HORNET’S NEST Slocumb: A Home for Creativity

By Rose Werner

Where do students get these crazy visual arts ideas?

There are many students that find their creative passion at Proctor. Inside Slocumb you will find students expressing themselves through painting, drawing, and ceramics. In this building, there is warmth and positivity surrounding students and teachers as they support each other and discuss creative ideas.

How do these students find a passion for art? Junior Lisle Coombs said, “My passion for art comes from a need to express

Love Runs Wild

By Helen Armstrong & Lauren Anzalone

myself as authentically as I can. Some people are talkers, some can write a killer essay or compose heart-wrenching musical pieces. I feel most true to myself when I use art as a form of expression.” Lisle has taken Studio Art multiple times before she enrolled in the Art Major class. She has tried many different styles of painting and she explores and pushes herself beyond her perceived abilities.

Junior Rohan Goswami had a different perspective. “I’ve loved art forever. Going on Euro really reinforced that love. It is some - thing that I can do really without thinking and have a creative outlet to destress and create something in the process.” Euro also provided Rohan the inspiration to pursue ceramics.

Love is in the air! As Valentine’s day rolled through February, we know that love is on everyone’s mind. For some of you, we know every day feels like Valentine’s Day. But for all us ugly losers out there, February is a time of romance. So, we decided to take to the streets of Proctor and ask a couple of questions regarding the infamous holiday. As journalism field correspondents and the funniest students (according to Pete. No, really! He said that!!), we felt it our job to get the general consensus on how the community is feeling about love, hatred, and everything in between. Scan the code to get inside information and video footage on your fellow students’ thoughts.

Proctor offers a wide range of art options such as woodshop, metalwork, textiles, and digital art. Recently, a few Proctor students earned entry in a local art show and won praise and a prize. This campus gives students the opportunity to pursue their creativity by being able to focus on their vision and passion. Lisle commented, “The Proctor campus does inspire me to make art, especially the energy in the art building. When I sit down in there and put music on, I feel like I could stay for hours—and I do!” Students are also inspired by the outdoor campus as senior Shirley Frauntschi draws different landscapes of the outdoors, especially trees she notices.

Talking with a variety of different students I got a feel for some different styles of how people create. For each person, it is a different experience of how they come up with their muse or idea. Lisle describes her process by saying, “making art mostly includes making a Pinterest board (most important and most time-consuming step), sketching out my ideas either digitally or on paper, then jumping right into painting or drawing!”

Rohan said, “What doesn’t inspire me? My surroundings, friends, building, food, and other art. They all inspire me. Especially other artists who may be better than me. They inspire me to try something new that may be hard at first but if you don’t do hard stuff how will you get better at something?” The art teachers at Proctor are always trying to come up with new ways to inspire the students. For example, Corby in a Studio Art class is encouraging his students to use each other as models. Have you ever heard of the 10,000 hours needed for mastering a skill? This process is applied to art as it takes hours and hours to improve art skills.

Art helps many people express themselves without needing to talk. It is an outlet for many and is a great way to get away from stress. If you ever have a little bit of spare time I recommend you create something that speaks to you and brings joy to others.

Chinese New Year - The Best Time of The Year

By Rebecca Zhang

Woken up by the crazy phone alarm, I answer the facetime request from my mom with a big yawn: “Mom it’s only eleven in the morning!”

“It’s already eleven! Happy Chinese New Year! We are all gathering at your grandma’s house and having the family dinner!” Suddenly I realize that in Beijing it’s already New Year’s Eve, however here in the US, it’s just a normal Saturday noon.

My mom shares with me what they are having at the dinner table. Dumplings, fish, shrimp, all kinds of vegetables… that’s all my favorite! I get so jealous of them because now, I can’t cook anything in my dorm, and I can’t use my pot. “Say hi to the whole family.” I am passed around the table on her phone, greeting my mom, dad, two uncles, two aunties, my little sister Amanda, my little cousin, and my dear grandma. I wish them all good luck. After talking to ten people, I end the facetime and wonder, is that happening in every single family?

What is it like in other families? I ask some of my Chinese friends at Proctor to figure out their traditions.

Senior Sin Yee is from Hong Kong. “Our family celebrates Chinese New Year just like others,” said SY. “Normally on the day before Chinese New Year, we all gather in a restaurant with three tables and have our New Year’s Eve dinner with our whole family which also includes our extended family. On the day of Chinese New Year, we first visit my dad’s side of the family, then head to my mom’s side of the family.”

