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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…)
My Mind’s I(sland)
By Justin Zhang, VI Form
My Mind’s I(sland)
Editors’ Note–The assignment in the VI Form elective, Getting LOST: TASK–Create a visual display in the form of an island: your Mind’s I(sland). The island will be a visual representation of what constitutes your identity (“Mind’s I”) as an individual through five regions: Family; Friends; Home; Body; Your Character.
Size: 4 ft. x 3 ft.
Fitzgerald Deviates from Manichaean Plots with Gatsby
By Aditya Mynampaty, V Form
Fitzgerald Deviates from Manichaean Plots with Gatsby
Editors’ Note: In Mr. Eslick’s American Literature class, the students write paragraphs of 300 words or less at the end of each week. The aim is to work toward a thesis for a full essay.
The Great Gatsby lacks a protagonist and an antagonist: an unusual trait for a book. F. Scott Fitzgerald deviates from the standard, Manichaean plots found in most novels to demonstrate the absence of any pure good or evil people in America. The closest character The Great Gatsby has to a protagonist is the narrator, Nick, but no character in the novel is villainized or pitted against him. Fitzgerald creates characters like Gatsby, who collaborates with gamblers and match-fixers, Tom, who cheats on his wife, and Daisy, who runs over and kills a woman. Nick, however, never speaks ill of these flawed people. His unbiased narration style makes it hard to form strong feelings for characters and difficult to root for or against anyone. Even though Gatsby is the epitome of the American Dream, having worked his way to wealth from nothing, Nick never praises him. By preventing his audience from forming opinions about the characters, Fitzgerald communicates the large gray area in American personalities. There are not any virtuous or immoral people; there are Americans. (more…)
A Tale of Three Species: The Man, the Woman, and the Communist in ‘Some Like It Hot’
By Lulu Eastman, VI Form
A Tale of Three Species: The Man, the Woman, and the Communist in ‘Some Like It Hot’
The 1950s were a time of deep cultural turmoil in the United States. In the era of the Cold War and the Red Scare, an environment of tension and confusion emerged due to uncertainty in the home and society as a whole. The Cold War era, clouded by an intense and deeply ingrained fear of communism, had Americans desperately seeking a standard of comfort or normalcy to turn to, and they found it in gender roles. Unease cornered women into their positions as housewives, and men were solidified as the family providers. Some Like It Hot, a 1959 film, was released amid a time of tension in American society, when gender roles and family life were strongly influenced by a Cold War-induced climate of fear and conformity. (more…)
From The Writers’ Room: Extracurricular, An Original TV Series
By Riya Shankar, Lulu Eastman, Lillian Stout, Cooper Giblin, Tony Banson, Nick Hallal, Sophie Haugen, Sada Nichols-Worley, Ben Hunnewell, and Jimmy Tobin, VI Form
From The Writers’ Room: Extracurricular, An Original TV Series
(Above title sequence scene: music composed and played by Riya Shankar & Sophie Haugen)
Check out Extracurricular’s fan website here: https://extracurricular.squarespace.com
20% Time Project: Longest Time Balancing A Shoe Upside Down On Top Of Your Head
By Ian Moore, III Form
20% Time Project: Longest Time Balancing A Shoe Upside Down On Top Of Your Head
Editors’ Note: In Ms. Amanda Hultin’s III Form English classes, her students pursue 20% Time (or “Genius Hour”) projects. Some essential elements include taking control of one’s own learning, choosing an individual topic, deciding how to learn and to produce a public product, and reflecting on the process.
Click on image to experience Ian’s Weebly pages.
Click on this image to see Ian’s time-lapse with the shoe on his head!
Reflection on learning:
*What content/information did you learn during this project?
I learned a lot of valuable information throughout this project. First, I learned about breaking a world record. I now know that there are a couple different ways to break a world record. First, you can apply on Guinness World Record to have an employee from their office come and watch you break the record. Then, you may have the opportunity to get into the Guinness World Records book. However, you can also do it online using a website called recordsetter.com. This is a very useful website and is the one that I used for my record. It relies on videos to see if you actually break the record. I also learned how to make a blog throughout this project. I used weebly.com to make my blog. It is a website that teaches you how to make and use a blog. This was a fun and interactive public product to make.
