Blizzard (2)

The blizzard at midnight has brought a blanket of snow covering a neighborhood thriving with playful children.

Blizzard (1)

Snow wafts along plain
Howling but also silent
Self-confidence screams

Chances

If I had a little bird,
I'd definitely set it free,
But if another chance was given,
I'd keep it near- me.

Is there always another chance?
no-the answer's simple
But if always another chance:
The best won't be done.

If I had a little bird,
Maybe I'd keep it near,
But if I dare buy it a cage,
I'll eventually shed a tear.

Fire

Luminous flames consume the mind ...
Flowing strips of light feed
All that is left
Here
And there

Now nothing ...

Both here and there.

Beriot and "Up"

I started playing a piece by Beriot on my violin. To my amazement I realized that part of it was in the movie "UP".

Fish

I really really wanted a fish
But they would not fulfill my wish.

When I looked up with pleading eyes,
They shook their head and gave some sighs.

Too Soon

When did the stars fall?
When did the Night Bird call?
When did foreign mists overlap
your shadowy thoughts?

It happened on the Dark of Death,
The unexpected time,
The Night Bird was the one to sing
The mourn stuck in my path.

There was no star to see that day,
They all dropped from the sky.
Those small dreams tucked away
Were dimmed with misty thought.

Oh, why couldn't come the latter day,
Or even in the noon?
For how can someone handle something
That has come too soon?

The Untold Story of the Giant Peach

    At 6:00 A.M., in a small town called Loomingsburg, an enormous amount of people were waiting in a single file line. Each held an extremely precious bright red ticket. Why had they come here, and why so early? They had come here because of a man named Johnny Priseless. Johnny Priseless spent millions of dollars to build a wonderful amusement park. It was filled with toys and rides that you’ve only dreamed of. Johnny sold his house, his computer, and even his shoes! All these people wanted to be the first to see it. But sadly, nothing went the way that it was supposed to.It started with a faint crash, which sounded awfully like a car had gotten smushed. Then there was a louder crash. A few seconds later, a string of crashes, booms, bangs, and loud noises were heard. The people watched with their jaws touching the ground, as a gigantic fuzzy sphere crashed into a brick wall a few buildings away. It rolled at an extremely fast speed towards them. The sphere was about as tall and wide as a two story house. As it got closer and closer, people saw that this fuzzy sphere was actually a peach! Now the peach was only thirty feet away from the line.

    These people had two reactions. An old lady screamed for the first time in centuries (it sounded more like a croak.) She cried, “Oh my! I must be dreaming! It’s going to crush us! It’s going to crush us all!” Then, as fast as her little legs could take her, she hobbled towards the exit of the park.

    A small child tugged on his mother’s shirt and exclaimed, “Mommy, I love peaches! Can I have this one?” This boy’s mother grabbed him and tried to drag him away from the peach’s path. But, she was too late. The little boy with an extremely small brain greedily leaped onto the peach. Realizing that the peach was going to crush him, he started to run the opposite way that the peach was rolling to keep himself upright. The little boy shrieked, “Mommy! Help! Help!” His mother ran after the peach crying out, “Billy! Don’t fall down!” She failed to catch it. Nobody could outwit the peach!

    The peach advanced into the amusement park. It sped right on the path in a perfectly straight line. Slightly afterwards, it came to a circus tent and tumbled through the entrance. It had also tumbled into a group of clowns huddled in a circle. They did not see the peach until it rolled over their feet. The clowns (There were about four of them) yelped and each them clutched a foot while they hopped around and sobbed like infants. In the meantime, while these clowns were wailing and moaning, the peach decided to try out an outfit. It charged into the dressing room at full speed. There were some tearing sounds and as soon as the tearing sounds stopped, the peach crashed out of the tent. It wore an extra-extra-extra-large mitten with purple spots. The little boy hadn’t been so fortunate. A pair of shorts that said, “I Love Elmo!!!” had ended up on his head, completely covering his face. Also, a long scarf with a leopard skin pattern was halfway tucked into his pants, making it look like he had a tail.

    Even though the peach was dressed up, it didn’t slow down. Wobbling a bit as it shot down a grass covered hill; it stripped the grass out of the ground, leaving only dirt behind.

    The Omni Theater of Excitement was located at the bottom of a hill. The workers inside decided to test out a movie. It was called “Paintballs.” Giant paint balls started to fly out of the screen. Suddenly, all the workers heard a low-pitched boom and a huge peach-like paintball seemed to come barreling out of the wall. A worker that went by the name Jill was frightened. Her eyes bulged out and she bit her lip to keep from screaming.

