor and how to work together to produce a great show.

Performing in “My Favorite Shorts” is fun, but it is also much work. I enjoy learning about the-atre and acting, and having many laughs along the way.

by Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

Theatre World Orfeo ed Euridice

Did You Know...

… that the opera Orfeo ed Euridice is the most popular work by German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck and one of the most influential on sub-sequent German opera. The story is based on the myth of Orpheus and it is set to a libretto by Ranieri de’ Calz-abigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed in Vienna on 5 October 1762. Orfeo ed Euridice is the first of Gluck’s “re-form” operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria with a “noble simplicity” in both the music and the drama.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and Soprano Nadine Sierra as Orfeo and Euridice. Photo: Courtesy of

South Florida Classical Review.

Young actress Liora Elkoby


by Sara I. Cross, Age 10Boca Raton, FL

Back at the waterfall, Anat-wa was sitting on the rocks listening to the sounds of rush-ing water, and waiting patiently for the call so she could close the waterfall down, making it disappear completely from hu-man eye. She planned to gather with the other guardians to con-gratulate the girls on the com-pletion of their quest, or await their return if they failed. Little did she know that a group of boys were lurking in the trees. The ones that had followed Malana and Teresa to the wa-terfall and heard the password. The boys had bullied Malana and Teresa in school until the girls had dropped out because they couldn’t afford to stay in class any longer. Since then, the boys stealthily shadowed the girls, watching their every move. So now the slackers stood hidden in the shadows in the forest surrounding the wa-terfall. They stepped out and walked up to Anatwa.

“Hi,” said one of them. “The password’s ‘pink pony,’ now where’s our boat ride up to the top?” Anatwa didn’t take notice of the rude tone of voice the boy used, she just calmly an-swered politely: “I am so very sorry, but the boat is currently in use. I could call it back, but someone might be in it at this very moment. Come back to-morrow and I might be able to help you.”

But the boys did not want to wait. The boy in the front was named Arnold, and he was the rudest of them all and did all the talking for the group. He was also the strongest one and the most stupid. He stretched out one muscular arm and pushed Anatwa aside, catch-ing her off guard, and knock-ing her down. Her head was clashed against a rock and she was knocked unconscious. She rolled into the water and made a large splash. The boys laughed as they opened their backpacks, which they used to store their emergency torment-ing kit they packed specially for the purpose of tormenting the two girls. They each pulled out a coil of rope that they un-

wound, tied a loop in the end of, and threw it up to the top of the waterfall. But the waterfall was too high up for the rope to go. The group then started searching the rock for the but-ton they saw Anatwa push to call the boat for Malana and Teresa.

Back at the Ice Mounts the girls had finished eating, and Olive got her share of the meal. Devere got up and led them up a spiral staircase. The sec-ond floor looked like a kind of stable, with saddles, horse-shoes, reins, stirrups, stalls, and grooming materials. To one side of the room was a beauti-ful vehicle. It appeared to be a sled made completely out of ice. “Hop on” he invited. The girls carefully stepped onto the sled and Olive perched on the rim. Devere sat in between the two teens and grabbed the reins. At the other end of the reins were two ice deer. The deer were a beautiful white color with silver tails and ant-lers that looked like they were made of ice. They lifted their heads and pushed two buttons on the wall with their noses. A part of the wall slid upwards like a garage door revealing a beautiful view of the moun-tains. Devere shook the reins and the deer took off into the sky. “Hi I’m Anackadye — but you can call me Any,” said one

of the deer. “And I’m Analisala — but

you can call me Anis,” said the other. “Welcome to the Arctic Express.” Malana peered over the side and sure enough, the words ‘ARCTIC EXPRESS’ were printed on the side of the sled. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. She suddenly got a knot in her stomach. It was a long way down! The two girls calmed their nerves by soaking in the gorgeous view. Soon the sled landed on a frozen lake. The girls looked at the landscape just beyond it. The earth was smoky and dry, with a humon-gous volcano that looked like it was three thousand years old, maybe more.

