Dear golf,

When I started seeing your amazing qualities at, perhaps, age three, I was fascinated by your ways. Sean, my coach, started working with me when I was four, and over time I more deeply understood you. At first, I liked the colour balls and I was bored at your driving range. Then came the field. Outside was more exciting, and I learned faster there. Soon, my coach and I were playing at any course we could find. We found places—anywhere—to play, at any time. It seemed you were everywhere. At that time, our home course was McCleery. Every course of yours is different and known for different things. Eventually, we played more at Langara. Sometimes we even played at University Golf Club (UGC). The course was surprisingly vast and difficult. Langara is known for its hard greens and a Pagoda with a miniature Great Wall of China. Can you believe it? We played beside your Great Wall! Tsawwassen Springs has gorgeous scenery like Hawaii, with palm trees and tropical flowers. UGC has a long history larger than one hundred years, so the trees are massive and the lawn is perfect. Newlands has lots of water, making it challenging. Today, my home course is Langara. Wherever I go, you are there waiting for me. You are everywhere. I adore you more every month, and I get accustomed to the life of golf. You are a lifestyle. Golf is life. I feel life’s fierce happiness when I play you. When I feel down, you calm me. Your frustrating pace teaches me the value of being slow-moving, and thoughtful. Your game takes hours over hours! When you bring hardship, I feel distressed. You put life into wonders of success and failures. You are lush and green because your game is in tune with nature and the world. When I am in your greens, I am closer to paradise. Of all games, the most incredible you are. You are great in ways that squash, swimming, tennis, could never be. Aside from you, hockey and golf are my favourites. Golf teaches me patience more than hockey. I think golf exercises the mind, but hockey exhausts the body. The combination is nearly perfect. However, I think about you more. Hockey is not as formal as you, it’s wild. You, however, have enough knowledge to strangle wind into a storm. You are a friend encouraging me to accept the weather as it is to persevere regardless of the outcome. In hockey, bad things do happen, but they do not affect me as when they happen with you. When you upset me, and keep my life calm. You help me to keep still even if I am overcome with feelings. You help me make life into joy. Golf, you, are happiness.

Best Regards,
Stephen Gu

Dear Group Of Bestfriends,

Did you know you actually changed my life? You might be wondering *How is that even possible??* Oh and yes it is possible because YOU made it possible! First: You made me a GODDESS at all games. Like in Arsenal, we proved that girls can play gun games. Second: You taught me to always be honest. Like the time when YOU said “ it’s okay to be wrong because we can just put it in the past” That taught me it’s also to be okay if you’re wrong. Third: we get to play basketball outside whenever we want to. At my birthday we all except the youngest had a sleepover but we wanted to first play outside so we played basketball but whenever a car was coming by we would push each other on the grass Fourth: we can have sleepovers because, why not. Our parents would say yes because they are friends. Fifth: No one will get left out. Every time someone is about to get left out, everyone will start crowding that person and saying “What game do you want to play?” and “You are really good at that game” Sixth: Everyone will do things for each other. If someone was about to go upstairs to get water, then one person would always race up and get the water to give to someone Seventh: Everyone will take care of each other. If someone is hurt, everyone will give them a bandage or everyone would crowd and help that person Eighth: Everything.

Love,
Blair

Dear Mr. Clownie,

Remember when you ate all my cake from the freezer? Remember when you scared me when you watched me sleep? Look at me I am 10x better because I ain’t scared of you anymore, buddy. I wonder if you are in another kids house now? Do you still even like chocolate?! Try not to scare other kids. Do you have new friend monsters at the other kids’ homes? I bet the new kid is scared of the dark too! Well the problem can't be any worse than mine! Is there even any food in that kids house you can eat?! Are you still allergic to vegetables? Never eat brussel sprouts they taste sooo bad trust me they taste like celery which I hate too. Mr. Clownie, I hate them as much as the times you were annoying and didn’t let me have chocolate! And you ate all the chocolate by yourself. What time do you even come out from under the bed these days? I am sending this letter because I hope you aren’t scaring the other kid as much as you scared me when you got angry. I really miss you and I hope you're enjoying the other kids houses!

P.S. Send me a letter back!!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely, Angelina,
who is not scared of you any more

Dear Dumpling,

I think you are really sweet and I like your big head. I like squishing your big head because it’s soft and as white as snow. Sorry for squishing, but I really like to. I sleep with you all the time and I know sometimes you roll off the bed. I hope you are comfortable sleeping on the floor. The floor is not really comfy, but you will have to deal with it. I like to hug you and watch TV with you. I really appreciate it. I know I called you dumpling because your head looks like a huge dumpling, but I promise I am not going to eat your whole head, just squish your face.