    Someone said, “It is okay! You know it isn’t real.”

    Another worker asked, “Does anyone know where these Elmo pants came from?” Then he turned to Jill and laughed, “Jill, come on, it’s just a movie!”

    But as they got a closer look, they saw a boy with a tail clinging onto the peach paintball with all his might. So this peach was real! The rest of the workers eyes bulged out and their mouths formed perfect Os. The peach sailed over their heads and crashed through the opposite side of the theater.

    A millisecond later, the peach flew out of the Omni Theater and somersaulted up a small slope. Its pace got slower and slower as it went up the hill. Although the peach was rolling very slowly, the small boy on top of it was too scared to jump down.

    The peach was on the main path again. It rolled through the door of the candy shop. A bell that hung on the door jingled as it entered. The clerk was shelving Hershey bars with his back to the door. With the corner of his eye he scanned the customer that had entered. He saw a very fat woman with a small head.

    “Good morning!” The clerk said.

    No answer.

    “Good morning!” The clerk repeated.

    Silence.

    “GOOD MORNING!” The clerk yelled.

    Chirping birds.

    Who did this person think she was? He growled under his breath. He turned around and to his surprise, nobody was there. Then he shrugged off his anger and went back to work. A few minutes later, he heard a faint squishing sound from the caramel room. At first, the clerk ignored it. Yet the sound got more and more frequent and a sudden realization swept over him. That lady had gone to the caramel room! The clerk dropped all the Hershey bars he was holding and sprinted into the room. He was too late! He would remember what he saw for the rest of his life! A peach that was covered in a thick coating of caramel and sprinkles was knocking down barrels of the sweet candy. Also, this special type of caramel was very slippery and had increased the peach’s rolling speed.

    You must be wondering where the little boy went! The small boy had fallen into a barrel of caramel. I wonder how many trips to the dentist he will have to take when his mom finds him. The peach smashed into a ferris wheel, roller coaster, and everything in its path. After a while, there was a ground shaking clash ……

    The peach had finally stumbled out of the park. Everyone watched as it rolled farther and farther away. They all wondered where it would go next.

    Poor Johnny Priseless! Nobody knows where he went. Maybe he’s seeking revenge on the peach!

September 15, 2010

The Audition

Bump tut, Boomp tup
Stop heart, stop!

I am not afraid!
   But my mind knows I am.

I am not scared!
   But my legs are stiff.

I have courage!
   Maybe not.

Footsteps thunder,
Thump,
Kdump tump.

Floorboards squeak,
Screech, Scowl, Scream.

Door opens,
And a face peers out,
Smiling,
Smiling?

The voice echos,
Calls out
My name.

Nervous.
Breathe!
I float into the room,
Unpack instrument.

Pencils scribble,
Scritch, Scratch, Scramble.
Fill out my name.

My ears go wrong.
Maximize the sound.

Legs Wobble, Hobble, Bobble.

But then ... ...
   I play, everything
   melts away!
   only one
   word is in
   my mind:
   music!

Catal Huyuk

   This is a comic I made about Catal huyuk.  Catal Huyuk was the first place that humans settled down and farmed. They learned how to domesticate animals and plant.  They also made buildings out of mud brick.  These buildings didn't have doors. They were entered at the top. They traded with products.  This settlement was not yet a civilization.  There are artisans (People who specialized in making a certain product by hand.)  They also had priests and worshiped more than one god in shrines.

Enjoy!

The Crocodile

One fresh night I walked over to the pond
Where daddy built his cabin.
The crickets sang their eerie song
And silence filled the air.

Grass and weeds gave off their scents.
The trees hung their heads down low to
Sleep with the ducks.
The water is flat and rippleless.

The foghorn sounded giving off lonely feelings.
But then … the air got tense.
Everything stirred.
The trees lifted up their heads- alert.
I tasted the sharp pang of danger.

SQUACK! Squack! SQUACK!

The silence exploded!
My heart beat faster and faster.
It felt like it was going to jump out of my throat.
Ducks flew out of the pond in every direction.
The wind seemed to howl.

I quickly turned around to see what had caused the commotion.
There it lay…behind rows of yellow grass.
Its snakelike eyes gazed through blankets of darkness.
Its mouth was clamped around the neck of
A limp goose.

It proudly swam away.
But its scaly body left and imprint of wonder and disbelief.

The night was once again silent…
But I?
I was silent no more.

Arnold Arboretum

Last Saturday, I went to Harvard Arnold Arboretum. I had lots of fun there. I learned about the Black Walnuts and I participated in an activity called letter-boxing.

