Issue No. 1 Fall 2012 Editorial Board In-Kyu Chung Irisdelia Garcia Justin Hung Evangeline Warren Vivian Xiao Club Advisor Mr. Marchant Layout & Art Director Vivian Xiao Contributing Helen Shapiro-Albert Writers In-Kyu Chung Irisdelia Garcia Justin Hung Stanislav Novoselski Evangeline Warren Vivian Xiao Special Thanks To Terri Moore Maisie Bull
Digital copy free. Printed copy $5 (shipping fee not included). Please visit our Issuu page for more information about ordering. Email: inkredible@hotchkiss.org Facebook: facebook.com/inkrediblehotchkiss Issuu: issuu.com/inkredible Front Cover Design ‘Create, Share, Inspire’ by Vivian Xiao
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The INKredible magazine is a publication dedicated to sharing and discussing The arts at hotchkiss. Our goal is to showcase the artistic talent and incredible creations of the Hotchkiss community. We focus on inspiration. We hope to celebrate the amazing artistic potential of our community, and broaden the artistic horizons to other people in the community. We are devoted to our motto: To “Create, Share, Inspire�. As this is our first publication, we are proud to present our initial collection of articles, all of which have been carefully crafted and selected to inspire you. We do hope that you will enjoy this and wish that you share your artistic journey with us. We will be recruiting more members for the next issue, so if you have any interest in the arts, writing, photography or layout, please contact us! All the best, - The INKredible Team
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table of contents
04 HOTCHKISS ARTS BY THE NUMBERS 06 TERRI MOORE 14 NANOWRIMO 16 13 THINGS TEACHERS WANT TO SEE IN YOUR ESSAY 18 SPOONS IN THE RIVER 20 FREE SPEECH: THE BEAUTY OF DANA DORM 22 THE PROCESS OF A WRITER 26 INTERVIEW WITH MAISIE BULL 28 BOOK REVIEW: A GAME OF THRONES 30 BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL 31 guess the movie 32 how to get involved
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Hotchkiss arts
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by the numbers
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Terri Moore TEACHER, ARTIST, & PERFORMER By Vivian Xiao Many may know Ms. Moore as an art teacher at Hotchkiss, but few have ventured into her own art studio, or seen her breath fire at a gig. In this article, we get an inside look at work that Ms. Moore does as an artist and performer.
The Swarm Ms. Moore began working on her swarm series in 2008. This series includes drawings, paintings and sculptural projects. “It started out as just a side project,” said Ms. Moore, “but then I couldn’t’ let it go and kept coming back to it.” She was inspired by the experience of a biking trip on a stormy day. “The wind came down and the rain was shooting in my face. I kept pedaling and pedaling to get away from the storm – then I hit a mud puddle. It was a movie-like, slow motion moment: the mud puddle flew up into the sky around me, and at the same time I was going underneath two trees, so a swarm of red wing blackbirds flew up with the water. All of sudden the birds came together and circled into a giant ball in the air. I went home and I knew I had to make a painting about it. That started the swarm series.” Ms. Moore began her project by researching swarms. She read articles, looked at photos, and watched videos of starling swarms. “As they move through the air they’re morphing in and out, creating these incredible shapes. They all stick together because that way, it’s hard for predators to focus on just one of them. It’s all driven by a vector point; each starling responds to the seven around it.” After doing some ink studies, Ms. Moore became interested in the design aspect of the swarms, and started to use spirographs in her studies. “Based on the symmetry and design of the spirographs, I create a swarm that embodies the same direction and overlap. These designs then inform more abstract swarms, where I’ll just follow my instinct and go with a shape based on what I know already.”
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The swarm series then evolved into a sculptural project. “I took squares of silk and sewed them into shapes of birds based on the abstract shapes in my paintings. Once I did a couple hundred of those, dipped them in wax, then strung each one individually onto a wire frame. I recreated the painting in a sculptural swarm. After making the sculpture I wanted to do more work with the painting, so my painting started to be informed by the sculpture, so the two crossed over. My intention was to display the sculpture on the wall and play around with shadows, but I ended up hanging it in front of the swarm painting. This created a depth of field, and the relation worked.” Left (above): Ms. Moore’s swarm sculpture and painting on display in the Tremaine Gallery. Left (below): A study painting in preparation for the swarm series. Above: Front view of the installation of Ms. Moore’s swarm sculpture hanging in front of her painting.
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Circle Series Ms. Moore is also working on a series of circle paintings. The circle series is about the conscious and subconscious, or the alter ego. “I started working in the split format, what’s above and below. It’s about the concept of positive and negative; the dichotomy of two things that relate but are different.” This series involves a lot of experimentation. “I have to really let go with these paintings. Sometimes a circle will be so sublime and beautiful that I have to tell myself that this is it, and I have to be subtle about working with it. Sometimes the bottom is perfect
but the top needs more work. With some other pieces, I’m working and working on it, but it just doesn’t click, so I have to try something different. I play around with how much I mix the different oils, or how wet or dry I leave the paint. Some of these paintings have from 50 to 100 layers.” The dichotomist expression of the circle series also relates well to Ms. Moore as an artist. “I have two sides: on one side I love being big and lose with my mark, throwing layers of paint around; on the other side I need to be in a structured place doing repetitive, meticulous work in a cycle. It’s like a performance, it’s like a dance. There’s something about the
Ms. Moore keeps an altar in her studio with all the things that are ‘in her world’, or things that inspire her. “I’ve collected these through the years,” she explains. “This is where everything in my work is coming from, its source.”