From your owner,
Lanice Chen

Dear Strength,

How did you ever get your name? Were you strong when you were a baby? Could you lift a whole school bus? Have you ever lifted a bully and threw him on the ground? Would you rather be fast or strong? I would rather be fast so I would have more endurance for warmup runs for P.E., class or track and field so I can outrun everyone in the school. Do your friends have the same types of names as you? Are your classmates Emotional, Furious, Happiness? Do people at school make fun of you because of your name? Well TACKLE THEM AND BODYSLAM THEM ONTO THE FLOOR. And you should tell the teacher so you don’t get bullied. I’m writing to you because I’m also very strong so I want to see how strong you are.

Sincerely,
George

Dear Pigeon,

How are you? Don’t you think your master Mo Willems made you a little bossy? Can you try not to be so demanding? Please. If you do I will get you a puppy. I like how Duckling tried to steal your hotdog. Though I think you think Duckling is annoying. Oh, back to what I was saying. I am a fan of your Pigeon books. You look so nice in your blue shirt, and you little begging face.

Sincerely,
Your fan Doris

Dear Saifeier,

I love you. You are the best girl in the whole entire world. You love to play with me every single day. I always play hide and seek with you. You are so happy every single day. You like to laugh with your sister. You are just like me.

From your best friend,
Me (Saifeier)

Pikachu Teddy’s Room
(123 Stuffy Street Vancouver, BC A1A 2B2 Canada)
New Puppy Stuffy
(528 Paradise Stuffy Street Vancouver, BC B2B A1A Canada )
April 7, 2021

Dear New Puppy Stuffy,

You do not need to be scared of Teddy’s Room. First of all, Teddy is kind and generous and does not over-love any stuffies, so nobody gets jealous and no one fights. Also, he includes every stuffy when he plays with his sister, so no stuffy will ever feel bad. When it is night, he cuddles with only one stuffy at a time and sometimes switches stuffies to cuddle with. Sometimes, in the morning, he remembers to tuck his stuffies under the blanket, which makes us feel good because we are warm. Teddy’s sister also likes to keep her stuffies warm! Second of all, there are other kinds of stuffies you might want to meet and become friends with, especially Monkey and other Puppies!

Love,
Pikachu

Dear Eddie,

Why do you keep taking walks with me? Even on cloudy days? I’m dying from all that running and walking. Why do you keep feeding me the yucky bones? I am sooooooo tired of always eating the yucky bones you just ate. It is so yucky. Please let me eat anything that I can eat except for the yucky bones. I only want to be in the beautiful backyard to play on sunny days. I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE WALKS OUTSIDE ANYMORE! PLEASE! I want to eat millions of delicious candy. I want to play fetch and play ball in the backyard, not taking walks. Please please please!! Can I eat candy right now ? I think I am big enough to eat candy . I am already 9 years old, you know?

Love,
your dog, Peanut

Tui. T. Sutherland

c/o Scholastic, Inc.

557 Broadway

New York, NY 10012

April 24, 2021

Dear Tui. T. Sutherland,

Okay… AHEM. My name is Reina Sui (like, say, um... “sway”, as in “The trees of the Poison Jungle swayed” -I often get my name misspelled or mispronounced), and I go to a private school named St. John’s in Vancouver, Canada. (Which is pretty annoying, if you ask me, because everyone has to wear uncomfortable black -and -white -and -gray -and -a -teeny -bit -of -brownish -redish -and -you -get -the -point uniforms.) At St. John’s, all the grades are split into two classes (except for grades 10,11, and 12, which are split into THREE groups! Seriously, the people who organize the classes must have some SERIOUS math skills, dividing all those students into proper classes.

Anyway, as l was saying, MOST of the classes are divided into two groups. I’m in grade four, and nearly half of BOTH of the classes LOVES your books! (So do those people’s siblings.) I LOVE books about fantasy, so it’s not hard to believe I’m a big fan of your books!

My friend Elaine loves books about dragons. She introduced me to Wings of Fire and I felt captured by the awesome covers when I was hanging out at Indigo Bookstore. The books hooked me with all the exciting dangers and missions and great evils that the dragons had to defeat. I’ve read ALL the books! I love how mysterious the prophecies are and I like

how the dragons aren’t heartless killers. Some are really amusing, how they get interested in cute snails and cry over dead rabbits, and how Glory threatened to eat a sloth but then made it her pet!

I never knew that Tui was the name of a bird! I thought it was a pen name, or just short for something. I’m glad you didn’t change your name to sound like you’re a man, like JK Rowling had to do! You have a great sense of humor. I like how you made your website full of smiley faces and MWAHAHAs! I also learned how you are one of the authors that writes the Warriors series. No wonder I liked those so much too!

Thank you for writing awesome books that readers can enjoy! I hope you keep writing about animals!

Reina
P.S. - I’m interested in turtles too!

