Sparkhub Foundation
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Poems in Dream of the Red Chamber (Translation)
by Lesley Xu

HYMN ON THE STONE, P3, CHAPTER 1
无才可去补苍天，[甲侧：The book’s core]
Lacking the flair to repair the firmament,
枉入红尘若许年。[甲侧：The word from guilty; I seem to hear the whimper.]
Entering the dusty world for numerous years.
此系身前身后事，
For the acts before and after existent,
倩谁寄去作奇传？
Who would I ask to make them bizarre memoirs?
SONG OF VERNAL DREAMS, P51, CHAPTER 5
春梦随云散，【甲双： Start at the word “Vernal”, the most crucial part.]
Vernal dreams dispersed with clouds,
飞花逐水流。【甲双：These two sentences are used for comparison.]
Falling blossoms flew with currents.
寄言众儿女，
I used this to advise the youthness,
何必觅闲愁。【甲双：Called at all figures in the book.]
For what do you seek for anxiousness?

UNNAMED POEM BY PRIEST MANG’MANG, P7, CHAPTER 1
惯养娇生笑你痴，【甲侧： Cry for all parents’ passion in the world.】
As to be laughed at your indulgence and permissiveness,
菱花空对雪澌澌。【甲侧：Birth didn’t match timing; matching but any chance】
Water chestnut’s flower fades in the snow in vain.
好防佳节元宵后，【甲侧：Same for before and after; doesn’t say before but after to avoid insiders.】
After the pleasant Lanterns festival, raise awareness,
便是烟消火灭时。【甲侧：Forshadows the following story.】
For it’s when the fumes disperse and flames vanish.

SENTIMENT TOWARD THE MOON DURING THE MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL（中秋对月有怀), P9, CHAPTER 1
未卜三生愿，
Haven’t fulfilled my wish for three lifelong,
频添一段愁。
Be Appended anxiousness to my mind often.
闷来时敛额，
Lower your forehead when you silently comes,
行去几回头。
Look back several times when you are gone.
自顾风前影，
Alone view my shadow in the wind,
谁堪月下俦？
Who can bear the pairs in the moonshine?
蟾光如有意，
If the moonlight wants to bring us together,
先上玉人楼。
Please first brighten the chamber of my lover.

Mock at the Metamorphosis of Obstinate Stone, Chapter 8, Dream in the Red Chamber
女娲炼石已荒唐，
The myth about Nüwa’s refinement of stones is already absurd,
又向荒唐演大荒。
Again the story of Stone builds preposterousness on absurdity.
失去幽灵真境界，
The real state of mysterious and talent you abandoned,
幻来亲就臭皮囊。【甲侧：These two sayings can lead to the procedure, thus citing Zhuang’s secret knack before.】
In exchange for the metamorphosis of stink teguments and skeletons,
好知运败金无彩，【甲侧： Again inserted Bao’ Chai, not for dactyl.】
Need to know that at hapless times, the gold loses its splendor,
堪叹时乖玉不光。【甲侧：Although these two sentences sound frivolous, they mean real passion; yet this type of poems should only be like that. Lament for all youths in the world!】
Felt pity during off-years, the jade falls its luster.
白骨如山忘姓氏，
The mountains of pale bones and the forgotten alias,
无非公子与红妆！【甲侧：Great condemn, the last two sentences seem unfitting for the topic, however, they are indeed apt words.】
Are nothing but the lad and the lass!

The Newest Right: Internet
by Adrian Zhang

In today’s ever-changing society, the Internet has all but cemented itself as a common denominator—or so it seems. Despite our frenzied migration to the online world, up to 19 million Americans still aren’t on the information superhighway. Normally, their voices are not heard, but the current global pandemic has left many unable to attend school or do their job, exposing a massive rift in our communities between those who can and can’t access broadband. Today more than ever, access to the Internet needs to be a universal human right upheld and enforced by the government and industry of broadband providers.In the past, school districts have been slow to adapt to the online world. However, the recent COVID-19 epidemic has forced schools across the world to convert to remote learning. Unfortunately, three million U.S. students still don’t have Internet access as of 2019, completely removing their right to an education. Even before the virus outbreak, 70% of American teachers assigned online homework, creating a significant disadvantage for lower income students who don't have access to reliable Internet. As education becomes increasingly entrenched in the online world, the chasm between students with access and students without will only widen, creating a “digital divide.”This divide has severe implications for underrepresented groups in a society that is rapidly adopting the online world. Up to 82% of all middle-skill jobs require some sort of digital expertise, presenting a major obstacle for individuals without access to the Internet. This gap in access draws its roots from socioeconomic disparity and in turn worsens it, creating a vicious cycle. Even those lucky enough to have a job already aren’t immune; in a world suddenly made reliant on working from home, many employees find themselves depending on access to the Internet in order to retain their jobs.In a world where the Internet has become a necessity for many, the profit-driven industry of broadband providers is one of the biggest culprits for the growing disparity in access. In 2019, up to 50% of Americans who didn't have broadband reported that they found it too expensive, according to the Pew Research Center. The proliferation of high-speed connections is especially slow in rural areas where access is most needed, yet least prioritized due to lack of profitability in the eyes of the providers.The solution? Disband the monopolized market of Internet providers. The titans of broadband must be regulated to give lower-income Americans a chance at stepping into the digital realm. There exists regulation at all levels of government to ensure that traditional utilities are accessible to everyone at a fair price; the Internet should fall under this category, too.Sources:
- https://www.digitalinclusion.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Horrigan_Measuring-the-Gap-v1.1.pdf
- https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/eighth-broadband-progress-report
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/technology/coronavirus-digital-divide.html

Reading Club Proposal
by Kathryn Xiong

From now on, the writing club will be collaborating with the reading club!The reading club encourages members to think about literature from an analytical perspective and apply its lessons to our own lives. Through careful analysis, we hope to answer the question that defines every aspect of our existence: “Why?” Reading in this way develops our critical thinking, collaboration, and self-improvement in a way that enhances both our academic and personal lives.