Visiting with family seems to be a countrywide tradition, and junior Lily Zhang from Beijing proves it. “... we all gather together, which is around twenty people, including my cousins, my aunts, and my uncles. We would have Nian Ye Fan.” This is the name of the dinner on CNY eve that you eat with your family. Yes, this is such a formal and significant dinner that we give it a name. The word “family” here doesn’t only means your parents and cousins, it’s just a group of people that give you the feeling of love and support. “The dinner always includes a lot of dishes, a lot of traditional food, and of course dumplings.”

What about their favorite dishes at the family dinner? SY’s answer is a kind of soup: “This is always my top one in terms of deliciousness. It has white pepper and pork belly in it. It’s common around Guangdong.” Her answer shows the diet differences between Southern China and Northern China. In Hong Kong, they drink more soup and porridge than we do in Beijing. Lily and I share the same fondness and love for dumplings. “My favorite dish for the new year is always eating the dumplings.” My personal favorite filling will be garlic chives with pork. My grandmother makes the best dumpling filling.

If we talk about the Chinese New Year we can’t avoid talking about those colorful activities such as the fireworks display and watching the special CNY performances. My favorite tradition is definitely watching fireworks. Lily says, “... decorating the room with all kinds of red things. Red paper cut art, well I don’t know how to say that, it’s Chuang Hua in Chinese which means you cut different pictures with red paper and paste them on the window. Writing calligraphy on red paper and hanging them up, and also doing the fireworks. It’s just very jubilant.”

SY notes another activity. “One of the most remarkable traditions would be getting red packets from the elderly.” Well, that’s very reasonable. I mean, no one hates money, right? Usually, with my gifts, I will save half and use the rest to pay for my annual shopping list.

To me, what is the CNY? It’s the delicious dishes. The fireworks. The smiling faces. The calligraphy I wrote. The boring but indispensable CNY performance. Most significantly, it’s family. I used to think Beijing is always the only home for me. However, after studying abroad for four years, I realized that home is wherever your family is. And even if we can’t meet each other in person, the special emotions and feelings of CNY don’t fade.

Too Tired To Write?

By Kellen Healey

Having a hard time writing your English paper? Try ChatGPT, an all New AI (Artificial Intelligence) that will write a grade-A paper for you. ChatGPT is a new technology that knows no bounds on any topic you ask about - math, writing, or history.

For some people ChatGpt is very confusing, so here’s a description from the robot itself: “ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI that uses machine learning to generate human-like text. It is trained on a large dataset of written text and can be finetuned for specific tasks such as conversation, summarization, and language translation. It can be used to generate responses in chatbots, to write articles, and to do many other natural language processing tasks.” Wouldn’t most Proctor teachers give that explanation an A-plus?

With such powerful technology, the concern rises that students may use this with dishonorable intent. Derek Nussbaum Wagler, Proctor’s Dean of Academics, states his concern. “Could ChatGPT have a place in school? Possibly, but in the same way that using google might be interesting to start preliminary research for a paper. Assuming the development of AI algorithms will take the place of writing an essay is concerning. Writing algorithms are solely based on previously written material published on the web. Which means they are not necessarily drawing on the BEST, most creative, or most innovative ideas/thinking available,” However, they can be used to write original work.

Proctor survey: Have you ever used ChatGPT?

(100 Responses)

Even though it is ‘original’ it’s still based on other people’s published work, Derek continued, “So, relying solely on AI to do writing would essentially mean that we’re no longer interested in human thought and creativity. In- stead, we just want sequels/re-writes only. As an institution of learning, we might be able to use AI to gather old ideas, try out a thesis, and possibly look for patterns of thought that exist.”

Derek finished by saying, “But it should never replace the hard work involved in actually thinking through tough questions, looking for evidence to support ideas, and learning to find your personal voice.” Which makes perfect sense to me.

Do you think that ChatGPT should be used in the classroom?

I asked the source and ChatGPT responded with: Yes, ChatGPT can be used in the classroom as an educational tool to enhance students’ learning experience. It can be used to answer questions, provide explanations, and generate reports, among other things. However, it should be used in conjunction with human teachers and as a supplement to traditional teaching methods, not as a replacement.

Are you (ChatGPT) a reliable source of information?

The AI answers by saying: As an AI language model, ChatGPT is trained on a large dataset of text and can provide information based on that training. However, it is important to note that the information provided may not always be accurate, complete, or up-to-date, and it may not reflect the personal opinions or beliefs of OpenAI or its creators.

ChatGPT is a genius creation and there is no doubt about that, however, it is important to take into account the warnings of possible misinformation. I approve of students using it to find information, but I think that when using it to find information, it is important to do your own research into the subject as well. Using ChatGPT is not a good tool to get in the habit of using, especially if you are about to go to college. AI like this will continue to evolve, but it is important to be original.