Dear Reader

I write to remember who I was and so

people can see who I am.
I write to those forgotten moments,
the ones they will only hear in an echos
residue,
the ones I still hear screaming in my mind.
I write to the infinities of my dreams,
write when Im half asleep so later I know
how I feel,
what I see in the midst of now,
so I can read how I felt at the heart of then.
I write to the I love yous I forgot to say
so I can feel my heart thunder and hope
yours is too
in the silence we have created with distance,
no matter how it came about,
no matter how far away.
I write to rip my heart out of my chest
so I can see what I have left,
which parts need stitches.
I write to pick myself up,
to tell myself itll be okay.
I write to discover that
maybe we think too much of ourselves in
the way we love
isnt it jealousy searching for something to
be purely ours?
But isnt that okay?
I write to feel,
let it show,
then let it be.
And its all in these letters,
signed only with sincerity.
Love,
Me
Erin Bundock, Age 17, Shelburne

Sunset running
I disappear into the setting sun, my feet
carrying me at a fast, steady pace.
The trees glow, almost like they are
welcoming me into the forest.
My feet pound down on the dirt road,
but the pain doesnt come. Instead, contentment floats through my body like the
feeling I get when I hit the finish line. Birds
chirp and the crickets have started their
nightly songs as I hit mile two. Two and a
half more to go.
I smile. Water from the lake laps up
against the rocks. A few people who share
my love of sunset running pass me we
nod a quiet exchange, acknowledging the
beauty surrounding us. My feet hit the
ground with a rhythmic pattern sending up
little plumes of dust after each step.
I turn around and start my journey back
home, saving a bit of energy for that last
hill. After recovering from injuries, this just
hits the spot.

Story and photo by Abhi Dodgson, Age

13, South Hero

This Week: General

YWP News & Events

Each week, Young Writers Project receives several

hundred submissions from students across Vermont and
New Hampshire. A team of staff, mentors and students
selects the best writing and images for publication. This
week, we present responses to the prompt, General
writing. Read more at youngwritersproject.org, a safe,
civil online community of writers.

Town Forest
Writing Challenge

About the Project

Thanks from YWP

Young Writers Project is an independent nonprofit that engages students to write, helps them improve
and connects them with authentic
audiences in newspapers, before live
audiences and on web sites, youngwritersproject.org, vpr.net, vtdigger.
org, and cowbird.com. YWP also
publishes The Voice, a monthly digital magazine with YWPs best writing, images and features. To learn
more, go to youngwritersproject.org
or contact YWP at (802) 324-9537.

YWP is supported by this newspaper and foundations, businesses

and individuals who recognize the
power and value of writing. If you
would like to contribute, please go
to youngwritersproject.org/support,
or mail your donation to YWP, 47
Maple Street, Suite 106, Burlington,
VT 05401.

Special thanks this week to

The Bay and Paul

Foundations

Crossing roads
Pardon me if you find me rude, but this
just ticks me off so darn much.
How could you allow a city to endanger
school children especially on a crossing mobbed by cars, where the school bus
doesnt visit?
I was 5 when I started crossing there
daily, and at least once a week I watched a
car zoom by just feet from my feet.
We had a light, a crosswalk, a guard,
and still we were threatened weekly if not
daily.
Our guards quit because they felt
unsafe; anyway, what good would they
be protecting our safety if they spent the
whole time fearing for their own?
When I was in kindergarten, my mama
wrote a grant to buy signs that would
inform drivers of their speed as they approached our crossing, so maybe they
would think before they ran over a 6-yearold.
She organized it, paid for it, and waited
and waited and waited.
I was in sixth grade and no longer
crossing there daily when they placed them.
Six years later.
Now our neighborhood has shifted
focus to the traffic circle down the road, the
circle I will cross daily throughout middle
school (now) and high school (later).
The most dangerous street I cross daily
had no crosswalk until a few weeks ago.
Still there is no guard, no light, no anything
else.

Vermont has more than 300 town

forests and this year marks the centennial of the legislation that started them
all. The Vermont Town Forest Centennial Celebration, in partnership with
Young Writers Project, invites young
writers to explore these forests and
write!
Prizes: 1st: $100; 2nd: $75; 3rd:
$50. All winners will also receive a
2016 season pass to Vermont State
Parks and have their work published.
How to Submit: Any genre: poetry,
prose, essay, letter, and no more than
750 words. Due: Oct. 25
For more information, go to youngwritersproject.org/forest15.

The Calvin
Writing Challenge

Im told they made plans to renovate

and make the circle safer in 2008, but well
still be waiting and waiting and waiting and
waiting until 2020, the year I graduate from
high school.
Maybe I am selfish. All this will benefit
kids, but not me. I will live a jeopardized
life, commuting to school.
Maybe you find me rude, but this still
ticks me off so darn much.

Write to win $1,500 and a trip to

NYC to be honored at a reception!
Young Writers Project partners with the
Calvin Coolidge Foundation to promote
and help curate entries for the 2015
Calvin Prize for Vermont Youth.
This years theme: Do you think
higher education is worth the cost
to you and your family?

Submit writing (fewer than 1,000

words) in any genre and address the
question above. Due: Sept. 25

More details: coolidgefoundation.org.

Story and photos by Isidora BaillyHall, Age 13, Burlington

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