Dear My Imagination,

Ugh, this is already getting weird. I mean I am using my imagination to think of this letter so does that mean my imagination is talking to itself? If I am thinking about what to type in this letter then you, my imagination, are the one who is thinking.

Wait, but if that’s true then my imagination is thinking about me thinking about my imagination, and now it’s thinking about that but with an added layer and so on! In all and all I have decided that the world is weird and my imagination must think that too.

Ok I got all caught up in that thought, but what I really wanted to say was thank you for what you have done for me all these years, and thank you for bringing me creative thoughts that have brought me lots of stories and so much more.

Kind regards,
Anthony

Dear Mr. Wong,

You asked for detail, here you go.

On Monday, the day started off boring. The same routine, wake up, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, pack my bag, go to school. Something wasn’t unusual because it didn’t go, wait for class to start, put my stuff in my locker, look at the board… I could go on and on about my normal routine but let me put it here, there was a big banner hanging on the entrance. For a very long moment, I couldn’t see anything because the big and burning sun said “No. You don’t get to see this very important sign.” But eventually I saw that it said “Arts Week 2021” Then I remembered, it was arts week! So basically arts week is a week of art and events related to art which is always really cool (also it was St.Georges day at the end of the week and you could wear red, black and white)

On Tuesday, it was pretty much the same as the normal schedule but, we had to present our biome animal presentation that we were working on where we had to use an accent, record facts about our biome which we chose before spring break, explain an animal and a plant, and finally explain our own animal. All in the span of 1 day. This wasn’t too hard since I was almost finished with the slides. The day went by fast but oh no, whoopsie doo I sprained my ankle. Good news, I’m fine.

On Wednesday, we finished our presentation and we are presenting them tomorrow or Friday. We also had the world record holder for longest paper airplane throw teach us how to fold paper airplanes for arts week. It was pretty cool. While I was throwing my paper airplane outside my house, it got stuck in a tree. That was a whole thing but I got it back. But before that, me and my Mom were in the car getting cake and I felt a clunk on the right side where my retainer was. I thought my tooth fell off but upon further inspection, it was my retainer. My brain's alarm exploded and we were going to the dentist to replace it tomorrow.

On Thursday, I got my retainer replaced during the middle of the day and at the end of the day, we watched the school play called “Would You Hug A Cactus” with unbuttered but salted, popcorn. (END OF DAY. IT WAS REALLY SHORT.)

On Friday, we had a project where the whole class got materials and we made sound to match the silent movie “Steamboat Willie”. We finished it today and it sounded sort of good. We also went swimming for the 2nd time in forever, and we played water polo because our coach said so. (END OF DAY. IT WAS SHORT.)

Was that enough detail?

From,
Raymond

April 24th, 2021

Retainers

9444 Dentistry Street

Vancouver, BC

7MM-4MM

Dear Retainers,

How are you?

My name is Matthew. I wear you in my mouth.

The reason you are in my mouth is because you are helping to fix my 7mm overbite.

Your real name is called Twin Block. The top one is purple with wires. The bottom one is orange with more wires.

Do you like being in my mouth? Have I ever hurt you? Like biting you or chewing on you. I have to wash you everyday to make sure you are not dirty but do you even like being washed everyday? Would you rather live in my mouth or in the case?

Did you know I might have to wear you for half a year or even a year! When I first started wearing you I did not like it, but now I l do. After 5 weeks I started to feel uncomfortable because my jaw had moved. Then I went to the orthodontist and they fixed it, you feel comfy in my mouth now.

I don’t wear you to school because I have to take you out a lot of times. I also don’t wear you while doing sports because if you decide to jump out of my mouth, someone might step on you. I don’t wear you when I eat because I don’t want to eat you. I started wearing you in February and in two month my overbite reduced from 7mm to 4mm.

When my overbite gets fixed, do you want to stay with me?

Take care, and talk to you later,
Matthew

Dear Max,

Whoever says dogs can’t speak is wrong. You talk to me everyday and whisper words of wisdom and comfort. You give me the advice I need and you are one of the souls I trust the most. You can always cheer me up with that smile of yours. You seem to be smiling in the darkest of times and you remind me of good memories when you smile your beautiful smile. You are the highlight of my week.

Your eyes are glowing. Even when I have a bad day they will sparkle and they enchant me. They hypnotize me until I forget what I was sad about. They glow. They shine. They are the endearing and I will always remember them. They comfort me after a bad day and they applaud me when I’m good.

I feel more comfortable with you than most people. From your birth in a faraway country to right now cuddled right beside me dozing off into space with that beautiful smile of yours. Your spirit is a monument. Your tail is a castle. Your smile is the sky. Your eyes are the sun.

