Discover Digital Literacy

Seventh-grader Arman Kasnavi’s “Peppermint Candy” is highlighted on Discover With Me, an LJCDS Middle School student-run digital literacy magazine that showcases short stories, poetry, graphic arts, book reviews and more created by Grades 5–8 students. Read his featured article below.

Peppermint Candy by Arman Kasnavi ’27

A lone child stands in a sea of people rushing, rushing, rushing like the current of the crystal clear mountain rivers that flow down the paths of life. The smell of imaginaria, kadelin, and food from afar land mingle creating the sensation that you are in two places at once. But to the boy, it is just a backdrop, the bass line that is noticed, but not heard. Sunlight glints off a silver wrapper like a mirror greeting a new day.

The paper’s aluminum surface reminds him of the mirror his older sister, Lucy, used to assure herself that she looked okay even when her mother told her she was beautiful. It reminds him of the necklace his mom used to wear and the ring she once loved. But now that world is gone, his father gone, like a sheet of paper carrying a story blowing away in the wind.

The foil sits in his palm, a promise of something sweet yet to come like a flower on a strawberry bush. A small candy, insignificant to the outside world, hides behind a wrapper, paper-thin and as wizened as his grandmother. 

The aroma tickles his nose, wafting up amongst an ocean of scents all of which are unnoticed by the boy who is focused on the treat in his hand. As he peels off the aluminum sheath the soft crinkle reminds him of opening presents on Christmas. 

The paper falls, as wrinkled as an 80-year person, weary from age. The chocolate looks like a teardrop hitting the ground, frozen in time. The rich, warm taste of chocolate rolls over his tongue like a wave while the minty flavor, sharp as a sword pokes his tastes buds awake. The boy, for the first time since moving, is happy.