Gallery • 4 Photos

Yellow flowers on a cloudy walk

Hello Cleveland Warriors! We are quickly approaching the end of the 2019-20 school year. And what a year it’s been. For the past 3 months we have been distance learning, which you don’t need me to tell you, and we have come so far! We are now 2 weeks from summer, which is bound to be interesting as it will be our first ever social distancing summer.

I hope you all are doing well, and have been keeping safe, happy, and healthy in quarantine! I miss seeing all of you in the halls every day, and being in classes with you, or just seeing your faces crowded into the gym or auditorium during assemblies. 

I am writing to you all like this to congratulate you, first of all, for completing another year. To all our seniors, we send love and congratulations as you navigate the next step during a global pandemic. To our juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, we also send our love and can not wait to (hopefully) return to school and continue meeting you and writing stories about all the amazing things you do next year!

This little column is something fun we wanted to do at the end of the year, to check-in with all our editors and reporters to see how life is going in quarantine, with summer fast approaching. So I am excited to kick off this series with a little update from myself, one of your loyal arts and life editors, as I count down to the end of this school year alongside all of you. 

In my little corner of the world (Yo La Tengo cover of this song is fantastic) I have been keeping relatively busy with our new online classes. I have been playing the guitar, and going on a WHOLE lot of walks all around the neighborhood. I have discovered many streets which I didn’t know existed, which is always exhilarating.

I have also been reading and listening to music, doing more art, and having socially distanced visits with friends and family. I will leave a book list for you at the end of this page, with some of my favorites, which if you’re a fellow reader you will doubtless enjoy!

I have also been doing some cooking, and especially in the department of pizza I have been perfecting my dough recipe with the help of Ken Forkish, who has an excellent cookbook on the subject. I highly recommend looking into Forkish if you are craving some pizza, the secret is getting the 00 Italian flour which kicks the whole dough up a notch. 

When the inspiration strikes me to make dough, I will get up at 9 in the morning to mix it and throughout the day will be folding and kneading and giving it space to rise. I bring out the old iron frame holding the picture of my great-great grandfather eating his pasta to keep me company in the kitchen, because I know that my pizza can never burn if my Italian relatives are looking over my work. And never do I feel more connected to them while in the kitchen making some form of pizza or blanching basil for homemade pesto.

My pesto recipe can be seen in another post from earlier this year, if I have caught your attention. And if you’re a basil fan like myself, the second edition of Warriors in Quarantine has a delicious recipe my family and I made for strawberry basil lemonade, which I highly recommend, along with a fresh fruit popsicle editor from your news editor. 

Comment down below how you’ve been spending your quarantine! And if you have any good food recipes or book recommendations, please share. I miss and love you all, but I think for this first little column, that will be all. Sending love to all my fellow Warriors!

Lena’s Library

1. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
2. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
3. Harry Potter (Always) – J.K. Rowling
4. There There – Tommy Orange
5. Rules of Civility – Amor Towles
6. Equal Rites – Terry Pratchett
7. Beloved – Toni Morrison