GIRL GIVES WINGS TO TOWN CENTER'S BIG STONE DRAGON.Byline: ANGIE VALENCIA-MARTINEZ Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. -- A four-legged dragon sculpture displayed at the Simi Valley Town Center Simi Valley Town Center is a shopping center located in Simi Valley, California. The mall opened in 2005 with Macy's and Robinsons-May as anchor stores. The Robinsons-May store was converted into a Macy's Men and Home Store on September 9, 2006. with an arched tail, smiling face and set of wings was once a spirit who lived among the Chumash Indians of Shimiyi. The fictional tale of Kuyam, as written by third-grader Amanda Smith, depicts his journey from dragon spirit Dragon Spirit is a 1987 vertical scrolling shooter arcade game released by Namco and Atari Games (in the US). It runs on Namco System 1 hardware, and was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Sharp X68000, to hunting dog to stone dragon. ``He didn't want to be left out,'' Smith said. ``He wanted to be part of a family ... something special.'' The winning story of the 10-ton, 50-foot-tall mosaic European dragon In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in the constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων, (drákōn, gazer). sculpture was announced last week during a ceremony that also awarded more than $13,000 to local elementary schools that took part in the mall's Shopping for Students program. Smith's entry, one of 700 stories that suggested a name and history for the crouched dragon, was chosen by a panel of judges Panel of Judges is an indie pop band from Melbourne, Australia. Members
``Amanda's story was unique and stood out from all the others,'' he said. ``She did a great job in telling the story and relating it to local history. Nobody else did that that way.'' Amanda, a 9-year-old student at Garden Grove Elementary School, used elements of Simi SIMI Sea Ice Mechanics Initiative SIMI Search for Intelligent Monkeys on the Internet SIMI Students Islamic Movement in India SIMI Society of Irish Motor Industry SIMI Smallholder Irrigation Markets Initiative Valley's Chumash Indian past to create the fanciful story. ``Kuyam -- The Legend of the Great Stone Dragon'' was once a dragon spirit that ``soared high in the heavens over Shimiyi,'' the girl wrote. He turns himself into a hunting dog to help the people of the tribe in return for acceptance and belonging. His stay is interrupted when the ``great Clouded Leopard clouded leopard see clouded leopard. Spirit'' insists he change back to his original form. He resists, but then a child falls off a cliff, and the only way to save him is by turning back into the flying dragon. Realizing there is no way to change back into a hunting dog or remain a dragon among the Chumash, the creature transforms itself into a stone dragon, which the Chumash name Kuyam, which means to rest and wait. Smith was one of 19 students in her class to participate in an optional writing assignment for the contest, said her teacher, Jana Saffro. The class had just studied the Chumash, and Smith ``incorporated it into the story and ran with it.'' ``She's an amazing writer,'' Saffro said. ``She expresses herself beautifully in her writing. She always has. ... That's her imagination.'' angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com (805) 583-7604 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Amanda Smith, 9, of Simi Valley wrote ``Kuyam -- The Legend of the Great Stone Dragon'' to help name the four-legged sculpture at the Simi Valley Town Center. Photo courtesy Simi Valley Town Center |
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