I think about you every day and long to hug and play with you every time I’m away. 24 hours with you isn’t enough time at all. You are the light of my life and why I continue to thrive and be happy. I will suffer without you.

You are amazing and absolutely perfect the way you are. I love you forever with your eyes. It would be impossible to not fall in love with you.

Your beloved owner,
Emily

Dear eReader,

Just when does your knowledge reach an end? It seems to go on forever, over every hill, every mountain, every ocean. It is an unending line that only stops when humans stop discovering things. You answer every single one of my questions. You can recite novels with startling clarity, present documents without even breathing. You know the definition of almost all the words, and in the English vocabulary there are millions of words. You can even translate words to certain languages! You can copy comic books with just one disadvantage, you cannot produce colour. Colours seem to sink in your electronic brain like stones in a river. They won’t budge, leaving you with just greys, black, and white.

I’ve been loving you dearly ever since I got you. When I saw you, you were perfect. A purple leather case, the silver words “Rakuten kobo” imprinted on the front, and magnets to keep the cover in place. I’ve had you ever since my tenth birthday, and you’ve been helping me ever since. You bring me joy by showing me my exciting books, and you teach me things I don’t already know with other books.

When I have nothing to do, I walk right up to you, and there you are with a darkened screen and cracked purple case. I gently hold the power button and you light up, excited to bring me more knowledge. When I see you loading, getting your mind together, preparing your documents, a sense of excitement crashes over me. I cannot wait to see you shine, and do what you are really the best at, flawless memorization. I just wish I could memorize sentences, paragraphs, or even novels as well as you can. I beg you to teach me about your secrets.

It must never be lonely for you in your world. You have all the friends you need, from little girls to talking pigs to ancient grandfathers. Your brain is probably constantly moving to find me recommended novels, new authors I could read from, and how much longer I must wait for each book in the Overdrive Library. You do all the work for me before I even say hello to you. Your friends are probably laughing and playing on green meadows, jagged mountains, endless oceans and other beautiful scenic places while you are searching through book after book, categorizing them in the correct way.

You must get tired from time to time, so I kindly switched the sleeping time to just five minutes before you can shut down and relax. Even then you are going through page after page to help me find my next great read. When I am sleeping, you are still working hard to project images on the cover screen, and to keep my data all intact.

You help me with so many things, from learning to relaxing. You provide me with so much knowledge just a click of the power button away. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Aisha

Dear Mechanical Pencil,

You underappreciated cylindrical piece of plastic with lead that scribbles and scrawls all my thoughts out. Thank you. Perhaps you don’t fit in with the fancy charcoal pencils, or the popular and bright coloured pencils, but being a normal pencil doesn’t make you any less important. People don’t applaud pencils enough. Especially in this day and age because of easily accessible writing technology. I know, most kids like me drop, lose and wreck their pencils, which I am occasionally guilty of. Without a pencil, what would scribble your poems, mind maps or notes? Seriously, pencils are really cool, and we should acknowledge that.

Since pencils create such wonders, I ponder what being one feels like. I can’t imagine being dropped, falling multiple times your height to a hard, dirty floor. I’m sorry for knocking you to the floor so often! Life must be boring and a little sad that your only purpose is to make life easier for humans. You may be wondering what being a human is like. Well, I can tell you that we have many more opportunities for what we want to do, make, or be. However, don’t be upset though! Sometimes you’d probably be grateful for not knowing what goes on between humans.

What if you weren’t a pencil!? Imagine how many opportunities there’d be when you can walk, grab, see, and speak! I want to know what your hopes, dreams and aspirations are. I know many pencils would probably become writers because of experience, but there are plenty other options. Possibly swinging on a trapeze at the circus, or developing the next biggest trend. Watched by millions on television, or become a famous artist. Since pencils can create anything, you should be bursting with ideas.

How has your daily life been recently? I know that being a pencil isn’t really the most exciting of lives, but I hope you’ve been getting along with the massive variety of pens. There’s plenty of opportunity to write to them when I’m not using you to sketch. I know, you guys may fight over who contributes most to my art, but you should understand that in order to create a masterpiece, you all contribute. The pens may have a hard outer layer, but on the inside they are fluid and flexible, and make good friends with anyone. Just whatever you do, don’t scribble on eachother, it will be a pain to clean.

Most of all, thank you for helping me create poems, drawings, and helping me record my thoughts and feelings.

Sincerely,
your scribbler, writer and sketcher,
Roselyn

Dear Robert,

How are things going, up in Scotland?

Are your sons trying to steal the throne?

