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.