My Kiwi

by Sarah-Ann

(Gold Arrow: Creativity Item 3 - Writing)

My kiwi looks like a small oak-colored egg in a white nest, my napkin. When I pick it up and turn it over in my hands, it feels soft and squishy, and its skin is furry and rough. 

On its surface is hair, prickly and coarse. On one end, there is a bump where the kiwi was once connected to the rest of its plant, and on the other end, a sticker the supermarket tacked on. 

As I slowly peel off the sticker, it unwillingly detaches itself from the brown skin of my meal, leaving little web-like strands of sticky glue still holding on to the kiwi. The sticker gives his friend one last goodbye handhold, before finally letting go and enfolding my index finger in paper and plastic and glue.

I rub my thumb and second finger together, causing the glue to flake off so I can brush the sticker into the rubbish bin. The sticker casts me a look of betrayal, then falls resignedly into his grave.

When I puncture the kiwi’s skin, a pungent aroma wafts from it and the taste buds on my tongue bristle. The kiwi’s seeds form a dark, mysterious wall, encasing the pale center of the kiwi in ray-like rows of black splendor. My spoon carves into the inside of the fruit, scooping out pale green flesh and making itself slimy and wet. 

The taste of the kiwi is sweeter on the outside, but it flows into sourness as I get closer to the middle of the fruit. Its small, round, oval black seeds stick to my teeth. My tongue flicks the seeds out of the tiny crevices between my teeth, and I crunch them and swallow. 

The sourness makes my tongue sting and my eyes water, but after the first bite I am thirsty for more. The sweet aftertaste makes up for the kiwi’s sour beginning, like a criminal trying to right his previous wrongs. I continue to eat, digging my way through the lime-green mush with its beady black eyes, scraping the insides of the skin. 

When the last of its insides have been devoured, the kiwi skin falls deflated onto my napkin. It looks lonely after being robbed of its flesh. Two old companions are gratefully reunited when the kiwi too, is released into the dark, dirty pit along with my napkin.

Sports & Hobbies

by Sarah-Ann

(for Gold Arrow)

The Day of a Lazy Slimeball

By Sarah-Ann 

Gold Arrow (Creativity)

Camping Comic: How to break a curse during Scout Camp!?!

By Zhou Peien 

 

Good Wood

by Zhou Peien 

When Sam was about to be born, his father owned a large piece of wood. It was very Good Wood. He sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued, until he made a nice, Good Bed for Sam. When it was finished, and newborn Sam slept peacefully in its embrace, his father looked on with an admiring eye, saying:

“That’s a Good Bed, made from Good Wood!"

As Sam grew older, his father saw that the toddler bed became too small for him. So, he took the Good Bed and sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued, until he had made a Good Mini Shelf. Sam received this Good Mini Shelf on the day he turned six. He was very pleased, and his father was pleased too, saying:

“Sam, that’s a Good Shelf, made from a Good Bed, made from Good Wood!”

The shelf was daily decked with books, but as Sam grew, the number of books grew too. One day, his father got him a bigger shelf, and the books were removed from the Good Shelf. Then Sam’s father took the Good Shelf, and sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued, until he had fashioned a Good Storage Box. He gave it to Sam as a birthday present on his twelfth birthday, to store his sundry and curious items. Sam was delighted, and at once heaped it with his boyish treasures. Sam’s father stood amused, and remarked: “That’s a Good Box, made from a Good Shelf made from a Good Bed, made from Good Wood!”

Sam continued growing. Years passed by, and his family increased. They moved to a bigger house, and Sam had a bigger room. He had large shelves stacked with books. He had a big and comfortable bed. He had wonderful storage boxes. He no longer needed the Good Box, so it was stored away in the storeroom. 

More years passed by, and the Good Box remained untouched. Dust and grit set on it, and it grew musty with age. Yet it remained the same Good Box until… …

One day, as eighteen-year-old Sam racked his brain on a birthday present for his father, he suddenly remembered the Good Bed he had had as a toddler. What had become of it? He thought hard, then recalled into mind that it had changed into the Good Shelf, holding wonderful books to which he had approached to gorge in. Then what? It was some time before he could remember the Good Treasure Box which had been his boyhood’s chief delight. Then it had become a…a…

Hard as he tried, Sam could remember nothing. But a thought struck him: that Good Wood must be found! He searched around the whole house, and finally came to an old and musty box. Eagerly he brushed away the dirt and grit. He smiled at the box in his hand. It was Good Wood!

Sam went into his own room. He sawed and trimmed and nailed and glued. On his father’s birthday, Sam handed him a piece of wooden board, with fine carvings on them. It showed in large letters: GOOD WOOD. Sam’s father hung it proudly on the wall. His eyes shone softly as he turned to his son. Sam said:

“Father, that Good Board’s made from the Good Box, made from the Good Shelf, made from the Good Bed. And that Good Bed is made from real Good Wood!”

-THE END-

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon

by Zhou Pei En

Gold Arrow > Science & Nature > Wildlife in Danger 

 

1.     DESCRIPTION

 

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon is a type of very rare bird. It’s a kind of Crowned Pigeon which is becoming increasingly rare due to habitat loss and excessive hunting. It is a maroon and slate-blue coloured bird with a crown of plumes on its head.

 

2.     HABITAT

 

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon lives in lowland and swampy forests around northern New Guinea and surrounding islands. It prefers living near sea levels, occasionally flying to higher areas.

 

3.     NEEDS

 

The Victorian Crowned Pigeon is hunted frequently for its meat and colourful feathers. Due to its lack of agility to escape captivity, its population became extremely rare. Loss of habitat due to logging has also affected its population greatly.

 

4.     CONSERVATION ACTIONS

 

Hunting the Victorian crowned pigeon is now illegal and many parks, such as the Jurong Bird Park, have organised breeding programs to try to breed more of these birds, hoping they will survive in captivity.

 

 

 

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/victoria_crowned_pigeons

Endangered Species: Common Thresher Shark

by Zachary Tay

Also known as Atlantic threshers, common thresher sharks are easily distinguished by their extra long upper tail fin.  They can reach 20 feet and their tail makes up around half of their length.  Common threshers are migratory and live in many seas around the world. They favor the Pacific and Indian Oceans, especially at the continental shelves of America and Asia. But the exact habitat, again, remains largely a mystery. Thresher Sharks love open and deep waters, they are also found in shallow waters near coastal areas. They are generally not found deeper than 500 meters (1,640ft).

They regularly move to higher latitude areas to head into warmer water.  Common thresher sharks are strong, fast swimmers and eat mainly bony fish.  They use their long tail to strike and incapacitate their prey.  Common threshers are caught by commercial fishers as they are highly sought after for their meat.  They are also a valued prize by sport fishers due to their power and the fight that they put up.  Common thresher sharks are a vulnerable species due to fishing pressure on populations.  

Silky, bigeye thresher, common thresher, and pelagic thresher sharks are in particular danger. Overfishing in targeted shark fisheries, by-catch in fishing gear targeting other species, and high levels of illegal and unregulated fishing have caused drastic reductions in their populations wherever they are found. International protection measures are piecemeal at best. Management measures need to catch up to the scale of the problems facing these sharks before it is too late.

Unfortunately, no international measures are in place specific to common thresher sharks. However, as a result of increasing concern about the plight of thresher sharks, Sri Lanka has proposed that the common thresher sharks be added to Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which would greatly restrict global trade in thresher shark products – limiting it to fisheries where harvesting is sustainable. This is appropriate as the large fins of thresher sharks are typically exported to Asian countries with a taste for shark fin soup, where they fetch a high price.