Today a little girl named Sophie appeared on my windowsill, it was quite bizarre since I dreamed of that same little girl in my dream just that night. She is quite polite and very sweet, but she was accompanied by a giant named the BFG. This frightened me, because in that same dream there were nine man eating giants who ate kids and even full grown men and women. They had very bizarre names such as The Bonecruncher, The Fleshlumpeater, The Bloodbottler, The Childchewer, The Meatdripper, The Gizzardgulper, The Maidmasher, The Manhugger, and The Butcher Boy. After I got to know the BFG a bit better, i’d say that he is quite different from the other giants. I might ask Tibbs to sign him up for school to learn good manners and English, he has quite an interesting way of speaking.

During breakfast he ate quite a lot of food, and he didn’t like coffee much even though it was freshly roasted. He wanted something called frobscottle, and he wanted to whizzpop which I thought was some kind of music and I permitted him to do it, but if I had known what it really was I would never have allowed it.

After Breakfast the BFG and Sophie told me about the other nine giants I dreamed about. They said that the other giants ate humans, but the BFG was the only giant who didn’t. Sophie said that it would be a good idea to capture the giants and keep them somewhere away from humans. The BFG said that he would be able to lead us there.

So after a bit of time and consideration we decided to use nets to capture the giants and put them in a huge hole. While we were at the BFG’s cave we brought back some snozzcumbers to feed to the other nine giants, since the BFG said that snozzcumbers tasted disgusting.

Since the BFG wanted to go back to his cave after the capture so we decided to plant him a garden with an assortment of vegetables, to keep him well fed. As for Sophie, she used to live in an orphanage but she didn’t like it there much so we are going to organize her a place to stay.

Sincerely,
Queen Elizabeth of Buckingham Palace

Dear Death,

So your name is death? Well, it ain’t death anymore! That’s because your job is going to end here right now at this second. Look behind you. Do you see the ball of light? I named that invention: Deathdeath. The Deathdeath ball of light is going to end your career. NO more suffering for the humans. We don’t need to die! All of that is just wasting the meaning of life. So, from this moment on, deathdeath is going to declare that death will be no more!

Sincerely,
God

—————————————————————————————————Dear God,

You can’t scare me! My career is going to last all of eternity! I still have to kill all these humans to avoid overpopulation. Now, if you don’t mind me, I am going to throw this ball of light in the compost. Now, I shall proceed to go to the garden and throw out the compost into the dirt for recycling. Finally, as I am done all of that I am going to kill god! You can’t kill me! Only I can have the ability to kill. Now I have to go get a burger. Wait, what’s this ball of light at the door of this burger king store doing? OH NO.

Sincerely,
Death

—————————————————————————————————

Dear Death.

Got you.

Sincerely,
God

Dear Toilet Paper

What happened? Where has all your fame gone? I remember during the time when people panicked because of a new and frightening pandemic. The world was on lockdown. You were so important to so many people. Not for… what you are normally used for but just to collect and stockpile. Why would people hoard you instead of something useful like hand sanitizer or facemasks? I think that people started buying a lot of you because a few people started to get you to use as an alternative to paper towels then other people got it into their heads that they should buy some as well then other people thought I bet that I am missing something that the people who buy all the toilet paper know so I better run and buy some more toilet paper.

In all actuality, this statement is about as far away as possible from the truth which is that once again humans showed their surprisingly lemming-like tendency to follow each other off the jagged cliff of rapid toilet paper buying. This reinforces the theory that we are creatures with one weakness that no other animals have which is that sense of I must do this because everybody else is doing it! I can’t be left out at all! That is completely wrong because if people just used their common sense and thought about why people were buying you then they would see that there was no sense behind all of it after all. Fortunately Toilet Paper you are not human and therefore you do not have all of these nasty traits. Additionally, I do not wish to deny that I have all these traits. I do realize that I have done all these things and thought I can’t be left out many times; at school, at the park and even online.

Therefore, Toilet Paper my rant has led me to conclude that I somehow understand what you’ve been going through. The emotional rollercoaster of being normal and necessary to a prized possession then going back to being boring and normal again.

Yours truly,
Paul

Dear past me,

of 02/13/20

April 15th was a happy day. The cherry blossoms, the gentle sprinklers, and the laughter were all I needed to feel infinite. The pencil smudges upon unmarked fingertips trailing against the hard granite steps, tenderly sketching out the silhouette of those around me. Rough pencil smears leaving trails of charcoal across the page, gingerly marking the beginning of a cherry blossom tree.

The girl wearing a pearl earring.

The girl wearing a mask who’s staring at her blank page, scared to leave a trace of… well, anything.

So to past me:

You don’t always need validation from those around you.

You can see my writing starting to repeat this, over and over, pit-pat, pit-pat, pit-pat, pit-pat, in a rhythmic pattern, echoing off of each other. I can almost feel everything again. It hurts, doesn’t it? Where you are now? Missing class because you got sent to the counsellors [again], feeling like Icarus when he melted from the heat of the sun, wax slipping from him, dripping down the sides of heaven. Everyone talking about everything you didn’t want to hear.