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rhythm of the work that adds solidity, which gives me the basis to be lose and free. Every day I’ll sit down to do some technical, detailed drawing, so that I’m connecting my eyes with my hand. Then that detailed drawing will be inside me to inform my abstract work.” Ms. Moore has to put on a different persona when working in her studio. “To do this expressive work, you have to get rid of that normal stuff you wear when you’re dealing with people in the world. You have to take off that mask and armor, and become vulnerable.” As a science major in college, Ms. Moore is influenced by the idea that everything is made of charged space and things spinning around it. At a micro level, everything is made up of atoms which have a charged nucleus at the center with electrons spinning around on the outside. At a macro level, everything in the universe is spinning too. Moons spin around planets, and the planets are spinning on their own axis, and at the same time, the planets are cycling around the sun. “All of this spinning is affecting us,” says Ms. Moore, “and that has to come out of me. To me, that’s connecting to the purest form of nature. It’s all about the spin, the gestural movement.” Her work in the swarm and circle series all portray the gesture and movement of circular patterns and spinning. “This is all a body of work. It evolves. There’s a natural progression, a lot of transitions. I’m always exploring. I know that there’s a relationship with the swarm series and the circle series; one is informing the other.”
“It’s like a performance, it’s like a dance. There’s something about the rhythm of the work that adds solidity, which gives me the basis to be lose and free.”
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fashion & Performance
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Outside of Hotchkiss and her studio, Ms. Moore is a performer. She loves dressing up in costumes and playing fantastical, Cirque du Solei style characters - usually high up on stilts. “That’s what’s fun about performing, when you have a new idea and you formulate a character.” Performances and gigs include juggling, fire breathing, and many fun and crazy things. “I mostly do atmosphere,” says Ms. Moore, “I walk around in my costume and character. I move within a crowd and engage with people. It’s about getting people to play and interact.”
Ms. Moore enjoys helping out at community or charity events, where people don’t come into contact with circus performance as much. “More community based work pays a lot less but is more satisfying. You feel like you’re doing service, you’re doing good work in the world. Spiritually, emotionally, and integrally, I feel good about doing that work.” Apart from playing characters, Ms. Moore is also a fire breather and dancer. She dances with spinning poi’s set on fire. “I make patterns, play around with the imagery, move in space. My body is the nucleus of the spin. As I’ve gotten to know the poi and how I move, I’m responding and dancing – I’m in the gesture, I’m in the movement.”
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“When you’re running from one thing to the other, always thinking of where you came from or where you’re going, you rush through what you’re supposed to be doing in the moment, and you’re never present. I just want to be present.” 12 | INK! FALL 2012
As an independent artist, teacher and performer, Ms. Moore has to juggle a lot of activities with her limited amount of time. “When I’m in the studio and I’m really connecting with process, I want more time to work. It’s hard to manage my time. At school, I also want to do everything, but I need to pull back. Or sometimes I want to go do a performance on the weekend, but I only have certain amount of time.” Ms. Moore tries to manage the activities in her life to spin around the core of who she is as an artist. “What I’m teaching is what I believe in, and it’s useful for my work in the studio because I learn from students a lot. Performing at gigs gives me a nice, silly
place to go and be crazy. It also allows me to be creative when I’m coming up with new characters. I also keep Sunday mornings for relaxation: I drink coffee in bed, and give myself about two hours to check all my art, design and fashion blogs.” Ms. Moore also spends a large portion of her time gardening. “When you’re feeling overwhelmed by not having enough time, working in the garden is a really grounding thing: pulling weeds, cultivating, splitting plants, and eating out of the garden. When you’re running from one thing to the other, always thinking of where you came from or where you’re going, you rush through what you’re supposed to be doing in the moment, and you’re never present. I just want to be present.”
One of Ms. Moore’s characters was a Chicken Fairy. “I found white and puffy dress from a thrift shop, big white pants with fake fur on the bottom, lots of pearl jewelry and bling, and a big Glinda crown. I covered my face with silver makeup and white lips with glitter sparkles on it. But then I found my chicken puppet – it’s a hat but it’s also a puppet. I put I little crown on the puppet and I interacted with people with it
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November is a beautiful month, especially its name and the many wonders it entails. Swimming season begins, snow starts to fall (hopefully), and we all feel just a little closer to the winter holidays. But wait. It gets better. Enter NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, the greatest mad dash of writing known to mankind, in which all participants write a full-length novel of 50,000 words in 30 days (that’s about 1667 words per day for a month). Although this seems an impossible task, especially given our busy Hotchkiss lives, two Hotchkiss students participated in (and won) NaNo ‘11. Here’s a quick interview with Justin Hung ‘14 and Evangeline Warren ‘14 about their time consuming but, ultimately, rewarding experience. They will both be participating in NaNoWriMo ‘12 this coming November.
