Agathon: definition, as in greek for “Good”
The Agathon is The Barstow School’s literary and arts magazine. First published in 1966, the magazine comprises a year-end review of student work in short form writing (short stories and poems) and visual art (sculpture, pottery, drawing, painting, and photography.) Compiled from the 2023-2024 academic year, the 58th edition of The Agathon showcases the works of students from Kindergarten to 12th grade. This is the first printed edition in over a decade and could not have been possible without the support of Ralph Myers at Mpress.
Thank you for giving us this opportunity.
Dear readers,
It takes a village: 56 student contributors, 7 Agathon staff, 1 Mr. Holmes, innumerable Barstow faculty, support from the President of the Barstow School, and our publisher, Ralph Myers. A year of dedication and hard work has culminated in the first print edition of the Agathon in over a decade. We are so thankful for this opportunity.
We have had the utmost pleasure and privilege of seeing our vision actualized in a magazine reflecting The Barstow School’s diverse and talented creative minds, but most of all we have been honored in getting to know our community. The people of Barstow. The individuals who have made this year’s publication possible.
Our student contributors have offered us their artistic voices with intention, passion and trust. Whether in prose or paint, voice is power—power with which all change is possible. We are all the more grateful to share these voices with you with the hope and confidence that the people behind them will choose to use their voices here and beyond to effect change—in service to others and to the world.
From the staff who have worked compiling, designing and editing this magazine, a sincere thank you to our readers, contributors, and publishers for supporting the creation of the 58th edition of Barstow’s Literary and Arts Magazine: The Agathon.
Enjoy!
-Agathon Editors & StaffTable of Contents
Front Cover by Sean Holmes & Helton Walker (‘24).......1
Intro to Agathon by Lilly Kennedy Gregg (‘24).................2
Message from Editors.................................................................3
Table of Contents........................................................................4
The Waves by Ava Adams-Huang (‘25)
Ceramic Bowl by Alexandra Huynh (‘24).............5
Come Back by Cole Mueller (‘27)
Art by James Knoflicek (‘24).....................................6
Autumn Breezes by Joseph Giocondo (‘30)
Dusk by Lilly Kennedy Gregg (‘24).........................7
The Watch Figure by Dorothy Buckner (‘29)
All Hallows Eve by Helton Walker (‘24)................8
Mirror of History by Kat Somogie (‘25)
Photo by Joel Siegel (‘25)...........................................9
Ceramic Disks by Rian Jacobs (‘24)....................................10
Vantage Point by Rachel Jacobs (‘26)..................................11
Little bottle cap by Loch Beagle (‘25)
Art by Bella Paul (‘24)...............................................12
Fish to bird by Gavin Vissers (‘25)
Art by Nora Thurman (‘37) ...................................13
Photo by Phoebe Martin (‘24)..............................................14
Mountain Poem by Ezra Jacobs (‘26)
Art by Leilani Galles (‘24).......................................15
The God Called Dream by Dillon Dixon (‘25)
Art by Leili Deshmukh (‘25)...................................16
Memories by Shria Malay (‘27)
Hand-Forged Metal Rose by Sean Holmes.........17
Other Side of the Glass by Charlotte Turner (‘27)..........18
Art by Wilson Estling (‘37)....................................................19
Anatomy of a Centipede by Finn Waymire (‘27)
Art by Ruth Guldin (‘32)..........................................20
The Beauty of Nature by Daniel Wang (‘25)
Art by Vanessa Qiu (‘34)..........................................21
Spike by Gia Khan (‘30)
Art by Trevor Trieu (‘36).........................................22
Capitalism by Noora Fatima (‘26)
Art by Gabe Chanos (‘33)........................................23
My Glorious Verbs by Joel Siegel (‘25)
Art by Tasso Kalliris (‘33)........................................24
The Fallen Ophelia by Kevin Gill (‘25)
Art by Harlow Graham (‘36)..................................25
Night Sky by Aditya Rastogi (‘27)
Art by Liam Groden (‘25)........................................26
Eyes of Spring Haiku by Robert Waldeck (‘27)
Ceramic Bowl by Meera Al-Rajabi (‘25)..............27
The Library by Mateo Rose (‘25)
Art by Lasya Maganti (‘24)......................................28
Meadow by Alec Seidel (‘27)
Ceramic Bowl by Max Moore (‘24).......................29
Ceramic Pieces by Sydney Georgie (‘25).....................30-31
A Dream’s Antonym by Duha Azaz (‘27)...........................31
Art by Abby Cardarella (‘32).................................................32
My Many Moods by Charli Williams (‘30)........................33
Ceramic Pot by Avalee Flores (‘27), Ceramic Pieces by Katherine Cheung (‘26) & Ali Wood (‘27)..........34
Military Time by Dawood Qadeer (‘24)............................35
Snowfall by Elliott Osman (‘26)
Art by Lucas Shustek (‘37).......................................36
Art by Sylvia Bittel (‘34)..........................................................37
Art by Rowan Platt (‘27).........................................................38
Agathon Members by Helton Walker (‘24).......................39
Back Cover by Sean Holmes & Helton Walker (‘24)......40
The Waves
by Ava Adams-Huang
A symphony amongst nature
Controlled by the moon
The push and pull
The dance of nature
A waltz in a whirlpool a hidden orchestra on earth it all comes and goes everything comes in waves they crash in my head they crash in others swishing amongst my brain and theirs thrashing about we all see the moon
and we all see the waves we all know the calm and chaotic we all know the waves that carry the sea and we all know the waves that live in our brain we all know waves. we all know.
