Shos-Te-Tree-Tree

     For the holidays, the Stacies did an activity where everyone wrote something nice on a luggage tag about everyone else in Stac and hung it up on a wire Christmas tree.  When we walked around the tree, admiring its beauty and reading all of the kind words that were thought out and written by each person, I felt it gave the room an amazing feeling, where all our problems with each other were eliminated and love and kindness were put in its place.  This activity was so heart-warming for me and I'm sure it was for the others too.

NYC, The place to be!

     New York City is always full of life, but one of the most lively times to see it is during the days leading up to Christmas, at night, in Times Square.  This past Friday, all of STAC took a trip to the city and broke up into smaller groups.  One of the places my group went to was to Times Square and it was absolutly incredible!   Huge, colorful screens, on entire sides of skysraper and gigantic, lit up christmas decorations galore surrounded all of us thousands of energized people dancing down the streets!  There was so much energy and excitment going on that it looked like the sunniest day with brighter than life rainbows in every direction imaginable! 

What a Cowinkydink!

     Some things just happen that you don't plan.  For the recent STAC Art project, we had to make holiday cards, so I decided to make mine with a theme for Hanukkah, but of course, when It as finished, I realized their was a big cross in the middle of my circular, symmetrical design!  I guess my Holiday card art project just happened to be both for Hanukkah and Christmas!

Compilation of STACies

     The whole project with the handmade books seems so nice.  By filling them up with art from all of us, there should be a beautiful product of a collection of the creativity of all of the STACies.  I can't wait to see how they end up and all the work that was put into them.  Something very interesting that can be abserved from these projects are all the different styles, ideas, and thoughts that different people have.  

Intricate Monochrome Busby Berkeley Project!

     My monochrome project that was inspired by Busby Berkeley is finally complete! After working so hard on it to get a nice blend of colors and interesting designs, it is just how I want it to be, but yet, I can barely even look at it! Although it is all nice and neat with every detail being symmetrical, It is so busy, that it almost gave me a headache! That is okay because for this kind of art, that was just how I wanted it to be, very busy with much to look at in every small area!

People say you learn from reading books. I learn from creating blank ones!

     I usually learn the most from activities that are unusual, seem like something I wouldn't learn much from, and of course, what I enjoy.  Creating a book taught me many skills that will be useful throughout my life!  I learned how to cut and tear with a straight edge.  All you have to do is put a ruler against the line you want to cut or tear!  If you want to sew pages together, all you have to do is stick the needle through the next page and then tie a knot through the middle stitches and continue sewing. If you want to cover something thin and square, or rectangular with a square or rectangular piece of cloth or paper, fold the corners over and then fold the sides over. One more of the many things I learned was that if you glue tissue paper on something, it will help make what you are creating stronger. In the case of making the book, we glued tissue paper on the spine, so it would make for a less breakable binding. 

What an Amazing Trip!

     Friday (into Saturday)'s trip was great!  I feel like I really progressed in my photography skills after taking over 200 pictures all around New York City! The most interesting places to shoot were in the community gardens. Although most of them were locked and we had to take our pictures from through the fence, there were two or three that we could actually explore.  One of them was really cool. There was a fallen tree over a lake and a tree-house too! Since we climbed on them, we were able to get unusual and interesting angles and then great photos!

Be Kind, Rewind Films!

    So far, this is the most hilarious project I did in STAC!  We were running around the building dressed as Jesus, carrying shot glasses, with  a creeper guys sneaking into the girl's bathroom, and wearing mustaches.  Best of all, if not all of us, most of us felt completely normal and at ease with our actions and appearances.  Creating these videos was quite an experience. We had only two periods to make them before we had to record.  I have not only never been in a movie where I was improvising just about the whole time, but I have never had the "so called" edit and cut button removed.  I found this to be great.  The funniest moments in the movies were the scenes that weren't supposed to have been recorded.  Surprisingly, all of the movies had somewhat of a story line, very hilarious ones to be exact!

Sidney Poitier, Just Great

     Sidney Poitier was perfect for the lead role in the 1967 classic; To Sir, With Love.  Being a black teacher in a school of obnoxious white teenagers, I noticed that he was faced with many difficulties.  Some of these included racism, the civilizing of the class, and dealing with a student with a big crush on him.  I also realized how well Sidney Poitier did every little thing.  Every gesture was appealing.  Every word kept you interested.  Over all, it seemed that Sidney Poitier was practically born to play this role.

Psychogeography HW Project #2 (second version)

It turned out that my original Psychogeography Homework Project #2 wasn't quite right.  I gave it another try by shooting pictures of interesting angles in my house.  I was told not to take the picture, but to make the picture.  I did this by changing around the settings in my camera and by lying in different positions; on my stomach, back, side, and more.

Out of Control Spies!

     I was walking to my first period class.  Everything was fine until I came across some STACies.  Just as I said "hi," a vicious blade was between my arm and my shaking body.  The knife looked awfully real.  They said something about a picture and me being dead.  My mind blanked.  Before I knew it, my legs zoomed me down the hall as the only possibility of an escape.  "Who were those blood thirsty spies?" I wondered.  "Was I really dead or just a floating spirit?"

Psychogeography HW Project #2

                   

Every day, I am surrounded by my neighborhood.  These are some pictures of the places I see daily.

Acting!

Today in Stac, we went to the Community Center to do a bunch of acting exercises.  You can really learn a lot about yourself  from acting alone.  Luke said that we might have been surprised by the ideas that came to us. I sure was.  I had ideas from being a 150 year old under sea turtle to climbing Mount Everest!     

Psychogeography Photos!

I took 35 pictures of flowers around my block, but I was told I could only pick 10 to post. Here they are!

Psychogeography HW Project!

I walked all over my block, looking for interesting and pretty flowers to take pictures of.  I was constantly changing the settings in my camera to get the best picture possible, using the rule of thirds.  My parents and I think the close-ups came out the best.  I hope you will all like my pictures and I can't wait to see what some of you have come up with! 

Meow!

I enjoyed the tracing and painting project so much that I went to the craft store and bought the materials to make more of them at my house!  Later today, right before dinner, I made of picture of my very special kitty, Callie, who passed away when I was ten.  Everyone who saw it really liked it, so I will bring it in to school on Monday to see what feed back I get.  I also bought the sketch book and ordered The Empty Space.  I wasn't sure which sketch book to get.  I could have gotten the recycled paper one or the regular paper one.  I chose the one with recycled paper.  Did I choose the right sketch book or did it not matter? If it isn't the one I should have chosen, I can always return it.  I <3 receipts!  They can be so convenient!

Today in STAC we traced and painted pictures of people using print outs, water color paper, water color, ball-point pens, pencils, and our creativity! I made three pictures. How many did everybody else make? We also saw a piece of the James Bond movie, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. It was pretty good day in STAC!

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