“Before you go, I need you to do me a favor.” Devere said. “I have had a couple of prob-lems. I have fallen in love with the guardian of the lava pits, Elariyana, but she thinks I am too cold for her. She also thinks that she’s too hot for me. I want her to change her mind. Give her this emerald necklace for me.”

“We will give her the neck-lace no matter what!” Malana exclaimed.

“Thank you,” Devere sighed. “Good bye.”

The girls waved to Devere as they set off into the intense heat in front of them.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Part VIby Ari Swift, Age 13Boca Raton, FL

“Oh man, my head,” thought Lark opening his eyes. He saw he was in a small room with an IV attached to him. The door opened and Dyre walked in. “Cara, he’s awake,” said Dyre. A tall, muscular, dark skinned woman entered the room. “What happened? Where are we? How long have I been out? Where are my friends? Who are you?” Lark asked in rapid fire. “Calm down. You were knocked out and cov-ered with toxic waste. Dyre came for help and we brought you to the resistance headquarters, here. You have been out for two weeks. Your friends are in adja-cent rooms. I am chief doctor and weapon arts director. I am also Dyre’s wife. Now go back to bed and we will start physical therapy tomorrow,” said Cara.

The next day, Cara came in to change the IV and placed a five pound weight next to his bed. “Lift this. I will be back in 15 minutes to see how you are do-ing”, said Cara walking out of the room. “Come on, she truly thinks I need to start physical therapy with this! I could lift stuff 100 times this heavy back home,” thought Lark reaching for the

weight. Picking it up he realized it seemed much heavier than he anticipated. Cara returned in 15 minutes and saw Lark struggling with the weight. “Hey, you’re do-ing great! Keep it up and you will be on ten pounds tomorrow,” she said encouragingly.

Five grueling weeks later, Lark was finally able to stand up. “Hey! Dyre where are my friends,” said Lark. “Your friends got a little less injured than you so they are already training with Cara outside, second door on your left, then first door on your right,” replied Dyre. Lark walked out and saw his friends training with Cara. As soon as they saw him they ran over. “Lark, we were worried about you. Cara said that your condition was critical and would not give us any informa-tion for the past month,” said Barky. “We got covered some but you got the most of it. By the time they came, you were al-most dead,” said Quat. “Okay, no more talking! We need to hone our skills every minute of the day. If you need to talk, do so over lunch!” Cara ordered. As they were walking to the training field, Quat whispered in Lark’s ear, “I was going to tell you over lunch, but it can’t wait. I think I have some abnormal abilities…”

My Desert Journal by Natalie Schlecht, Age 8 Tamarac, FL

4-11-09 nighttime It was so hot this morning that

we could fry an egg on a rock! We really did cook an ostrich egg for breakfast. I also ate some cheese and fresh milk from one of our camels. Now I’m using the empty ostrich eggshell to store water.

After breakfast I loosened my long, loose robe to help keep cool in the daytime. Air flows in through the bottom and keeps me cool. It was tight because I always tighten it at nighttime. It keeps me warm. It’s really cold at night-

time! Once my robe was loosened, I

went out to get milk from one of our camels. Then we started to make cheese.

Just as we were packing up to move (we move when our animals need more food), some travelers came by. We offered them some coffee and tea. They told us they were passing through the Saharan Desert from Saudi Arabia to South Africa to see their family.

Then we finished packing our stuff. I never get to pack up the tent because that’s Mommy’s job. Our tent looks easy to set up. All it’s made of are some rods, and some camel and goat hair that

Mommy wove together. In the daytime we roll up the door to let air in. At nighttime we unroll it.

When we were walking to Libya, I really wanted to take my shoes off because it’s hard to walk in loose sand, especially with shoes. But I knew my feet would get hot if I did. I took them off anyway. My feet got really hot, but at least it was easier to walk. I tried to ignore it, but finally we came to an oasis and I remem-bered. It felt so good!

We stopped to set up the tent at the oasis. It was almost sunset anyway. It felt so good to get back inside!