Cover your ears, cover your ears, it’ll pass.

I know you’re doing none of those things.

You bear and you take it. You brace yourself against the medal clanking of their words, the nails against chalkboards that you shy yourself away from.

No.

Take a breath, Angel.

[Pit-pat, pit-pat]

Look at the cherry blossoms. The joy of living.

Yours,
Angel
05/21

Dear Delarus,

When Romeo met Juliet, he cried "she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”. Juliet was the moon and the stars, the spots of light against a fortress of darkness. Her skin was glowing in the flickering of the candles as Romeo reached for her light. I imagine on her face was a graceful smile that would make angels lower their heads in shame, but no smile could ever match yours. I recall your parted lips, your windchime laughter and how your eyes sparkled like champagne in sunlight. Maybe in another lifetime, I would be your Romeo and you would be Juliet, starbound and immortalized in song. Now we’re only distant strangers halfway across Canada, your memory of my face blurry and forgotten. You are the swirls of speckled lemon yellow paint in Van Gogh’s starry nights, brilliant and glowing amidst the gloom. When I first saw you, you were staring to your right, not paying attention to a single word being said, encased in your little zoom square on my computer screen. You looked like a painting, and your camera was your gilded frame. Perhaps you ought to be admired like a masterpiece of an artist long gone, only to be looked at from far away, forever unattainable. I can only pray to whatever god above that one day our stars would align again and when the day comes, you wouldn’t be a painting on a wall, frozen in time and memory, but besides me on the museum bench.

Eliza

Dear Future Tasmiyah,

Did you ever get out of that cycle? You know that cycle. The cycle where everyday passes by same as the last. Soon days, weeks and months pass by and you don’t know where all the time went. It's a cycle, it's meant to feel this way. But it feels wrong because life isn’t supposed to be an ongoing cycle. Life is supposed to have its ups and downs, easts and wests. Have its rushes of adrenaline, the ones you get when riding a roller coaster or the rushes of adrenaline you get when you didn’t do your homework and the teacher comes around to check it. Life is supposed to show you different meanings of the same emotion. But when you're stuck in the cycle those emotions all feel the same. The days I looked forward to the most passed me by and I questioned why I even got my hopes high. The more days that pass make me question why I even try. I beat myself up and go through hardships, just for it all to wash away one day. But what happens if that one day is tomorrow or next week? I’m going to go, knowing I never felt anything real and my life was a cycle that was in a constant rotation trying to reach a goal I may not reached. So future me, Was it worth it? Was the cycle just me? Or was it something I devoted my life to but never reached?

Hi Ocean,

Do you know how important you are? We need you to survive and prosper! You are our heart because you cover two-thirds of the Earth’s surface - the world would not look the same without you. You are our global climate control system - there would be an increasing number of floods and droughts, and we would be heated to death without you. You are our lung as you are responsible for 70% of the oxygen on our planet - we would not be able to breathe without you. You are our nutritious food center as you are an important source of food for billions of people around the world every day - we would be starved without you. You are the boss of more than forty million people worldwide as their jobs are related to you - there would be no fishery or shipbuilding industries, and we would face difficulties in the tourism field without you. Finally, you are the home of many beautiful sea creatures - there would be no sharks and dolphins and octopuses without you. You should be proud of yourself. So, cheers! Do you know how selfish we once were? We thought we could do whatever we wanted to you without any adverse effects! Due to the lack of rules, we used aggressive fishing methods and we overfished in you. Due to our selfishness, we dumped garbage, like plastic and trash, in you. Due to our foolishness, we polluted you with fertilizers, pesticides, construction oil, and many other harmful substances. Due to our ignorance, we created problems, like climate change and rising temperature, that changed your pH. All these activities from us had created irreversible fatal consequences to you and caused harm to the marine species depending on you. As a result, we suffered, from unusual climate to deteriorating health to damaged industries, because you suffered. You should be angry at us. So, jeers! We want to say “sorry” now. We finally understand that you must be in good shape if we want a better future, and the Canadians are attempting to remedy our past wrongs done to you. New fishing standards have been established to protect you. Plastic-reduction laws have been introduced to save you. New technologies have been used to help clean you up. Restoration programs have been funded to conserve the cold-water coral and sponge reef living in you. I know you are still frustrated to frequently see how sea mammals are suffocated or starved because they get entangled in or ingest plastic debris. I know you still feel miserable seeing that the problem of coral bleaching is getting worse due to climate change. I also know that we still have a long way to go… but please be assured that we are working heartily to bring back the finest of you. I am looking forward to meeting a healthy you :)