Did you know that black walnuts were once widely used as writing ink? To make black walnut ink find some black walnuts that have already started rotting. When black walnuts rot, they turn dark brown. put these walnuts in water. Leave them there for one day. The water will turn very dark. Boil this water and you will have ink!

Do you know what some people do when they see a healthy and mature walnut tree? They pull it out and sell it! Some black walnut trees have sold for 5 thousand or more dollars! Why do they sell so well? Walnut trees have an unique and beautiful original color.

This is what the black walnut looks like when it just falls to the ground. (These things are hard! Make sure one doesn't fall on you![laugh!] )


These are what the Black Walnuts look like when they are starting to rot. Many nuts we eat are part of the walnut family called Juglandaceae in Latin. The black walnut is called Juglans Nigra in Latin.


This walnut tree was struck by lightning. You can tell.


This is a grove of six walnut trees. Five of these were started from seed in 1874.

Arnold arboretum also is a great place to explore nature and have a picnic. You should go there as well!

The deCordova Sculpture Park

We went to the deCordova sculpture park. the sculptures there were very interesting.







This sculpture was made from a tire. I will always be amazed by that.



I thought this one looked a little disgusting. But someone else said that it was interesting and beautiful.

Unnecessary and Necessary Lies

Sometimes I wonder, "Is there such a thing as an necessary lie?"

Most parents and teachers I know say that it is never good to lie. But when you start thinking about this concept you realize that maybe a lie could be useful. For example, If you were fighting in a war and got held as a prisoner, to escape the country you would need to lie.

So I suppose that another question this question raises is, "If there are such things as unnecessary and necessary lies, then when would the lie be considered necessary or unnecessary?"

I think that this is a very interesting topic.

Plot or go for it?

One day I was wondering- if you were to write a book would you first plot the events or just start writing? I personally think it depends on what kind of book you want to write. I also think it depends on your individual writing voice.

I also started wondering- do people who plot plot in daily life and do people who go for it go for it in daily life?

Suprise in Front of the Vending Machine

Lately, my school has been having a can drive. A can drive is when you collect cans for recepts. The team with the most money wins.

My parents and I looked around for cans everywhere.

One day I went to my music school. I was going to have a rehearsal.When I saw the box in front of the vending machine, "Waza!" right in front of us was a pile of untidy, empty, fabulous cans! My mom and I immediately asked the person at the front desk if we could take them. The person at the front desk said that she didn't know. So the person at the front desk asked another worker. The worker said, "Yes!" So my mom and I got the cans.

Berry Sue and her Fox

There once was a girl. She went by the name Berry Sue.

One day in art class she made a paper mache fox. Little Berry Sue was very proud of her creation. Before she went home that day her classmates told her that her fox looked like a cat. Berry Sue thought that they were joking. When she got home her mom said, "What an adorable little cat!" Berry Sue got very mad. She still thought everyone was playing a trick on her.

From that day on, Berry Sue would not accept any criticism. So she always stayed at the same level at everything she did.

Cod Fish

The cod fish has been the state fish of Massachusetts for 200 years. If you look around Massachusetts you will find the decorations using codfish in many places.

In one period of time, this species of fish almost got wiped out. The Vikings fished for the cod in Massachusetts. They used the codfish and dried it to make food. This way the codfish wouldn’t spoil, and the Vikings could go on longer journeys. A group of people named the Basques used the codfish as well for the same purpose except for the fact that the Basques added salt to the Vikings’ recipe. Since the Basques added salt, they could travel to hot places without spoiling the fish. The codfish was plentiful at that time. John Cabot reported that the water was so thick with codfish that they only had to dip baskets in the water to scoop them out. The cod also helped the New England colonies to survive and thrive because they could use it as fertilizer, eat it, and sell it. Cod also had an important role in the triangular trade routes and slave trade. New England exported high quality salted cod to Europe. New England exported low quality salted cod to the Caribbean where the slaves working there were forced to make sugar which was made into molasses. Boston merchants bought the molasses and out of that they made rum. Then, the rum produced in Boston was sold in other parts of America and Africa. In Africa, the rum was traded for enslaved people. The enslaved people were brought to the Caribbean to work. But then, technology in the 1800s and the 1900s affected the cod. People made fishing lines with many many hooks, and created boats that could go faster with bigger nets. Soon there was less cod. This was bad. As the cod grew scarcer, people fished more and more. Soon the cod could not be “scooped out of the water in baskets.” And if the cod dies out, what will happen to the fish that the cod eat and the fish that eat the cod? What will happen to the cod’s food web and the cod’s history?

