Thursday marked the first day of Autumn – bringing some cooler weather and encouraging many to get back outside to explore the deserts that surround us.
If you are looking for something to take along on your next hike – the Autumn 2022 edition of Cholla Needles: Young Writers and Artists magazine has been released. Over 100 young artists and writers based in the California Desert are published in the Autumn edition – and the pages contains moving poetry and artwork that provide insights into growing up and living in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts.
Themes in the magazine include flora and fauna, heat, beauty, the earth, the ocean, and recreating outdoors. It is the seventh edition of the magazine.
The pieces were created as part of the Mojave Desert Land Trust’s Desert Discovery Field Studies curriculum, an immersive program that helps students become inspired advocates of the desert. The magazine was published by Joshua Tree-based nonprofit Cholla Needles Arts & Literary Library in partnership with the Mojave Desert Land Trust.
You can pick up the handy-sized magazine at the MDLT office on highway 62 just west of Joshua Tree, or if you are in Yucca Valley stop by Rainbow Stew for a copy. In 29 Palms Raven’s Bookstore has you covered.
Selections from Cholla Needles:
Protect the Earth
The earth is a beautiful planet with lots of land and water.
We must protect the earth because it takes care of us, but we don’t.
Our earth is dying because of us, but we can save it.
Stop littering and start recycling for our animals and earth.
Help earth.
– Jazmin C, 5th Grade, Coachella Valley Elementary School
…
We saw the birds, we saw the trees.
I see the life and everything.
I feel the rocks.
I feel the flowers.
I feel the tracks.
I hear the birds chirping.
I hear the leaves fall.
I hear the snakes rattling.
I hear the crow say cah cah.
I smell the flowers.
I smell the leaves.
I smell those nasty owl pellets.
– Joseph Paulino, 5th grade, Yucca Valley Elementary School