“Bedouin.” Illustration by author. Color pencils on paper.

“Picking up the weight he realized it seemed much heavier than he anticipated.” Color pencils on paper

by Matias Sosa Wheelock, Age 13


feel like eating. The flavor choice is entered on the touch screen of a machine from Italy that is one out of only seven in the world, and the only one in the United States! The flavor that was being made at the time I went there happened to be my favorite flavor – mint chip. The computer screen displays the recipe. The ingredients are writ-ten in Italian, so I now know the Italian word for a few of the main ingredients. For example, ‘latte’ is the word for milk and ‘zucchero’ is the word for sugar. Then you pour the ingredients into the mixer part of the rare machine. This sec-tion is on a scale so the computer knows how much of an ingredient you have put in and can give you feedback displayed on the touch screen. Some of the ingredients are put in automatically by the machine’s hoppers. After all the ingredients are added, the bucket they are in gets moved to the stir-ring part of the machine. Here the mixture is stirred together. After

a few minutes of spinning, the almost done gelato gets sent to a cooling machine where it is spun around and cooled. Additional non-synthetic natural flavor is then added to give the gelato an extra boost. The mint gelato has added mint extract. They also add-ed something I did not expect to see -- green food coloring. I was informed by the owner of the Ge-lato Shoppe, Mauro Petrini, that mint is the only flavor they have to use food coloring in. They cannot sell white mint because that is not what people in America are used to. Once the gelato is cooled and thickened, it is squeezed out into trays in a fancy texture before be-ing put in a freezer to chill. After a while, the fresh gelato is brought out to be sold to hungry custom-ers. The process from ingredients to mouths takes about one hour.

I also asked to interview Mauro Petrini, the owner. I sat down with him at one of the tables and asked him some questions. This is how

it went…aaron for the Circle Gazette:

What makes your authentic Italian gelato different from the Ameri-canized version?

mauro Petrini: “The recipes, first of all, and the method. We actually use the traditional Italian method to make our gelato. Most people are not capable of making it that way.”

You need the rare Italian ma-chine I talked about earlier to make the gelato. You also need the know-how of the food chemistry in order to create gelato recipes like the ones Mauro makes.

aaron: Are the fresh ingredi-ents part of your family tradition or do you just use them in order to make your product healthier?

mauro: “No, I am from Italy and it is in our mentality to make all food healthy. It is not our way to use processed foods, so our family tradition is a product that is healthy.”

aaron: I know you used to live in Italy. What is your favorite part of the country?

mauro: “I like the south. It is very warm, the food is great and I love the history.”

aaron: How long have you been at this location?

mauro: “I opened this store in 2008. It has been almost three years.”

aaron: What gave you the idea to open a business in Boca Raton? What urged you to make it Ko-sher?

mauro: “We wanted to have a different product. There are other gelato places around, and we saw that if we made our gelato kosher, we could get the extra business from local Jews. Boca Raton has the most concentrated popula-tion of Jewish communities in the area.”

aaron: Are the foods on the lunch menu Italian, also? What different options are there?

mauro: “Yes, everything on the menu is Italian-based. We do not cook anything with meat, and ev-erything is served fresh. We have foods like pasta and sandwiches, and only dairy and parve foods.” (Parve is a term used for foods that don’t contain dairy or meat.)

aaron: Can you special order certain foods and gelato flavors? How long will it take to get your order?

mauro: “Yes, we can take or-ders of specific flavors of gelato and depending on the recipe; we can deliver an order in about a week.”

aaron: What different types or styles of gelato do you have?

mauro: “We have, of course, dairy gelato, soy-based gelato, water-based gelato, and we have sugar free gelato that is sweetened with either agave or stevia.”

aaron: How many different fla-vors of gelato are currently on the menu? How many are available each day?

mauro: “We always show 24 flavors at a time. We rotate what flavors are available each day. We currently have about 250 flavors.”

aaron: Have you ever come up with a flavor that absolutely did not work?

mauro: “Yes, avocado. People who want avocado expect the cer-tain texture of an avocado, and that texture we cannot make into gelato.”

aaron: How do you come up with new flavors? Do you use cus-tomer ideas if possible?

mauro: “Yes, usually it is cus-tomers who give me the hint to create a new flavor.”

