The Islamic Art of the Calligraphic Manuscript By Muhammad Taqi (1695)
By Jenny Tang, V Form
The Islamic Art of the Calligraphic Manuscript By Muhammad Taqi (1695)
Most people, upon hearing art, think of visuals. They recall famous paintings and sculpture. Art, however, has many more facets. Islam, for instance, regards calligraphy and book-making
as the highest form of art. For this reason, a calligraphic manuscript was chosen for this assignment. The manuscript also presents visual elements worth studying. The piece is created by Muhammad Taqi in Persia of 1695 during the era of the Safavid Empire. It is stored in Carnegie Mellon University’s rare books collection. The manuscript has a floral painting cover, a first-page design, and calligraphy. It contains namaz (daily prayers) and verses for Ramadan (the Month of Fasting) written in Arabic[1]. Given its size of 13 by 9 by 1.3 cm, it was probably carried around for prayers. The calligraphic manuscript exemplifies Islamic art by using the elements of floral arabesque, geometry, and calligraphy. Analyzing the manuscript unveils Islamic art’s root in both religion and secular, global influences. (more…)
Two Worlds, One Mind (ABC’s LOST, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Huxley’s Island)
By Boyd Hall, VI Form
Two Worlds, One Mind (ABC’s LOST, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Huxley’s Island)
Jacob, the protector of the Island in LOST, brings me to his island because he believes that the island will force me to confront my flaw in order to survive. My idealistic thoughts hinder me from seeing the reality of situations. I romanticize my hopes for the future until those thoughts consume my mind. Like Ferdinand in The Tempest, who is so entranced when meeting Miranda that he fails to understand the responsibilities of marriage and living on an island forever, I overlook commitments in order to see the perfect aspects of my life. On the island, I learn that indulging myself in quixotic dreams restrict me from focusing on my current being because surviving without materialistic aid requires focus and attention to the present. (more…)
What Led to America’s Economic Prosperity After World War II?
By Samantha Wang, IV Form
What Led to America’s Economic Prosperity After World War II?
Editor’s Note: Samantha utilized funds from the Kean Fellowship in the spring of 2018 to finance videos, programs, and books for her independent research project.
Background Information
By the early 20th century, America had quietly become the world’s strongest industrialized country. But not for long. A huge crisis was brewing behind the exploding expansion of the U.S. economy: on October 24, 1929, a sudden storm swept across Wall Street, and an economic depression followed.[1]The United States, as the birthplace of the Great Depression, became a major disaster area. American industrial production shrank by a third from 1929 to 1932, the unemployment rate was horrendous, pessimism pervaded the whole society, and many people came to doubt the capitalist system.[2]In 1932, the Democratic Party candidate, Franklin Roosevelt, was elected President of the United States. Faced with a severe situation, President Roosevelt advocated for the repression of the domestic forces of Nazism and Communism and the execution of complete control over the national bourgeoisie through his New Deal policies. The American economy slowly got back on track afterward. (more…)
Unique Advances in Transplant Research with Hydractinia
By Haley Dion, VI Form
Unique Advances in Transplant Research with Hydractinia
Transplantation is the future of medicine. It is an ever-evolving field of research. For three weeks this summer, I was given the opportunity to take part in the research by interning at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute. At the institute, I worked in the Nicotra Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Nicotra. The Nicotra Lab is one of the Stuart K. Patrick Research Laboratories at the Institute named after St. Mark’s alumnus, Stuart K. Patrick ’57. The lab I worked in is unique because it works with an organism that is very rarely used in research: Hydractinia
Hydractinia are invertebrates that live on hermit crab shells. These organisms are part of the cnidarian species, and they grow as colonies. Hydractinia grow mat tissue, which is the base of their colony. Within the mat, there are gastrovascular canals that allow cells to flow throughout the colony. Some Hydractinia have stolons, branched stem-like structures, that extend from their mat. Hydractinia also have polyps that protrude from the top of their mat. These polyps are tubes surrounded by tentacles that are used to consume food. In addition to the polyps that help the Hydractinia eat, there are reproductive polyps that can be used to tell whether the colony is male or female. This image illustrates the development of a Hydractinia embryo to a colony. The image shows what an adult polyp looks like, in addition to both the male and female sexual polyps. (more…)
Summer STEM: Building A Stronger and Lighter Impact Attenuator
By Zenia Alarcon, VI Form et al
Summer STEM: Building A Stronger and Lighter Impact Attenuator
I attended the Summer STEM Program at The Cooper Union, and I took the Race Car Engineer and Design course. I am interested in engineering and wanted to know if it was something I wanted to pursue in college.
An impact attenuator is an object that purposely deforms to protect the driver in a crash. Our goal: to create an impact attenuator that is stronger yet lighter then what is on the car right now and is made out of carbon fiber.
Click on Image for Full Google Slide presentation.
Poetry: Pouring Myself into the Pages
By Kendall Sommers, III Form
Introduction from the Poet:
I enjoy writing poetry because using words creatively is an art form that acts as an outlet for me. Depicting my emotions with strings of words allows me to be more in tune to my inner self and helps me to explore different forms of expression. I am often inspired when reading my poems over again. I thoroughly enjoy seeing myself grow emotionally as a writer and as a person. The fact that there truly is always room for improvement in writing is fascinating for me. This understanding of poetry is what drives me to keep pouring myself into these pages. In addition, I also explore poetry by reading the works of other people, whether these are poems in books or magazines or the portfolios that my friends have me read over. I learn something from every line I read, and I am inspired by how open and unique every word and every writer is. I especially love the creative genre in which I write: free verse. I choose to write in a narrative tone because it allows for the story I always have to shine through. Some of my stories are emotional, some are funny, and some are seemingly meaningless, but I use all of them as a method of exploring my thoughts and seeing how they appear to other people as text.
Below are some of my poems with explanations of how I crafted them. (more…)
CAR T Cell–Giving Cancer Patients New Hope
By Grant Gattuso and Frank Hua, VI Form
CAR T Cell–Giving Cancer Patients New Hope
This past summer we had the opportunity to work in a cancer research lab in Seattle for four weeks— a very unique experience, especially for high schoolers. We worked in Dr. Michael Jensen’s ‘82 lab in the Ben Towne Center For Childhood Cancer Research, which is affiliated with Seattle Children’s Hospital. The lab focuses on CAR T Cell, a immunotherapy that gives cancer patients a new hope. (more…)
Vonegut’s Cat’s Cradle: Thoughts on Science, Ethics, and Being Human
By Jiwon Choi, VI Form
Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle: Thoughts on Science, Ethics, and Being Human
I am drawn to science. I always loved history and literature, too, but science made sense to me, scratched my itch in a way other subjects never did. As I did chemistry experiments or drew molecular diagrams, I felt part of a never-ending search for truth, an heir to the great, inexhaustible spirit of inquiry.
And every year I saw more evidence for the validity and even nobility of that spirit. Whether it was the laser cutter that lets me instantly carve out trophies for the little kids who come for free robotics classes on Saturdays or a news item about advancements in self-driving cars, science met my expectations time and time again, sparking my imagination and literally making my heart beat faster.
Of course, I’m not ignorant of the repercussions that come along with new discoveries. I’ve read plenty of pieces about the threats AI will pose to the workforce, and I worry about accidents involving autonomous cars. But still, when I did my mental cost-benefit analysis, science was unequivocally a net good. And besides, isn’t it science itself that will find solutions to these problems? Surprisingly to me, it was in a literature class that my attitude about science was shaken forever. Almost immediately upon beginning Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, my heart sank, filling me with an uncomfortable feeling I couldn’t resolve. (more…)
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