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What did you write for last year’s competition? Justin: I wrote a fantasy young adult fiction story: Paradigm: Eden’s End. Not my proudest piece of work, but it jump-started my incentive to write novels. I won’t be releasing this novel; it is simply the basis of the universe that I’ve created.... Though I might release it in the far future.
Eva: I, too, wrote a fantasy young adult fiction story with mine titled The Rise of the Phoenix. It has yet to be finished, weighing in at 57,000 words at this point, but will hopefully be finished by the time November rolls around so that I can begin the sequel.
Did you plan out how you would write your novel? Justin: Not really. My main concern was the 50,000 words within the 31 days. Given 31 days, I thought it would be challenging to lay out an elaborate strategy. As good ol’ Stark says “I have a plan of attack: Attack.”
Eva: I was originally going to write a futuristic fiction novel based on the challenges faced by religious people in a completely secular society... But for a number of reasons, I realized I had no idea what I was talking about.... Around 500 words in, I bailed and went with The Rise of the Phoenix, which I had written an introduction for over the summer. I also had a bit of an outline. Technically, NaNo rules dictate that no planning is allowed, but there is a healthy community of rebels on their forums, so I was right at home.
How did you manage to write so many words in one month? Justin: You know what? I’m not so sure either. I guess I just let my hands do the work... And the superfluous amounts of caffeine in my system.
Eva: Beside going to bed at five in the morning and waking up at eight? I’m not clear...That last week was a blur, but it was worth it.
When did you find time to write? Justin: I devoted some of what was usually homework time for NaNo. I also withdrew from my video gaming habit. I spent most of my time during Thanksgiving break writing, actually. Even missed a date because I wrote too much. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, having stood the girl up and dealt with the devastating frustration in the form of a bottle of water being thrown at me, but in the end, at least I got a novel written up.
Eva: Between Forum (last year’s fall musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), a full course load and who knows what else? I have no idea... I definitely worked hard over Thanksgiving break, writing, on average, five thousand words on the days that I wrote. If you look at the little graph marking my progress, my words per day appears to be exponentially growing towards the end!
Do you have advice for the people who might be participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time? Justin: Keep cool and stay away from video games. You’ll want avoid things that keep you occupied for long stretches of time. If you can, stay in touch with the others who are also doing NaNo; they can help you in surprising ways. Eva actually had me going to a plot line that I’d never thought of, which turned out to be brilliant. Drink lots of coffee, eat loads of food, and never stop writing.
Eva: Definitely plug yourself into the forums on the NaNoWriMo site... The people all understand your metaphorical pain and are able to relate... Even better, find someone in real life who can work with you. They can encourage you and keep you on track as you do the same for them... I’ll always remember being in the Dining Hall that last day in November, having Justin sitting next to me as I typed up my last hundred or so words. You’d be surprised at how many people there are who are doing this with you. Some make it, and some don’t, but they all get it. What are you planning to write for this year’s NaNoWriMo? Justin: This year, I’ll be writing my first official novel, Paradigm: Rehabilitation, a dark and gritty reality filled with emotions and characters with profiles that many can relate to. It won’t be focused on fantasy, but the idea is to let you see yourself in this book which should be quite interesting.
Eva: As I mentioned previously, I’ll be working on the sequel to The Rise of the Phoenix: The Flight of the Phoenix. It starts immediately after the end RotP and involves everything that’s fun in a fantasy novel: foreign lands (and languages), swashbuckling pirates, magic, and sword fights. I have yet to decide on whether or not to include dragons... If you have any questions about the NaNoWriMo experience, feel free to contact either Justin (jhung@hotchkiss.org) or Eva (ewarren@hotchkiss.org). INKredible will be hosting a little NaNoWriMo subgroup campus, as well as a writing marathon towards the end of November.
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2 OWN IT By Justin Hung Many of us find the tediousness of tests, exhibits, performances, competitions, or analytical deduction overwhelming. But everyone agrees that there is one thing that challenges every student: Essays. English essays, history essays, philosophy essays, foreign language essays, and even art evaluation essays... the list goes on. These essays often consume more time than anyone could anticipate. Those miniscule details that we miss here and there often cost us most of our points. We all develop strategies to write good essays, but which details should we be paying the most attention to? Several teachers have generously given us their list of the top 10 things they want to see on their students’ essays.
1 PROOFREAD Give an effort to proofread! You would be surprised to know how lazy some students can become. They refuse to put in that extra work. Unfortunately, there are some things you can’t change after you’ve made the mistake. Who knows? Just an extra five minutes could be the difference between a B+ and an A-.
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Some students often forget to put their names on their papers, let alone a title or a heading that indicates what the essay is about. It’s an organization issue at it’s worst. Show that you care and put a little effort into making your teacher’s life easier. Besides, how can he or she give you a grade if they don’t know which paper is yours?
3 FORMAL LANGUAGE No Slang. Don’t get me wrong, slang’s nice and all when it comes to informal conversation or articles. But they call it formal writing for a reason, and the integration of slang lowers the degree of professionalism significantly, with tragic results to follow.