The Gelato Shoppe Petrini is located just west of the Turnpike at 8177 Glades Road in the West Boca Place Shopping Center, near Office Depot, Party City, Domi-nic’s Pizza and Field of Flowers and Grill Time. The Gelato Shop-pe, along with all of its other great things, also does catering and birthday parties. Kids at a birthday party are allowed to go in the back and watch the gelato being made. For more information on the Ge-lato Shoppe, please visit their web site at www.thegelatoshoppe.com, or contact them at 561-488-3070 and at [email protected].

silver jewelry, and sometimes even farms. A woman’s dowry remained her personal property and that would be inherited by her children. Even once mar-ried, a woman was not part of her husband’s family, she was part of her own family.

Some Vikings would work for another Viking of a higher class, and in turn, he and his family would live on that farm. Sometimes, when Vikings raid-ed a village, they brought not only riches, but also brought people as slaves (thralls). Many farmers had one or two thralls, but in a very wealthy house-hold there could even be thirty. Slaves could buy their own freedom, but they would be in a class in between the middle class and slavery. The classes were: Jarls, the noblemen; Karls, the middle class and the

majority of all the Vikings; and last, came Thralls.

What Vikings wore depend-ed on their class. If they were wealthy, they wore fine cloth with elaborate patterns and out-

standing jewelry. If they were poor, they wore coarse tunics with simple designs.

Music, poetry and storytell-ing were a large part of Viking life. People enjoyed stories and

poems that the scalds (poets) told them. They sang in the fields (or in the kitchen) to oc-cupy themselves while they worked; and sang lullabies to their children. The Norse reli-gion was complex and included the belief in nine worlds, some full of horror, some an absolute paradise. Their alphabet was called the runic alphabet and their stories are called sagas.

The law was enforced by the Thing system. All men in the community were expected to go to the Thing meetings, except for farmers who could not leave their farms unattended. Women and handicapped people were allowed to be at this assembly

that began with a lovsigemann (law reader man) reciting the laws, which he had memorized.

Some things that many peo-ple believe about the Vikings are not true. It is a common misconception that Vikings wore horns on their helmets, and in fact these, made out of leather or metal, were shaped as a peaked cap with a nose guard. The Viking’s story, is not only about raiders and fighters, the Vikings had a happy life too. It included farming and trading, as well as adventuring to steal gold and riches. It is good to look at their story from all sides.

W E R E V I K I N G S J U S T V I O L E N T T H I E V E S ?

by Daniela Gómez, Age 10Continued from page 1

“A Scoop of Italy” in Boca Raton: Restaurant reviewby Aaron Cross, Age 13Continued from page 1

Touch screen of Italian gelato machine. “This machine is one out of only seven in the world, and the only one in the United States.” Photo: Courtesy of R. Cross.

Did You Know...

… that Gelato dates back to frozen desserts served in ancient Rome and Egypt made from ice and snow brought down from mountain-tops and preserved below ground? Ge-lato (plural: gelati) is Italy’s regional variant of ice cream. As such, gelato is made with some of the same in-gredients as most other frozen dairy desserts. Milk, cream, various sug-ars, flavoring including fruit and nut purees are the main ingredients. Gelato is different from ice creams because it has a lower butter-fat content. Gelato typically contains 4-8% butterfat, versus 14% for many other ice creams. Gelato generally has slightly lower sugar content, averaging between 16-22% versus approximately 21% for most ice creams. Unlike most commercial ice creams in the United States, which are fro-zen with a continuous assembly line freezer, gelato is frozen very quickly in individual small batches in a batch freezer.

“The Norse Nine Worlds” by author. Color pencils, watercolors and soft pastels.

Did You Know...