Come Back by Cole
MuellerWhen I shatter the cold and fragile air
I discover a chasm between you and my idea Of you
But I return again
And again
A fool to the sticky sweet trap Of your indulgence
You reel me in
I grab on
Another scale wiggles loose
And I persist
The hook pierces my soul
Another wound on my trust
But I push it away
You yank out the line and Recount the cold floor
The tile trap and The impossibility of crossing it
But you forget your strength
You forget they are not your enemies
You forget they have no bearing on you
You tell me of the back and forth
The pendulum that looms over your life
You tell me it doesn’t matter
That it’ll be fine
Because it’s Always Fine
Nothing’s wrong.
I’ll be ok.
Why are you worried? Stop that.
Wanna get ice cream?
Autumn Breezes
by Joseph GiocondoI walk through the woods.
Early fall wind swims through the foliage, washing away the heat of summer.
Leaves are changing, like a chameleon, adapting to the new season.
A wild crane honks, he is the vigil of the wild. He is poised for his cold weather migration to the south.
A frantically foraging fox burrows into the previously sun-scorched earth, searching for berries under the ground.
All is tranquil and beautiful, a majestic waterside paradise. Time does not always move in straight lines. The ground is frozen over.
I shiver, for the air is freezing. It is winter.
That majestic crane is long gone, away in the south for the cold season. The fox, vanished, probably in a hole under the ground. Most branches are bare, their leaves are trampled and withered on the frosted land.
All traces of fall have disappeared.
The Watch Figure
by Dorothy Buckner
In the dead of night, when shadows loom, I feel it watching me, in my room. A presence cold, a whisper near, Sending shivers down my spine, I fear. It lurks in corners, unseen by day, A silent predator, ready to prey. Its eyes, like coals, burning bright,
Haunting my dreams throughout the night. I dare not speak its name aloud, For fear it'll come dark and proud. But in the darkness, it beckons me near, A chilling embrace, filling me with fear.
I pray for morning's light to come, To chase away this terror, numb. But until then, I'm trapped in its grasp, A prisoner to its sinister rasp.
“All Hallows Eve”
by Helton Walker
Mirror of History
by Kat SomogieWhen did it start?
Although I ought to ask,
When will it end?
If the party stops
When will they
If they should
If you can’t hear them
When they shout Can you run?
Canyourun?
Whentheyshout
Ifyoucan’thearthem
Iftheyshould
Whenwillthey Ifthepartystops
Whenwillitend?
AlthoughIoughttoask, Whendiditstart?
Vantage Point
By Rachel JacobsFribbling, trotting, In circles abounding, Our smidgens of forms
Are so dear, yet so far.
We click and we squabble, Enwrangled, surrounding, By godlies, by froundies, By tresses of star.
They drift and they float
And they sweep up the foundlings, Who live in their castles, Their dreamy memoir.
They follow, they peer at We short-sighting groundlings, And ‘member it all In their mountains on par.
When angry, we quarrel, With teeth, steam abounding, When they do, they weep, As they know what we are.
We’re boorish, we’re legged, We’re scraggle-pip-thounding, We’re dirty and little and thoughtless, wind-scarred.
They weep and they roar, Erupt, all propounding, They do so as schedule
Makes bare who they bar.
For us, we’re the peasants, scavenging, scarounging, And them all the kings, and the chiefs And the tsars.
We imagine a vastly Built ever so rounding, For us in the center, The jam in the jar.
Truly? It’s facting?
We shriek, throbbing, pounding,
For deep’st we know’st
Our knowledge off par.
The clouds, are our windows, From here to the bounding, Old boundary of here
To the great world their from,
The clouds are our windows, From here to the bounding, Old boundary of here
To the great world to come.
Little bottle cap by Loch Beagle
Little bottle cap sitting on the sidewalk
Dust coated and mud caked
Kicked to the side and discarded
Edge fluting falling out of alignment
Little bottle cap flipped over in the dirt
The rain washes out the mud
A chipped flower painted on the inside
Forever condemned to the side of the road
Fish to bird
by Gavin Vissers
Fish, Scaly, Colorful Swimming, Jumping, Eating
Sushi, Water, Egg, Nest
Flying, Screeching, nesting, Feathery, Singing, Bird
Art by Nora Thurman
Mountain Poem
by Ezra JacobsDeep, shifting shades of blue, Hidden behind veils of shadows.
Bright, painful aura of light coming off of the snow. Sharp, jagged rock face. A mountain, strong and tall, With a cappuccino.
The God Called Dream: by Dillon Dixon
What is this God called Dream?
This God called Dream who fuels our ambitions Through adversity Through flames
Gives hope and goals
What is this God called Dream?
Rarely appearing in sleep
Yet ever present when awake
The God we sow whose rewards we reap
What is this God called Dream?
Is it some law to which we abide?
Or an idea that, for some, starts to subside?
What is this God called Dream?
Memories
by Shria MalayIn the corners of my mind, dust gathers, Settling softly on the forgotten frames
Of photographs, relics of another time.
Each speck a memory, a fragment of the past, Whispering stories of laughter and tears, Anger and joy, like they almost feel real.
But these memories won’t stay forever.
I trace my finger over the faded faces of the past, Frozen in time, yet so alive I feel their presence.
Their smiles like echoes, lingering in the air.
Each photograph a portal, a window to the past, An escape from the everyday world.
Hand-Forged
Metal Rose by Sean Holmes
Art by Vanessa Qiu
Art by Sylvia Bittel