4 NUMBERS Spell out the numbers! While simply typing in the numbers appears to be sufficient and easier than spelling out a number, there exists a grammar rule for you to spell the numbers out unless the number is greater than ten. Also, if a sentence starts with a number, that number should be spelled out.
5 THIRD PERSON Avoid first or second person unless you’re writing a creative or autobiographical piece. Using first or second person tends to revert any seriousness exercised on your essay. In fact, it renders any future Declaration of Independence into a diary entry. Not that a diary entry is horrible, but it just doesn’t quite get the job done as an essay would. Nobody owns much interest for personal lives and tales with respect to analytical writing, lest they be truly... strange.
6 PRESENT TENSE Use Present tense when referring to the content and context of literature. As the old saying goes, “literature is timeless”. Literary analysts and teachers alike opt to keep the philosophy alive. This, in part, can be very true, as the story unfolds before your eyes and not before you read it. Plus, it makes your essay more lively and not just a lecture of your postulates.
7 MODIFIERS We often accidentally place a modifier in a wrong place, making the sentence a little awkward to read aloud. It’s a dumb mistake that people make, including myself, that can be easily avoided. To be fair, it takes a sharp eye to notice the error in the first place. Or a trained mind that never prompts you to make the mistake in the first place.
8 VOICE Passive voice should be avoided in formal essays. Statements should be succinct and cogent to provide an easier task for the reader. The ready should understand what you mean without becoming confused by the overabundance of vague, passive voice. However, passive voice can be effective in creative works when writing from a perspective of a timid character.
9 BE SPECIFIC Be specific when referencing any item in question. Writing the words “this” or “that” are great ways to be lazy when it comes down to referencing to any previously presented things. Perhaps the purpose of alluding to “this” and “that” is indeed to write without having the cumbersome duty of rewriting the name of the item in question. Even then, people often misuse “this” and “that”, leading readers to drown in confusion of what he or she might be referring to!
10 FONT SIZE Many teachers have said that students use a relatively small size for their writing. Most of us know why. Restrict yourself to a font that you can read from about twice the distance from your thumb to your pinky — preferably size 11 or 12.
11 QUOTATIONS Only integrate quotations when necessary. Teachers would find compact, straightforward, and bare textual evidence along with an explanation more useful than the bulk of a paragraph from the book.
12 LESS IS MORE While speaking in a very verbose and scholastic manner can be tempting, it generally isn’t a good idea. This makes people go over the page limit, and stops them from simply expressing their opinion.
13 “TO BE” Refrain from using any form of the verb “to be”, including ‘is’, ‘was’, ‘were’, and so on. Granted, this task is difficult (see?). Stronger and active verbs make the essay more engaging. After all, variety is the spice of life (there goes the “to be” thing again).
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Spoons in the river By Irisdelia Garcia When I first auditioned for Spoon River, I was skeptical as to how successful the show would be. Maybe it was Mr. Faison’s relaxed composure in contrast to the usual (and hectic) “method-in-the-madness” style of the theatre department. Or maybe it was the fact that all who auditioned were given a role to play. Or maybe it was because it wasn’t exactly a play. Actually, it wasn’t a play at all. Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters is a collection of poems based on a fictional town in Illinois. “Spoon River” is a reflection of Masters’ old hometown, containing short poems which meditate on all the townspeople, the righteous, the sinful, the happy, the depressed, and all the denizens in those gray areas in-between. The original anthology is made of 244 poems, all telling individual and specific stories. We, the characters, speak from the grave. What we say is real, true, and honest, since we have all passed away.
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We aren’t afraid to speak our mind and to shout at the society that has either shunned or embraced us. When I found out that Mr. Faison adapted the show from excerpts of the original work, I was worried that the truth that rings so loudly in these poems could not get through the novice performers that auditioned on a whim. These poems? Into a play? I knew Mr. Faison toppled back and forth on the line of insanity, but what was he up to this time? Throughout a month, we all worked…separately. Involved in the theatre program of Hotchkiss, I was surprised. I was so used to group rehearsals that I was caught off-guard to find Mr. Faison and two out of the sixteen other cast members present. What was going on? I was just so confused. We received our assigned monologues and worked with at first a low time commitment. We had no set date for “off-book,” since all of us were at such different levels of acting and memorization skills. It was odd. It was strange.
