Tree Climbing Goats!

Out in Morocco between Marrakech and Esouria, goats eating in a Argan tree.

It seems goats are attracted to the berries of Argan trees in Morocco. Argan tree branches are generally a bit of reach for the generally short goat, but the berries are so enticing that the goats become adroit tree climbers during berry season.

The Fantastic Voyage of Billy The Bullet

Chemistry Videos from the Journal of Chemical Education

The Journal of Chemical Education has 16 very short and interesting (e.g., toxic substances, solutions, ferrofluids, explosions!) chemical experiments caught on video. View them here.

Here's mercury behaving like a beating heart. Wild.

And a feather causing a big kaboom!

Be careful what you touch in the lab!

An Annotated Bibliography of Good Summer Reading Books

Today, I attended a lecture highlighting the best fiction and non-fiction books out there for middle school readers. I'm not going to type up the full bibliography (email me if you want the complete list), but I will write a brief annotated bibliography of a few books that got my attention. The bibliography is grouped by my interests -- first up is origami, then pop up books, and finally other fine children's books. Young or old, I encourage you to go out to the library and check out any that grab your attention!

Origami
- Kasahara, Kunihiko. Extreme Origami. (2003). New York: Sterling.
The origami art found in this book is certainly not for the novice folder! Kasahara is an origami master; along with engineers like Robert Lang, Kasahara's been expanding the reach and production of origami through new and innovative designs. This book has instructions for a number of novel and stunningly beautiful origami pieces.


Pop Up Book Manuals

-Carter, David A. and James Diaz. The Elements of Pop Up. (1999). New York: Little Simon.
My bookmaking teacher calls this the 'bible' of pop up books. It gives you a set of step-by-step instructions for making 50 different pop ups, starting with the most basic and ending with some rather complex designs. I will definitely invest the $25 needed to own this manual.

- Diehn, Gwen. Making Books that Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist, & Turn. (1998). Asheville, NC: Lark Books.
One of my friends made me a photo album as a birthday gift, and I've been showing it off to all my friends since. Using this book as a guide, you can impress your own friends by making your own photo albums and much, much more.

- Pop-Up Books.
This binder is for teachers -- it provides lesson plans and materials for teaching a course in making pop up books.


Other Children's Books

- Sabuda, Robert & Matthew Reinhart. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs. (2005). Boston: Candlewick Press.
There are three books in series: Dinosaurs (2005), Sharks (2006), and Mega Beasts (2007). They are all pop up books constructed by the master Robert Sabuda. Each page is jam packed with cool pop ups and interesting info about prehistoric animals.

- Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Carbret. (2007). New York: Scholastic Press.
This is one of the thickest children's books I have ever seen, but almost half of it is composed of beautiful illustrations. The story begins with 40 pages of illustrations; just when you start to wonder what's going on, the text begins. Throughout the rest of the book, Selznick weaves his drawings with his words to tell the story of Hugo Carbret.


- Wiesner, David. Flotsam. (2006). New York: Clarion Books.
A beautiful children's book. Wiesner has won 3 Caldecott Awards for his books, and this one may be his finest. The story is about a young boy who discovers a camera on the beach, develops the film, and discovers a hidden secret. Check out the book to find out what he discovers!


- Young, Dwight. Dear Mr. President: Letters to the Oval Office from the Files of National Archives. (2005). Washington: National Geographic Society.
Read actual letters sent to the president throughout history. The letter sent by Elvis Presley requesting to be a Secret Federal Agent is a hoot!

Confratute

Greetings from UCONN! Mr. Connolly, Ms. Lewis, Ms. Stupart, and I are attending a week-long summer institute at the University of Connecticut called Confratute (conference + fraternity + institute). The conference's goal is to offer enrichment activities to teachers, so teachers can make class more fun and interesting for students. I'm taking two classes this week: one on bookmaking and the other on modular origami.

In my bookmaking class today, I learned about a v interesting book called Spoiled: The Refrigerators of New Orleans by Tom Varisco. Varisco photographed the spoiled refrigerators during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. These Katrina Refrigerators became a mode of self-expression during the aftermath of Katrina's destruction -- residents used spray cans and garbage to create graffiti with humorous, satirical, and/or political messages.


As you can see, creativity comes in a multitude of unexpected forms...For example, at lunch today, Mr. Connolly inverted a coffee cup lid to use as a ketchup container. I've also seen him use the gulf of space between a 4-cup cupholder. Creative, but honestly, also a bit depressing. The man, clearly, likes his ketchup.

Sympathetic Hippo

Panda Teamwork

Looks like the last video I posted was taken down for copyright reasons, so here's a similar one. Not as cool as a prison break, but you get the idea.

Tape Figures

Think you need a lot to do a lot? Think again. All of the following sculptures were made from ordinary scotch tape and an artist's imagination. (Unfortunately, I don't have any info about the artist.)







Thanks Thuy for the email!

A Summer Vacation Spiel

So it's summer vacation -- time to take a break from learning, right? WRONG! Learning happens all the time, not just in my classroom (stop laughing -- admit it, you learned something in there). Turn off the television, computer, video game, and cell phone, get off your behind, and learn by DOING!