I made my fish jumping because I didn’t want the cod to wander on the bottom of the sea hiding from nets any more. I wanted people to know that in my picture a border of humans did not surround the trapped cods. This picture represented a world that I wanted all codfish and maybe all fish to be in.

No longer hiding. Finally free.

Berry Sue's Brother and the BELL

(A Chinese tale retold)

There once was a man who loved to take a little something he liked here, and a little something he liked there. He might take a gift card with a decoration he liked while visiting a friend's house, or cut himself a little piece of chocolate cake when there was a birthday party going on in the bowling alley down the street. Anyway, you get the point.

One day he was taking an afternoon walk, strolling around, in the neighborhood and he heard something jingle in the wind.

" Ah... what a nice sound!" he thought.

The man followed the sound and soon came across a house with a bell dangling from a nail right above the door.

"Oh, how beautiful that bell is, and what a melancholy sound it makes!" He said aloud. The man felt eager greediness rise up through his body and sway in his throat.

"I could just take the bell. It is just a little tiny thing! It would be worth it. Right?" the man asked himself. He made up his mind and went home. Not to get ready for dinner, but to get ready for his midnight bell robbery.

At night, the man tiptoed through the stillness of the neighborhood. This night was a perfect night! There was absolutely no wind, unlike the afternoon. He soon found the house he was looking for, the house with the wooden stairs and porch. The man slowly climbed up the stairs to the door and placed his feet gently on top of the welcome mat. The moonlight settled atop the bell and gave it an eerie glow.

Right before he plucked the bell from its nail, he suddenly realized something, "since it is such a silent night, if I take the bell, it ought to make a noise! Then the people in this house will discover me! What am I going to do?"

The man took a while to think. "Ding!" He thought of an idea! The man took out his pocket notebook and ripped two pages out. (by the way, he stole this notebook!) Then he scrunched each entry into a ball. The man stuffed one ball into each ear using his paper inventions as earplugs.

"Now nobody will hear my bell!" He thought, "I can't even hear myself!"

Bliss, the man plucked the bell off of the nail. It jingled very loudly. Not realizing his foolish mistake, the man got caught.

You might think this man's mistake was very obvious, but if you pay attention closely, many of these mistakes happen in the world around you!

Old Friends

Friends
old friends
did they Forget me!?

Times
good times
do they Remember!?

Gone
so gone
Forever!?

Pi (a funny poem)

I can square pi
in the blink of an eye!
Said one smart guy
under the bright blue sky

Me too!
said a guy with one shoe
that was blue
he said he could do it before you said moo

The smart guy scribbled furiously nonstop
The other went chop chop chop

the guy with one shoe
threw his answer before you could say moo

it landed on the smart guy's face
leaving a trace

that is why
we put an 'e' at the end of pi!

Snowy Street

Gold street lamps glowed

Downy flakes swept with the wind

Footprints disappear

Creativity Gives Us Wings

Creativity shapes the world,
Giving us wings.

If there is no creativity,
The world is a barren field without color.

Raccoon

I called this one "The gaze".

Timothy Basil Ering

Last Friday, an illustrator named Timothy Basil Ering came to our school. He showed us how he became an illustrator starting from when he was 1 year old! He said he drew everywhere. He told us that he even drew on his homework then quickly added that he still paid attention in class.

After a while he started telling us about the books he made and illustrated. I was surprised at how much an illustrator payed attention to the world and the things that are going on. I think a very funny thing happened in his presentation. He showed us his first detailed sketch of Despereaux and everybody went "aaaaaaawwwwwnn" with admiaration for the cute and adorable little mousy and Timothy Basil Erring said,"Every time! The same reaction! I can remember the pitch and tone of that sound! Every time!" In the background. Some of the kids and teachers started laughing. But, I have to admit, that Despereaux was cute! He was fluffy and looked so shy! When Timothy was done with presentation we had a raffle. Two people won and they both got a free book with Timothy Basil Erring's signature.

I can tell that Timothy is a nice guy and I hope he enjoyed his visit. I certainly DID!!!

The Raining of Leaves

When the wind blows
it rains
Not cold droplets
Not gray beads
It rains
colors
mighty leaves

When the wind blows
it rains
The skies are clear
The birds still fly
It rains
fire
burning near

When the wind blows
it rains
The roads are dry
The cars are dull
It rains
Autumn
rustle,
sigh.

Snow

Flowers were falling from the sky
So delicate, so soft, so bright,
Is this a gift
From heaven?

I took a walk on the snowy path
Snowflakes were whispering
to the trees
I stopped, listening.