… that Leif Ericson was a Norse (Vi-king) explorer who is regarded as the first European to land in North Ameri-ca (excluding Greenland), nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus. According to the Sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which has been tentatively identified with the L’Anse aux Mead-ows Norse site on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland in New-foundland and Labrador, Canada.


“Sunny” the Gold Fairyby Daniela Gómez, Age 11Margate, FL

Name: SunnyAge: 300Color: GoldSize: 2 ½ in.Hobbies: Making sunlight in the dark and paintingLeast Favorite Thing: Mean and evil things (pranks, etc.)Favorite Bird: CanaryFavorite Insect: HoneybeeFavorite Animal: Lion Favorite Season: SummerAnimal Friends: Orangebean (Canary) and Pollen (Honeybee)Home: Palm tree apartment in Fairy Fairways, a fairy town Favorite Flower: SunflowerFavorite Accessory: Her sunlight wand

Afternoon sunlight slanted through the window and hit the canvas at a perfect angle. I sighed contentedly, and thought about meeting my sister in Pixie Place, I was going on vacation to see my family. I looked at the sunset and grabbed my splattered paintbrush and let it stroke the canvas hori-zontally to capture the last rays of the sun. Then, I dipped the brush in cool water and wiggled it there, watching the paint sink into the aqua and turn it gold-orange. I pulled it out and flicked my wand,

a ray of sunlight shot at the drip-ping hairs turning them from wet to dry. I snatched the palette off a chair and pushed the paintbrush deep into a hot pink and striped the gold sky with a little variation. I signed my name on the painting and wrote the name ‘Sunset’ on the back. I was ready to leave.

“ORANGEBEAN!” A voice yelled. Oh no. I ran inside my apartment to find Natalie, a Purple Fairy, and my next door neigh-bor, chasing my canary friend around a gold suitcase. Orange-bean flew right next to me and Natalie staggered to a stop. She was the neighborhood trickster and she loved to play pranks. She was about seventeen years old; I was almost three hundred years older than her. Natalie knew that I was going on vacation. She also knew that I would lock the door a million times to keep her out of mischief in my apartment and she also knew that my pets knew all my secrets and would not tell anyone unless I told them to, so she would try to tempt them. “Your canary is the meanest ani-mal on earth!” Natalie said in a huff. That told me that she had been unsuccessful with her temp-tation. Trying not to sound suspi-cious I asked what she was doing in my house. “Well! I wanted to give something to that dirty little

bird of yours and he tried to peck me.” Natalie’s voice was full of spite and her face was beaded with sweat, since I kept my room hot. Some people said it was ‘stuffy,’ but not to me. I shrugged and watched Natalie leave, then I shut the door. It was obvious that her story wasn’t true, she never gave anything to any animal, or fairy, except for her pranks. And as for the nasty comments, Or-angebean and I knew not to pay heed because Natalie thought that all animals were nasty and trying to do her bad. I heard her talking to herself and grumping, she was not accustomed to losing with her tricks, and she didn’t like it either.

I groaned as Pollen the honey-bee asked for the twentieth time (I did count), “Are you sure you packed it?” I stood up and put my head in my hands “Yes I did! I promise, see?” I opened the gold suitcase and brought out a bee saddle that Pollen loved. Orange-bean rolled his eyes and chirped impatiently. “I know, we are leav-ing now.” I grabbed the suitcase and walked out the door with two excited animals behind me.

I got to my sister’s house, an abandoned duck nest, on time. As I knocked on the door, a monarch butterfly flew at me, then backed away from me giving Orange-bean a strange look. Presently, my sister, Magma, the Red Fairy, got to the door and brought me inside. Magma is much younger than me and she has a temper that

I haven’t got. But, she is really nice. I smiled and told her about Natalie and my paintings. Magma laughed, “I know how it feels to be bullied. My friend, Wasp, had been under a spell and did mean stuff, but my other friend, Jay, broke it and now she’s nice!” I sat there, open-mouthed, listening to

the story. I realized that Magma had lots

to learn, but, however old I may be, I have things to learn. I real-ized, even with a fairy like Nata-lie, giving up is not always the best choice even if it may be the easiest!