My summer is going to be awesome because it's going to be jam packed with learning. I'm going to an educators' workshop in Connecticut next week so I can beef up my teaching chops. Then I'm off to Southeast Asia -- Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand -- so I can absorb the culture and food :) on the other side of the world. Then I'm flying back into California so I can help take care of my grandmother while my aunt recovers from shoulder surgery, and hopefully learn more about my late mother and her extended family. Finally, I hope to take a road trip up from LA to Vancouver with some friends, so I can soak in some sun, a few National Parks, and good people. Sounds like a great summer, right? The funny thing is, I'm most looking forward to the 20+ hour airplane ride to and from Asia. Just so I can buckle down and read some books I've been dying to get to all year.

Not going to CTY this summer? Don't have the $$$$ required to travel 'round the globe? Doesn't matter. Learning can take place in any setting -- you just have to have the proper mindset. Now's the time to pick up activities that interest YOU. Set some (achievable) goals for yourself, find out how to accomplish them, and get started! I expect a full report the next time we meet.

So have fun this summer, relax, learn a little, and be safe!

Manhattanhenge

Manhattanites take it for granted that their avenues run north-south and their streets run east-west. But truly observant inhabitants know that Manhattan's street grid is rotated 29 degrees away from the north-south axis.

Why should you care? Well, as Geoff Manaugh writes in his delectable BLDGBLOG, this angle carries "interesting astronomical side effects" -- namely, "Manhattanhedge," as coined by Neil deGrasse Tyson. For two days every year (May 28 and July 12/13), the setting sun lines up perfectly with the east-west streets of Manhattan's main street grid. The result, needless to say, is spectacular:




Unfortunately, I'll be out of town next week. Otherwise, I'd be simultaneously watching the sunset and sweeping a lady off her feet in Union Square Park like the couple above :)

The Evolution Store

One of my favorite stores in the city is The Evolution Store found in the unlikeliest of neighborhoods, uppity-buppity SoHo. Even though you don't need to be a science geek to enjoy visiting this store, it sure helps. The first time I visited, I felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory: so many things to see, so many things to play with, so little time! I walked away with one of my prized possessions, a Venus fly trap (which, sadly, died from owner neglect).

Like many shoppers, I was amazed by the gamut of biological artifacts found there -- when NY Magazine visited the story, they found that it was "packed to the rafters (which are hung with snakes, anatomical charts, and prehistoric shark jaws) with softball-size ostrich eggs, Venus flytraps, and the skulls of skunks, minks, and muskrats." As one online reviewer stated, "Their stock is enough to make you want to start a collection of dead things in vials." Yup, totally sweet.

And reviewer Megan C. perhaps put it best when she said,

Going to Evolution is sort of like spying on your cool older brother while he makes out with his super-pretty girlfriend, except that in this case your older brother is time and his girlfriend is nature.
You can get disgustingly cheap fossils at Evolution. I'm not sure what the monetary value of a genuine fossil of some snail-thing from 30 million years ago ought to be, but I feel certain that it should be more than six dollars. Plus, this is the only place I know of where I can buy a complete set of models of the skulls of all the "found links" between a monkey and myself.

Intrigued? The Evolution Store is located at 120 Spring St. near Mercer St. Take the 6, E, or C to Spring St. It is open 7 days a week, from 11 am to 7 pm.

My City

If you came to my city,
You wouldn't hear
A robin chirping
As she nests in the trees.
You would hear
The wild, tangled coos
Of furious pigeons fighting
Over a hard piece of bread.

If you came to my city,
You wouldn't hear
The sound of silence
In the morning.
You would hear car horns,
People yelling, dogs barking,
And the occasional
Cat screech.

Yep, my city
Is noisy, loud, and unfair,
But it's my home
And what I grew up with.

Though it maybe be tough,
Mean and hard
It will always be
My city.

Reina Samuels
Washington, D.C.
from Paint Me Like I Am

Why I Write Poetry

by Kevin Powell

I have not always been a fan of poetry. Nah. In fact, I hated it and thought poetry an activity for the overly sensitive--and suckers. Suckers in the sense that I, a Black boy from the ghetto, would--could--never let my guard down long enough for you, the observer,to see me--naked--as I am. But the reality is that I had always, on the down low, dug poetry, be it the sensual sonnets of William Shakespeare, the dark meditations of Edgar Allan Poe, or the lonesome thoughts of Emily Dickinson.

However, it was not until I encountered the first very traumatic experience of my adult life, at age twenty-two, that poetry really began to mean something to me. You see, I was suspended from my university for an indiscretion I will not share here. Having been the first person in my immediate family to attend college, I was devastated and could not tell my moms what had happened. Between sudden bouts with insomnia and school-mandated trips to a therapist, I scrawled words which became stanzas which became my initial attempts at poetry. Although I had studied this literary form in both high school and college, I did not know if poems were supposed to be long or short, nor if what I was writing was actually good or not.