Photos by Megan Tung
By production week, we were having full-cast rehearsals with Mr. Faison. He was calm, but sometimes the excitement of the literature would get to him. We didn’t understand what exactly he wanted from us, and this was no ordinary convention of directing. However, we powered through, trying to figure out who exactly we were. But then again, this was no conventional play. By opening night, the nerves kicked in. I have honestly never been so nervous for a show before. I didn’t feel prepared. I didn’t feel proud of this show. I didn’t feel positive for Spoon River because of my lack of understanding for the eccentric way Mr. Faison handled things. I felt new to the theatre. I felt like a prep again, waiting for my entrance. So, it was indeed a new experience for me. I thought I’d been seasoned enough with a variety of styles amongst the department. However, being in such a play has brought me to terms with the lack of experience I have and the skills I have yet to acquire. We managed, as a cast in the process of learning, to put
on a show that was unlike any play I’ve seen here in a long time. And we all ended up shining, knowing the unlikely difficulty of setting up this show. Speaking of which… The cool thing about spoons, funny enough, is that they come in such a variety. You have everything from your silver spoons, your knockoffs, and your good ol’ plastic ones. Now, if you throw a bunch in a river, some spoons may flow steadily down the river, never to be seen again. Some of those knockoffs may erode to show their true form, their true forms not being the most pleasing sights. And then, you have those pretty, polished silver spoons that shimmer from the bottom of the river, waiting to be discovered. We weren’t a play. We were a moving current washing away the drama and giving you, the audience, the reality of people, their lives, and their deaths. And in the end, we were Spoon River.
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In INKredible, students can anonymously voice their opinions on just about anything at Hotchkiss through the Free Speech section. It can be any form of writing—article, diary, essay, short blurb, even poetry—and may be sent to INKredible@ hotchkiss.org. Although all published pieces will be anonymous, sometimes, in the face of judgment and gossip, valuable opinions will go unheard. Please understand that not everything submitted will necessarily be published.
The Beauty of Dana Dorm No, it wasn’t a container box; it really was a dormitory. Inside the yellow boxy building were rows of little prison cells, which also happened to be our rooms. But once the minor confusion passed, I came to appreciate the true underlying beauty of Dana Dorm; after all, the really important things are always harder to find. One of the common uneducated grievances about Dana dormitory is the long walk to school it necessitates. I fail to comprehend the logic behind this complaint. We must understand, our education at Hotchkiss is not just about learning how to read literature and solve calculus problems. We must learn to synchronize with nature— and what better place to start than the only student residence with a direct view of the lake! Students in the other dorms, mindless slaves of the clock, start their mornings by hastily packing their textbooks and clum-
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sily running towards the main building, all the while desperately searching for the community bike that’s never there. But I start my day by walking that long path, staring down upon the glimmering surface of the lake, appreciating its sublime beauty. Then I am able to turn my eyes upon myself, and recognize that I am but a dot in this vast universe, a daily epiphany upon which I cannot help but cry in blissful happiness. It did not take me long to realize that the slightly secluded location of Dana dorm was a Daoist architectural choice that attempts to portray the ineffable harmony between nature and humans. To me, it even appears to have a touch of Emerson’s transcendentalism; what realization could possibly surpass the revelation that meets me during the minutes of solitude as I walk to school? It is indeed a worthy selfdiscovery, valuable enough to allow me to “transcend” the daily tardy.
What of the marvelous, cozy rooms? Too often people ignorantly underestimate the hidden value of Dana rooms and even dare to go so far as to say such unorthodox things as “Rooms in Dana suck!” Big nono. I can’t begin to tell you how they don’t. First consider the shape of a Dana room. That’s right, it’s a square. All the other dormitory rooms? Dull, unlikable, aesthetically unpleasing rectangles. Dana dorm was designed for the Hotchkiss man—intellectual and willing to take on challenges, yet always chased by the merciless humdrum of busy schedules. In case you had not realized, the matching length and width of a Dana room represent the peaceful balance between Yin and Yang, an essential condition of inner peace. The energy emanating from the walls of this old building helps students sort out their thoughts and fully concentrate on the work
that I’m sure they always will have on their desks. In other dorms, the imbalance caused by the rectangular shape of the room seems to have a devastating effect on multiple aspects of students’ lives; an anonymous source complains, “I can just feel my mind conforming to the ugly quadrilateral; last night, the ‘Yin’ inside me was so much stronger than the ‘Yang’ that I could not sleep until four in the morning. Guess what happened to my math test?” The student sighed deeply, glaring at the walls of his room with eyes full of hatred. “I rocked a C-.” But that’s not all. A Dana room also has the upper hand in its magnificent size. The ignorant mind might wonder how in the world “magnificent” and “Dana room” can fit in one sentence. What goes unnoticed by the hoi polloi, though, is that while the physical size of
a Dana room may not be too spacious, its philosophical implications are indeed magnificent. Upon stepping into one of the seemingly dingy rooms, can one not smell the fragrance of Zen minimalism from nineteenth century Japan? How can one not stand slack-jawed, in speechless admiration of not only what is present—but also what is lacking? Whenever a friend of mine carelessly blurts out, “Your room is so tiny,” I respond patiently, “But your room doesn’t embody the universal simplicity and moral perception that probes the truth of nature so elegantly embodied in the sand garden of Ryoanji temple. Good luck getting over that.”
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Photos by Vivian Xiao
THE PROCESS OF A WRITER Mrs. Kinsolving’s Creative Writing classes ventured up to the Hotchkiss Farm to receive inspiration. They were then instructed to write about how they created their pieces. What follows below are excerpts from those essays on process.