Best,
Cyrenius

April 5, 2021

Dear Teens and Children,

Sometimes learning feels like a chore or a useless skill, especially when you don't like the things you are learning. Many people have that feeling of dreading to learn or go to school, I have that feeling whenever I have a big project due or a test to do. However, learning is incredibly important for the progress of individuals in society and for our entire species. The lessons you learn teach you to be prepared for the future. Learning is timeless, humans have done it since the creation of mankind. Learning through your mistakes is one such example. School is another example; it teaches us the skills we need for our future. People learn through making mistakes. By learning from our mistakes you can avoid making the same problems in the future. For example, if you are in a group project, and you made a mistake in a test but did not learn why you made this mistake and repeated the same mistake again, it would be detrimental to you and the group in which we participate. An example from my life when I learned from my mistake was when I pulled an all-nighter with my friends. I had always slept on a sleep schedule, and when I pulled an all-nighter, my sleep schedule was messed up for an entire week. It was one of the worst weeks of my life. Learning in places such as schools is necessary for our future. It is the stepping stone for your career. By having knowledge, you are able to do your jobs correctly and easily. If you were employed as a coder but did not have any experience with coding, you would not know anything and you would not make any progress, only if you knew how to code, you would be able to understand code and be able to do your job correctly. An example from my life was learning math, I was quite interested in becoming an engineer, being an engineer meant that I needed to know how to use mathematical equations to solve problems. School taught me how to solve math. In conclusion, lessons from the past can affect your future in both positive or negative ways. People evolve by learning and by making mistakes. This is how humans have made progress in society. I hope that people take learning seriously and don't take it for granted. It is a privilege to have education because, in reality, many children don't have the opportunity to attend school. It is the stepping stone for your future.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Jiang JJ

Dear Wendy,

June 23rd. You check your phone. 11:57. A few sub-titled screens flashing now and then ruined the absolute darkness. The lavatory light clicked green, then red. There’s something about a sleeping airplane cabin of passengers returning to their homeland that brings about serenity.

You arrive sooner than expected. Mom quickens her pace to lessen the distance between her and reunion. You hesitantly and aimlessly follow and wait for the luggage to arrive.

You stand, breathless, amid the flowing crowd of expressionless people; your feet planted on the ground as if you were on a beach and sinking with the come and go of each wave of people.

A phone buzzes at the success of a payment transaction.

A sales associate yells at customer after customer.

A commercial interrupts the hush of voices for their new speakers.

At last, you push your luggage out. Your eyes scan for familiar faces and see a pair of eyes that used to mean the whole world to you. The air is hot, yet the moment seems frozen. You rush to him. Your face melts on his soft stomach as the familiar smell of cigarettes mixed with soap envelops you.

The rest of the day is a warming blur.

It’s well after midnight before you drive back home yet Beijing is still glittering, dazzling.

Gleaming.

It’s been a few years. Everything seems to have returned to its original state. Familiar streets, familiar smells, familiar people. It’s still your familiar Beijing. Except just without you.

You fall fast asleep as the car rocks with lullabies from dad’s favourite singer Buren Bayaer. The next time you would hear one of his songs is four summers later, on your youtube recommendation. It’s the day before your flight to Vancouver and you and mom are driving aimlessly, following the sunset. It’s then in the comments when you discover that the singer had passed away a year ago due to a heart attack.

And for a long moment you stare numbly at the blazing sun in front of you, unable to speak. September 19th. You repeat to yourself over and over again. September 19th. A part of you dies in the passenger seat of that car. Tears form in your eyes before you realize that you could no longer see anything because you’ve been staring at the sun for too long. And that was all. All of that ever came out of you at the funeral of your childhood. If only I’d told you earlier.

And so the afternoon sun rays passed through the car window as it warmed your face. You let all the purposeful drivers pass you. You came here to chase the sunset, along with the shattered dreams. You came here to relive the past despite the unpredictable futures. You came here to see the Sun emerge and collide with the horizon. And anywhere, you could see the Sun emerge and collide with the horizon.

From,
Wendy

Ronald Lamola
840 Howe St #900, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2S9

Dear Ronald Lamola,

I am writing this letter to bring attention to some issues with Canada’s Child Protection laws. As suggested in the Act proposed in 2005 against exploitation of children and vulnerable people, the Criminal Code has been able to offer the children of Canada many layers of legal protection against child predators. However I do feel that the protection this Act offers is not enough for the environment these children are in today.

With the rapid development of the internet and social media, it has become easier than ever for predators to have access to the contacts of children, whether it’s through public instagram accounts or through chatrooms/servers on platforms like Discord and Myspace. According to Crimes Against Children Research Center, the Youth Internet Safety Survey has found that “1 in 7 youths has been contacted by an internet predator,” (CAC) and most victims in cases involving internet sexual crimes are “ages 13-15,” (CAC) and some even younger.

