Hello reader, 

How different are we from trees, really? 

What do trees have to do with Sauk Prairie High School’s literary magazine debut?

Tree bark or heartwood exudes resin, which is what forms amber. Resin actually clogs gaps in the bark of the tree and then hardens to form a protective seal. Due to its antiseptic properties, it keeps the tree healthy. 

An insect can sometimes be encased in resin and used as an elegant (if somewhat comical) display case. 

Amber is often very expensive. Considering amber is basically hardened tree sap, this is surprising. Moreover, if organic life is found in the hardened resin, its value will increase. If we consider the phenomenon and romance of amber itself, however, the high price becomes more understandable.

Amber is expensive, but writing is priceless. 

I hadn't realized how similar writing and amber actually are. We can recognize the wonder in nature when we use trees as a metaphor for people and amber as a metaphor for writing. As trees produce resin, writing is a healing tool that enriches and protects; it heals both the author and the reader from internal wounds. Also, those value-increasing traces of organic life that are found in amber can be found in writing, which is why a piece of writing could be deemed more valuable than an expensive piece of jewelry. Another reason for the high value of a written work is the organic nature of writing itself — the instinct a writer has to express a transformed part of themselves not out of defensiveness, fear, or selfishness, but out of an innate desire to release.

Many individuals within our high school have evolved with this innate desire. A team of students and teachers have come together to establish a place where these individuals can release their work — their amber — to a community of fellow writers, peers, staff, and others. Hence, Sauk Prairie High School’s new literary magazine is titled The Amber Pages. 

The magazine team has read an array of work submitted by students and compiled a comprehensive collection of colorful pieces. We hope you feel as elated as we do to release the first edition of The Amber Pages.

Sincerely, 

Natilee Johnson 

with Karley Blau, Karlie Harpold, 

Helen Judge, Correy Sertzel, &

Alex Dorman, Advisor