To be perfectly honest, it was the tomato that caught my attention first, a flash of red drawing my distracted mind towards it. The tomato presented a challenge, one that, if overcome, would vastly improve my writing. One of the most frequent critiques that I receive of my writing is that it lacks description. Therefore, I took the tomato and I described it. Realizing that there was still time to describe it more, I then described its descent into the hand of a small child. From there, I added to the whimsical scene, adding a mother and context. Finally, when my easily sidetracked mind noticed an orange leaf, I decided that it was time to end the vignette by bringing it full circle and describing the harvesting of a carrot. For me, writing is a completely focused activity. Once I place my hands on a keyboard, the world fades away leaving me with my characters. This time, however, was different. Instead of simply hovering in dreamlike state, I was aware at all times of what was going on 22 | INK! FALL 2012
around me. Perhaps this was due to the novelty of the location and the easy distraction that it offered. My preferred genre is generally High Fantasy and writing about a tomato had nothing to do with magic, sword fights or dragons. I had to struggle with the urge to have the tomato spontaneously combust or have the small child charm the tomato into the air. This could have easily led to more brainpower being exerted on restraining my ideas than on the act of focusing. It is very possible that simply letting my imagination run wild would have led to a very interesting story, but the goal that I worked towards instead helped me with a skill that is lacking within me. Now, I have the ability to describe a tomato a multitude of ways without even using the word tomato, something that will benefit me when trying to describe the exact hue of a dragon’s scales or the speed with which a sword slices through the air. - Evangeline Warren ‘14
I started my mini farm expedition as a detective—I was on a mission to search for interesting things. Exactly what, I didn’t know, but I knew the silent walk and solitary reverie were meant to be the foreplay of a written piece, in much the same way that a detective collects evidence before solving a crime. But the Fairfield Farm is vast. I had way too many colors on my palette—which do I choose? Where would be suitable for my purposeful daydreaming? Should I sit down in the middle of the ground and study the grass? Or perhaps, I could lean against a willow tree and feel the cool shade. Alternatively, I could taste the greenhouse cherry tomatoes or observe the noisy pigs. The watch on my wrist seemed to nudge the detective in me. “Hey, don’t try to pick the right evidence! Choose anything you see and make it the right evidence. You don’t have all day to find ideas and write up a story!” Eager to get something out of this huge treasury of fresh topics and inspirations, I rather hastily marched over to a boulder lying by the kale patch, sat down on it, and started searching for literary topics. There were many beautiful sights before my eyes—the yellow green range of hills in the far background, rows and rows of kale to my right, and a vast field of tall grass that swayed with the gentlest breeze. Particularly engaging was the crystal blue lake lying at the foot of the hills far away. My view partially eclipsed by the distant trees, I could not see the whole body of water, but a glimpse at its surface shimmering like diamond told me that place would definitely give me ideas. The only discouragement, of course, was the long walk. I could very well stay here by this tree and find meaning in—or rather, impose meaning upon—the things around me. I stared down at the golden grass. As clouds passed overhead, its color changed to a darker green. I scrib-
“Particularly engaging was the crystal blue lake lying at the foot of the hills far away. My view partially eclipsed by the distant trees, I could not see the whole body of water, but a glimpse at its surface shimmering like diamond told me that place would definitely give me ideas.” FALL FALL2012 2012INK! INK!||23 23
“Nature didn’t conjure up wanted ideas at a writer’s will; it was the opposite. Magic approaches you before you know it, and you just have to notice it at the right time.” bled down on my notebook, “Can never tell the true color of grass.” I could easily cook up a story about the versatility of identities or the pretentious masquerade of our world. I turned around to view the tree. I could just as easily produce poetry on trees—its shade, its stationery position, or its resilience. I wrote them all down. But something did not feel satisfactory. I looked at the lake once more; the glistening water was alluring and promising. Before I knew it, I was walking down the long path leading towards the lake. Now I had a set goal in my mind: the lake, the lake, the lake. It seemed to offer me a vague promise, that I would magically grow ideas in my head once I arrived there. Feeling rather proud of myself for not catering to the trivial subjects—after all, writing about grass and a tree at such a humongous farm seemed like an awful waste of space and resources—I hastily marched down the grassy path. Along the way, I passed a couple of my classmates, standing dead still and taking notes on something only they could see. I felt a little hurried, but I reassured myself: the lake was the treasury. It would provide me with everything. I quickened my steps. I had to come to a dead halt, however, upon sighting a rather conspicuous tree. I frowned and stared long at it to make sure it wasn’t an illusion. But it really was a tree with utterly barren branches, completely naked of the green luxuries that its neighbors enjoyed in plentiful amounts. To its left, right, and back were trees with lush leaves, the foliage making the trees appear larger than they really were. But smack in the middle of such summer was a winter pariah, standing forlorn like an umbrella stripped of its cloth. Never had I thought that a tree could feel “left out”—but as I stood there studying the outcast, the monotonous tree certainly evoked an inexplicable sympathy in me. I could not help but stop and take notes.