Children should have the right to be protected. They should not have their innocence and vulnerability exploited by disgusting human beings who want to ruin their innocence to fulfill their sexual desires. They deserve to grow free of trauma, and I feel that it has become harder and harder to fulfill these desires. The youtuber Anxiety War has proven this truth through his content of taping men who are examples of these Internet predators. As well as Chris Hanson, who has spread awareness of these Internet predators through his widely known TV series To Catch a Predator. The content he has filmed were all taken into consideration by their local police, and the people involved in the film are all facing legal charges for (according to Canadian Law, do note that the examples I give does not take place in Canada) specifically s. 172.1 of the Criminal code.

Though legal protection is provided, I want to propose a mandatory education programming, specifically involved in the Physical and Health Education program of the BC’s Course Curriculum of minors under the age of 16. The course would include education on the characteristics of Child Grooming, such as 1) conversations regarding sexual matters, over the internet or in real life, between a minor and a legal adult; 2) engaging in physical contact such as hugging, kissing, or other physical touch; 3) opportunities of alone times with the child; and 4) Development of a trusting and authoritative relationship with the child and the parents. This course should be taught by social workers from organizations such as Youth Clinics, who would specialize in areas related to Child protection against sexual behaviour towards a minor. This course should also advertise referral to victim services qualified for counselling regarding victimization, such as KidsHelpPhone.

The first purpose of this program is to educate youth who are vulnerable to exploitation by predators. The intention is to arm youth with the knowledge to identify the characteristics of grooming and predatory behaviours. The second purpose of this program is to provide these youth with referrals to appropriate organizations when predatory behaviours are identified or when victimization occurred. I sincerely believe that every child deserves such protection. The education and the referrals in this program will achieve in preventing and protecting children from exploitation.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,
Melissa Peng Itaqui

Dear Mr. Gatsby,

I am writing this letter to apply for a position as a sommelier in your service.

I believe that I have the necessary resources for this job, as demonstrated by my comprehensive knowledge in wine. I have had the privilege of observing this exquisite liquor over the years and have made original postulations for the art of wine tasting. Although I do not have the legal means of committing to empirical tests to validate my conclusions, it must be noted that theoretical projections are as significant as the experiments themselves. This is perhaps best exemplified by Einstein’s accurate descriptions of relativity, and Mendeleev’s revelation of the periodic table. I have developed the following principles of wine tasting and pairing.

The most exquisite wine always has the truest hue of purple. Since the primary ingredients for most wine is the grape, the wine needs to have the closest resemblance in color to the original fruit. Because the color is an essential part of wine assessing and that it could indicate the natural quality of the liquor, I recommend that when tasting wine, the sommelier should always carry with him or her a bowl of fresh grapes to use as reference.

The art of wine curating consists of two parts before the actual tasting: the visual and the olfactory input. Thus, every professional sommelier should be able to distinguish between the subtle nuances of wines’ natural scents. I have confidence in my ability to distinguish the details of a bottle of wine’s history. Give me a Cabernet Sauvignon, and I can say that the wine dates its origins to a seed from Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou in France of a batch planted on a humid day in August. As evidenced, I have a good sense of smell and interpretation. While I smell the rich scent of the wine, I would have a revelation where a series of scenes emerge in my mind for me to trace out the wine’s origin. I would see the bright sunlight dawning upon the rich and plump grapes, the wine maker’s meticulous work in the making of the wine and the sound of the cork driving into the wine bottle.

The last component of a wine connoisseur would be the tasting, which I cannot do at this moment in time. However, I hope that from my description, you would consider me as a suitable candidate.

At your service,
Leo

Dear Yale Admissions Committee,

Thank you for your interest in me as an incoming freshman at your respective institution. After a careful consideration of your acceptance, I am very sorry to let you know that I am unable to offer you my commitment and tuition for the years of 2022-2026. Your decision for offering me admission into your incoming class has received a thorough and holistic review. My receival of an outstanding number of prestigious and drool-worthy acceptances has made this decision very difficult to make, but, unfortunately, this decision is final and no appeals may be made. I understand that this may be a disappointing message, but in no way does this rejection take away your committee and institutions’ passion, prestige, and accomplishments.

I wish it was possible for me to commit to more than one institution from this extraordinary pool and I understand you are well-aware of how difficult the selection process is. Nonetheless, I hope that you look towards other applicants who you decided to not offer admissions. My fortunate upbringings and undeniable privileges have provided me with many opportunities unavailable to some of my competitors and hope that you will offer an applicant another chance of changing their lives’ path.

Ultimately, no single attribute or achievement guarantees my commitment to any single institution and I would like to appreciate your interest in me as a student. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to consider your acceptance and I wish your committee the best of luck in selecting another candidate for admission.

Sincerely,
William Wang