“Sunny” the Gold Fairy. Illustration by author. Color pencils on paper.

by Carolyn Kean, Age 9

Lauderhill, FL

Bravo “Step right up ladies and gentle-

men boys and girls, to see the mys-terious goat, Bravo.” The announcer would say. Ugh, I hate this time of year. The state fair just has to come around this time. You would think I would like seeing the disgusting children run around and scream their heads off, but guess what, I DON’T! I’m “the mysterious goat, Bravo.” Every year, I always am the main attraction. To some people, be-ing the main attraction all the time is excellent, but for me, not so much. “This special goat is a beauty, just don’t get too close, he’s a biter,” the announcer continued. “And his teeth are meant for chewing.” Oh goody the curtains are opening; time to act like a happy old chivo.

amistad“Mama lets go see el chivo over

there.” I said. “Sorry mi hija I don’t have that kind of money. But maybe we’ll see him at the petting zoo lat-er.” My mother said.

I’m Amistad and I love the state fair. I have never missed one year of it. Every time the calendar says July 27 we get in our finest casual clothes and drive an hour to the state fair. I fall in love with the sweets and pop-corn and the games galore, and the attractions. I just can’t decide what to do first! I’m so excited to see Bravo. I wonder what he looks and acts like. I hope he’s not an angry little chivo. If he is, I hope I can teach him a little lesson about friendship. After all, that’s what I do.

BravoBaaaaaaa humbug the people are

happy and I don’t like it one bit! Should I scream? No that would be exposing the fact that animals talk. Eh who cares? “STOP IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL THAT I’M A GOAT! YOU CAN FIND MY TYPE AT ANY FARM IN MEXICO! SO I SUGGEST THAT ALL OF YOU DISGUSTING HUMANS GET OUT OF THIS TENT NOW!” There! Now I just might make it through this year. Now, I’m heading off to the petting zoo.

amistad“Mama lets go to the petting zoo

now.” I said to my mother. “Ok mi hija let’s go if it makes you happy.” She replied. We head there and…oooh! There is Bravo! I’m going to talk to him. “Get away filthy child!” he said demandingly. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to talk to you. I think you can be a little bit nicer. So you should lengthen your temper a little. But personally, I think you are the most handsome goat I have ever seen, and trust me, I live on a farm so I’ve seen lots of goats,” I told him. “Well, I guess you’re right,” he said. “I am a little cabeza dura sometimes. I’ll be a little less stub-born from now on. And, in return for seeing me differently, I’ll give you a kiss!” I thought that was very nice, so I helped him out and bought him. I told him my name and he said: “No wonder! Amistad means friendship. You taught me a valu-able lesson and have transformed this from the worst time of the year to the best!”


“Self Portrait” Watercolors by Elizabeth Abrams, Age 6

“The Fox and the Crow”Color Pencils and block wax crayons on

paper by Emma Gómez, FL

“Black and White Silhouette”Digital photography art by Danny Hernández,

Age 11. Caracas, Venezuela.

“Flower Power”Acrylics on paper by Sofia Serrano, Age 5.

North Lauderdale, FL

“Flower”Soft pastels on paper by Liora Elkoby,

Age 9. Fort Lauderdale, FL

“Cat and Dog”Pencil and color pencils on paper by Giny Genes, Age 5.

Margate, FL

“Mario Fights a Piranha”Adobe Photoshop Art (ver-sion 11.02) by Ryan Font,

Age 10. Sunrise, FL

“Danger, Danger”Crayons on paper by Daniel

Castellon, Age 6. Coconut Creek, FL

“Dolphin”Pencil and color pen-cils on paper by Diego Infanzón, Age 5. Fort

Lauderdale, FL

“A flower for you”Crayons on paper by Camryn Meyers, Age 3.

Coral Springs, FL

Documents

February Edition of the Circle Gazette