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The second halt came approximately five minutes later when I had ventured further into the realm of unexplored; I could have screamed at the top of my lungs and no human soul would have heard me. And in a way, I was relieved that nobody was watching, because the obstacle in front of me was quite ridiculous that even I had to laugh at myself. Lying ahead was a long puddle of rainwater from yesterday, almost resembling a small stream. I felt my wet socks before I noticed the puddle and jumped back as if I had touched a dead bug. The puddle was only ankle deep at most, although it stretched for quite a few meters. Laughing to myself as I thought about Chris McCandless who failed to escape from the Alaskan woods because he could not cross a turbulent river, I sheepishly looked for a way around. But the waist-high grass blocking the sides told me that the only option was to wet my shoes. In retrospect, I don’t know why it took five tries for me to develop the courage to splash through the puddle; perhaps it was the formal dress I was in that made me feel incompatible with nature. Whatever the reason, it took great effort on my part to cross that tiny river. But oh, how different it looked once I had passed the obstacle! A mysterious feeling of triumph filled me as I marveled at the small stream that now lay behind me. I just could not shake it off. I stopped for the third time upon finding another marvelous sight. It was a wooden shed sitting at the top of a small hill. Jaded letters engraved on the wooden wall read: “BEESLICK BUNGALOW.” What it was for and why it was there, I didn’t have the faintest clue, but a human architecture in the middle of untamed grass and wild trees was more than enough to hypnotize me. As I approached the shed, I noticed spider webs on
the bottom of the roof. The timber of the walls was old and scraggy, and the dark windows were stained with bird excrements. Carefully setting my foot, I looked through a window, blocking the sunlight for a better view. There was absolutely nothing on the dusty wooden floorboards, except for a mysterious box that seemed to contain used paper and garbage. I leaned closer to the window when a wasp sprang from a nearby flower. In spite of my boiling curiosity, I pulled myself backwards. I glimpsed at my watch; I had ten minutes to return to the bus. Looking one last time yearningly at this mysterious shed that could easily be the setting in any detective story, my favorite genre, I reluctantly headed back. As I passed for the second time the strangely intimidating puddle of water and the pitiful tree, it hit me that I never actually got to the lake. I looked behind me—the lake was as beautiful as ever, still seeming to promise many unwritten stories and poems. But I realized how pointless my original aim had been. Even if I had gotten to the lake with the detective mind set, my reverie would have merely been a continuation of the forgery I’d committed with the color-changing grass and the average tree. I would have taken notes on everything I already knew about a lake
and labeled it “inspiration.” Nature didn’t conjure up wanted ideas at a writer’s will; it was the opposite. Magic approaches you before you know it, and you just have to notice it at the right time. I ended up empty-handed except for the few notes I took on my unexpected discoveries—no outline for a story or a poem. Yet I knew the farm told me quite a few stories, and that I did a good job listening. It felt relieving to no longer be the detective. I always thought being found was more pleasant than finding out. To my right, on the other side of the wire fence, I noticed the cows huddling together for their daily drink of water. They weren’t there when I was walking downhill towards the lake; perhaps they came to drink from the pails at a specific time everyday. How fascinating was that! In the distance, a few more cows were sauntering in my direction, mooing loudly. I exchanged glances with a friend nearby who had also heard the cows’ cries. Despite the “no communication rule,” we couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the sheer beauty of this last surprise that the farm presented. -In-Kyu Chung ‘14
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An Interview with
Maisie Bull ‘15 How did you first get into song writing? “In fifth grade, in Science class, we’d always go into the woods and write what we saw. I could never write what I saw. I only saw trees... and more trees. I started writing rhyming phrases and I started hearing melodies that went along with the phrases. When I got home, I’d play around on the piano with those melodies and by the time I was in sixth grade, I didn’t know how not to write.”
Who is your biggest inspiration? (And please don’t say One Direction). “They’re not my inspiration, they’re my motivation! My inspiration? Honestly, I can’t come up with a single person. I guess I’d say anyone who’s ever been through anything, anyone who’s ever struggled with anything. That’s why I write. I guess there’s just so much that happens in this world and it’s hard to deal with those things. I’m inspired by all of the people that I can relate to and those who can relate to me.”
“My inspiration? Honestly, I can’t come up with a single person. I guess I’d say anyone who’s ever been through anything, anyone who’s ever struggled with anything. That’s why I write.” 26 | INK! FALL 2012
How would you classify your style? “I don’t know. I’ve actually given that very little thought in the past. I’ve been told that it’s sometimes alternative-y but sometimes it’s not... I really wouldn’t know how to classify it. It’s up to everyone who hears it to come to their own conclusions.”
Are you working on anything now? “Yeah, I’m always working on something, anything. Even if it doesn’t turn into anything that’s performable there are always some ideas floating around in my head.”
“To think what started as a simple song about a sad girl turned into something that transformed my prep year! I just cannot express how thankful I am.” how did you react to the Calliope CD? “I didn’t know my song was going to be first until I got the CD myself. I’m not going to lie, I think I ended up on the floor; I honestly don’t think anyone could possibly understand how much the school’s support means to me. Every single nice comment I have ever received... every time I think about it, I am overwhelmed to the point of tears. I am blown away by the amazing way everyone responded to it. To think what started as a simple song about a sad girl turned into something that transformed my prep year! I just cannot express how thankful I am. I don’t know what else to say other than a big fat thank you to you all!
