Cool Kid Aurora Wolf and the wonder

Eyes of Wonder

Catching up with Aurora Wolf isn’t always an easy task. Whether she’s at a Phish concert, attending school, or hanging out with her pets, she’s a busy individual. She’s also looking forward to turning fifteen. She has two super friendly dogs, Molly and Trixie, and a flock of chickens all named after characters in the beloved Harry Potter series.

Aurora is a freshman at Inspire School of Arts and Sciences, drawn to the school because of her interest in the digital arts, along with the fact her older sister attends and has always shared great things about her experiences there. Her favorite class this year would have to be her physical education class, Dance 1. She says she loves the fact it gets her moving and active, just like one of her best high school experiences this year, their sole pep rally. With all the cheers, music, and dancing she says, “It was fantastically fun to be there!!!” and she’s looking forward to experiencing more of these memorable high school events.

When she’s not at Inspire, Aurora enjoys reading and watching movies. Currently, her favorite book is The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir. Aurora wants to be a doctor when she grows up, and this book describes the experiences of a group of emergency medicine physicians. She is enthralled reading all the interesting stories they have to share. Inspire’s principal, Becky Brown, shares that Aurora is “one of Inspire’s resident ‘cool kids’ and an absolutely delightful young woman, who happens to be paraplegic. She communicates through non-verbal signals and using a special keyboard she manipulates with her eyes.” Aurora wants people to know while she is in a wheelchair, she understands everything you say and uses a communication device to respond. Actually, she uses three different keyboards, each one specifically designed for a particular use. The keyboards are on a screen, and she ‘types’ by using her eyes to navigate around each keyboard. A light shines into one of her eyes and a camera picks up the reflection from her retina and cornea. As her gaze moves, the position of the reflections change, and the computer recognizes this and completes the intended action. She uses one board for talking with people and one for internet access. Aurora says,“Technology is pretty amazing nowadays!”

When asked about Inspire, Aurora says “It’s a very accepting [place], which means anyone can come to this fantastic school. If you like science and/or any type of art, you should probably come to Inspire!” We celebrate Aurora and look forward to tracking her obviously bright future.

By Kevin Dolan T'was Moments Before Print Day

(with appreciation and apologies)

Based on The Night Before Christmas by Henry Livingston Jr., published on Dec. 23, 1823

T'was moments before Print Day, when all thro' the place, No keyboard was tapping, no screens in any face. The printer was filled, stuffing paper with ease, With hopes of soon spitting out the mag, yes, please. The whole gang was slumped in comfortable chairs, With nightmares of comma splices raisin’ neck hairs. And Aveed, sporting plaid, with the boys in comfy attire, Each expecting the printer to soon catch on fire. When out of nowhere Jason broke into a harried chatter, And Aveed dropped his phone to see what was the matter. J chortled, “Kevin mumbled something about coffee at the Perk,” “Just wondering if he is returning and actually ready to work.” The retort clearly distorted the face of new hire Beau, “Who could treat our beloved EIC with spite, I simply don’t know.” When, upon readying ears, a welcoming sound did emerge, As page after page became printed with unexpected surge. Right then, the back door flung open with the twist of a key, They all knew in a moment it must be the cunning KD. While suddenly the pages stacked up, this time for reals, KD stood by the printer shouting and pointing from his heels. "Now! Parkside, now! Liberty, now! Sweeney, and Tres, Then Jason exclaimed, “Where’s the one that’ll fix your face?” KD implored, “Spit out all pages! Don’t stop ‘til you get us a mag,” "Now print away! print away! Print away—our favorite shiny rag!" As copies were placed before us, our hearts beat with stress, When readers turn proofers, does tension grow; oh, hell yes! So each one of us scattered to our favorite working spot, Where editing turns revision—and almost all miscues caught. And then in a twinkling in our blood shot eyes, the magic took flight, As oohing and awing turns to sighing when punctuation isn't right. As KD shook his head, and was openly fidgeting around, From his office, Aveed emerged with a purposeful bound. Dress'd in his corporate lumberjack attire, covering each arm, His wardrobe, impeccably kept, with no wrinkles, spots, or harm. Earbuds appeared like matching globes on a stark tree, And he look'd like a model from a billboard, a must see. His eyes—how wide they open, so intent and certainly aware, Getting our attention with a bit of wonder and uncertain scare. The facial hair, so full and dark, forebodingly hid any happiness, We all stopped reading, each armed and ready to talk business. He paced the long hallway, here and there striking an odd pose; Hard not to ask oneself, could he tread water in a garden hose? Though he looks thin yet coyly cut, right healthy and strong, KD laugh'd, still left wondering if anything had gone wrong. A narrowing of eyes and flash of a smile from the daunting head Soon led to relief, leaving us aware we’d nothing to dread. He opened his laptop and shared the lit screen, December’s cover, gloriously placed to be seen. And raising the picture thus sharing with joy, Aveed gave a nod, and said “Nice job, boys.” He sprung to his office announcing,”Let’s put this thing to bed.” And then we can celebrate by drinking and being well fed. But we heard him exclaim, as he cleverly slipped out of sight, “Salute to a great print day, and perhaps, a better food fight.”