The Second Sparkhub Foundation Meeting
by Jack Liu

The second Sparkhub meeting was held last Sunday afternoon for an hour. The participants were the host Jenny Zhao, club president Alyssa Shou, club members Jack Liu, Jennie Wang, Vincent Wu, and a few others. The host Ms. Zhao kicked off the meeting by greeting every member and explaining progresses the clubs had made in the past months. “The clubs have made a lot of events and progresses.
Members participate in events with enthusiasm. Meanwhile, we have raised quite a bit of money from the organization,” Jenny Zhao said happily. Jack made a suggestion of charging Sparkhub member membership in order to raise money. Nevertheless, Jenny Zhao denied the idea.Then Alyssa Shou introduced members to the Major initiatives and community events through the year. There are 5 of them 1. scholarships 2. sorting food 3. selling and donating books/textbooks to fundraise. 4. donating to those affected by wildfires mainly with money 5. baking bread to feed the homeless. Alyssa explained them vividly. After that, club Member Jennie Wang introduced her baking initiatives.The initiative is comprehensive and deeply thought out. Ms. Zhao praised her effort. In addition, Ms. Zhao said Jack Liu’s father-----Tom Liu volunteered for bread delivery.At the end of the meeting, Ms. Zhao went over meetings again and wrapped up the discussion. The second Sparkhub meeting officially ended at 4:50 pm on Sunday.
Members are looking forward to participating in the mentioned events.

Newsletter 2
by Jacob Hearns

Learning at home is very boring sometimes. So our organization has many clubs and host many meetings to bring delights to students. On October 18, we had a Web Design Meeting. It was hosted by Christine Huang and presented by Alyssa Shou. About a dozen people join the meeting and learned the hands-on experience in designing a website.Alyssa demonstrated to the audience a free-website design tool called Carrd. Whether it a personal profile, a landing page, resume, or etc, it covers everything. Alyssa used this site to create our organization, Sparkhub Foundation, webpage.In Carrd, there are series of friendly-used templates that will entice to other users. Each template will have a series of tools that will personalize your site. In the menu section of the template, there are various actions you can perform on your sites, such as text boxes to write on the site, images to stylize, videos to present, and etc.Our organization hosted this meeting to introduced an alternative for web designing. For students who have little to no experience with web designing, our organization wanted to help students improve their learning skills and expand their knowledge. Please look at our organization’s webpage to get an impression of how Carrd created the design. We are eager to host many meetings that will help students who are suffering from distant learning.

Newsletter 1
by Jacob Hearns

On October 11, we had an Initiative Election Meeting. We have discussed the following ideas and described and promoted the initiatives in detail. There are five initiatives that are pending: scholarships by Jenny, sorting foods during the pandemic by Nicole Zuo, donating used books/textbooks by Jessica, wildfire donation drive by Emily Han, and Alyssa Shou, and baking bread for the homeless by Jennie Wang. If anyone is interested in helping any of these initiatives, you can contact the person/people who are initiating the project.Scholarships by Jenny describe which students will be eligible to receive the scholarships. This project is looking to be funded by outside corporations and companies. Many of the students who are managing/participating in clubs or doing many service hours could possibly earn a scholarship. Sorting food during the pandemic by Nicole Zuo is described by donating cans/foods to food banks. During the pandemic, many people are impacted, unemployed, and can’t support their families. By donating cans/food to local food banks, the impacted families can pick-up the food and overcome the struggle. Collecting used books/textbooks by Jessica has described us selling used books/textbooks to possible shops as a fundraiser. The wildfire donation drive by Emily Han and Alyssa Shou is to donate to those who are affected by the wildfires. Since wildfires have occurred every summer, more and more families are losing their homes; forced to stay in shelters. By donating care packages that contain basic necessities such as clothes, materials, a survival pack, shoes, and a blanket, they will help them improve their situation. Baking bread for the homeless by Jennie Wang is as the name suggests while maintaining sanitation. Many homeless people are affected by the pandemic and can’t find local food banks. By substituting as a food bank, they will be serviced bread.Our organization, Sparkhub Foundation, has been running for a few months. We can see more and more participants are coming up with new ideas that can help our communities. We encourage our members to do anything that can possibly help their situation during this drastic time. All members of the Sparkhub Foundation, please review all of the initiatives and see if any of these ideas are interesting to you.

Selina Kao

Selina Kao is the co-founder of Sparkhub Foundation's writing club. She is a junior at Mission San Jose High School. As a student in junior high, she founded her school's first student-run newspaper and served as its Editor in Chief, where she further improved her leadership and writing skills. She continued to develop her writing ability by self-studying and completing the AP English Language and Composition Exam as an eighth grader. She is extremely excited to be a part of Sparkhub Foundation's writing club!

Jessica Li

Jessica Li is the co-founder of Sparkhub Foundation's writing club. She is a sophomore at American High School. She enjoys creative writing and works consistently on improving her storytelling skills. She publishes her works online and participates in writing contests for middle and high school students. Her other passions are reading, drawing, and playing badminton. She looks forward to working with Sparkhub Foundation's writing club. <3