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BOOK REVIEW:
A Game of Thrones By George R. R. Martin By Stanislav Novoselski I cannot describe exactly how I felt when I first read A Game of Thrones, the first book in the series A Song of Ice and Fire from George R. R. Martin. I was probably affected deeper than most because of the fact that I am a big fantasy book fan, but to be honest, George Martin`s work can serve as an example for many of the modern novelists. An unparalleled story, unexpected turning points, incredible depth of characters combined with magnificent weaving of story lines and most of all, originality; especially in the names of the books. At first you may think that this is just another ordinary fantasy book without anything special found within its pages, but once you start devouring the content, you will undoubtedly find yourself two hundred pages further than you were before you began, and you will not have even felt the time pass! The end of every chapter reveals something that truly catches your interest and compels you to continue reading so you find out more about it and finally uncover the mystery. But the intrigue does not stop at the end of every chapter or book, since there is a climax that makes the story even more tangled and confusing, with more and more secrets added to the puzzle every chapter. One of the biggest differences of A Game of Thrones compared with most modern novels is that Martin successfully makes up for main
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characters who die with secondary characters from before, or ones that did not even exist. From experience, while reading the books, the best thing to do is to not have any favorite characters, especially from the second book on. At a certain point I ended up throwing my copy across the room in disbelief of how far Martin dared to go - he himself said that once a character be-
comes too powerful, or when a character’s story line reaches a point where he does not know how to further develop the character, he simply takes the character “out of the game”. Some of the characters that are considered immortal in the beginning slowly develop into very fragile characters that are subsequently killed, and many characters that are considered sinful in the beginning become good ones as the books develop further and further, so you will have a lot of changes of heart in your affection towards different characters.
Wardens of the North (which is similar to North America and is the biggest territory controlled by a House in the Seven Kingdoms). They are introduced like honorable and honest people. A lot of the fans thought that the book would be about them being the House that wins everything, but this was not true. Actually, House Stark has suffered the most throughout the books. After the first few chapters in which we are introduced the Wardens of the North, Martin suddenly begins to acquaint us with many characters from other houses like Targaryen, Lannister, Baratheon, Tully, Arryn, Tyrell, Martell, and Greyjoy, who then find themselves in an endless storm of intrigues, lies and murderers, in which “you win or you die, there is no middle.” George Martin introduces every character from their own perspective, where the focus is only on the character and his or her thoughts. This adds an element of dramatic irony when the next character walks into a trap set by the previous one - another unique trait of these books. For those who have not read the books, many have certainly seen the TV series on HBO. Actually the directors have done incredible work on recreating the important moments in the book, and the cast is doing very well by successfully recreating the emotions and the actions of the characters in the books. The only big difference - and this maybe the only bad thing about the TV production - is the differences in the plot that occur in the second season.
The story is set in a fictional world and mainly develops on the continent of Westeros (The Americas) and Essos (Europe and Asia), where there are only two seasons - summer and winter which last from two to ten years. Everything begins at the end of a summer that lasted for ten years, and now winter is coming. First we are introduced to the House Stark of Winterfell - the
A Song of Ice and Fire is truly addictive. The perfection of George Martin’s writing and the mastery of his story weaving is a talent that is rare among modern day writers. I would even go as far as to argue that author of A Song of Ice and Fire is better than many fantasy writers in the past, including author of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.
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Bat Boy The MUsicaL By Helen Shapiro-Albert In many ways, Bat Boy the Musical could be considered an “acquired taste.” This is, however, one of the many reasons why so many people, myself included, seem to love it. The music covers a wide span of genres including gospel, rock, and your typical musical theatre comedy style. The plot exudes an Edward Scissorhands feel. The theme is satirical. The humor and morals are very clear. I was initially skeptical of how the members of the Hotchkiss community would react to a musical about a bat-child found in a cave and a family’s attempt to raise him in society. Despite my reservations, from the onset there was a low buzz about the show. Because the story and the music are so unusual, I find myself regaling others with analysis of the plot and playing the music for them to enjoy. It’s the unorthodox feeling of the show that generates curiosity and interest about the musical. After working on the show for about a month, I can see how the cast can really turn everything around. This is by far the most dedicated cast I have worked with out of the four shows I’ve done at Hotchkiss. Everyone who is in any way, shape, or form a part of the show is putting their whole heart into every piece of it. There is a feeling of family amongst everyone, and we all work to push each other to be the best we can be in every rehearsal. We sound amazing as we jump around the stage singing about cows, houses, and murder. Every show has a process and a basic schedule, and for Bat Boy, the process is going flawlessly. We, as a cast, are right on schedule. Even as we begin to struggle through scenes we show support for each other, encouraging everyone on with thick, exaggerated southern accents.
FALL 2012 INK! | 31 Answers: 1. Inception 2. The Social Network 3. Braveheart 4. Despicable Me 5. The Kings Speech 6. Dead Poets Society 7. 10 Things I Hate About You 8. Shawshank Redemption 9. Pina
guess the movie
HOW to get involved write an article You can write about anything at INKredible. Your article can be about a musician at Hotchkiss, or a piece of artwork, or a student production, or the process of darkroom photography. You may also collaborate with a friend on an article.
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