Back then I did not care, to be honest. I had wanted to be a writer since I was eleven and, outside of some short fiction I penned during my high school years, this post-college writing was the first time I felt free—and truly felt that I was, indeed, a writer. And how amazing it was, yo. To be able to say whatever I wanted, to push the door to my imagination and walk through, without fear, to those spaces I never knew existed.

And it was not enough for me to write poetry in isolation. I knew I had to share my words with other people and I soon found myself in hole-in-the-wall spots in north Jersey and New York City, reading to audiences of maybe ten people. I was mad happy about that too. I felt empowered, that my voice, my life, my world, mattered. That poetry was, no doubt, special, magical, a gift from some greater being and I was merely the vessel carrying the word.

It took me a few years but I eventually recovered from that college suspension. Now all these years later, after five books, numerous magazine and newspaper articles, and travels across America and outside of the States to places like England, France, and the Caribbean. I cannot help but think back to those very innocent days when I kept a tiny notepad in my back pocket and tried to capture everything I felt at any given moment, on the subway, at a grocery store, while walking down a street in Newark or Harlem, or Brooklyn.

Today I cannot picture what it would be like not being a poet. Yeah, I am sensitive, because one cannot be a poet without having some level of sensitivity. Without some connection to one’s soul, and the souls of other human beings. And, yeah, I am a sucker, for words. For sure, I love words and the poetry made from stringing just the right words together. In this coming together of pen and paper, of fingers and computer keys, of raw-dog emotions and instant testimonies that make poetry—to me—as necessary as the blood beating a path to our hearts.

The New York City-based Kevin Powell is a poet, journalist, essayist, activist, and public speaker. Kevin is the author of five books, including his editorship of the recent HarperCollins release Who Shot Ya? Three Decades of Hiphop Photography (images by Ernie Paniccioli), which is the first-ever pictorial history of hiphop. Kevin's essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in many publications, including the Washington Post, Essence, Newsweek, and Vibe, where he was a longtime staff writer. A highly sought-after political and pop cultural commentator, Kevin has shared his views on VH1, BET, CNN, and a host of other media outlets. And Kevin first reached the national spotlight as a cast member on the original season of MTV's The Real World, the most successful reality-based program in television history.

My Soul

Sometimes
When I feel like I'm going to fall apart
I hold my ribs, all the way around,
Both sides.
My ribs hold me together,
Like glue.
Theykeep my breath close to my heartbeat.
They keep my soul from escaping and
Leaving me, grounded.
I hold brightness and shadows in
The hollow where my ribs meet.
I hold them there in the memories
Of slow, sorrowful music and
Porch steps.
I hold my ribs, until I feel solid.
Until my legs are tree trunks and
My fingers are fruit.

Ember Ward
San Francisco
from Paint Me Like I Am

Cooperative Pandas Break Out of Zoo!

Enjoy the video? Imagine and create a fictional and humorous dialogue between the two pandas. Post your dialogue in the comments section -- those who submit their sketch before July 9 will receive a PRIZE!

Free Tennis Lessons at Crotona Park

Tired of sitting at home all day with nothing to do? The New York Junior Tennis League (NYJTL) offers free tennis lessons for kids throughout the city. This is info I gleaned from the organization's website:

This program offers free tennis lessons to children ages 6-18 in the community. Trained coaches provide a comprehensive schedule of instruction, practice and play for all levels. Players develop their skills, make new friends, and learn the rules and sportsmanship of the game of tennis.

Free Summer Programs run July 2 to August 24 unless otherwise specified. Registration is ongoing -- you can sign up at anytime throughout the season.

Crotona Park
East 173 Street
off Crotona Avenue
Mon-Fri 9am -12 noon

Not going to be around Crotona? Here's a list of other locations in the Bronx (and the other, lesser boros).

I hope someone takes advantage of this opportunity to learn how to play tennis. Not because I'm a nice guy, but because I want a tennis partner in the city. Ms. Bernstein offered to play tennis with me a few times, but she always seems to flake out. Plus, if you start learning now, there's a chance you might become good enough to give tennis lessons yourself and charge crazy amounts of money (I, of course, would take a cut of your profits for introducing you to tennis).

What American Accent Do You Have?

Take the quiz and find out!

Strangely enough, I have a Midland accent (from Kansas City to Pittsburgh). Here's the description:

("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.

Water Balloon + Flame Experiment

What happens when you put a balloon above a lit candle? It pops, right?

Well, what happens if you fill that same balloon with water and put it above the lit candle? The balloon pops and water spills all over the place? Nope!

Water boils at 100 degrees celsius -- a temperature too low to pop the balloon. As long as there is liquid water in the balloon, the balloon's temperature will not rise above the temperature of boiling water; therefore, the balloon will not pop.

Gotta see it to believe it? Check it out here!

There are more Robert Krampf videos here. Let me know if there are any interesting demos you'd like to see in class!

Carabao Dreams

how how the carabao said to me in a dream
refute the conspiring evils
prove the strength that wills your breath
hold tightly to poetry and loved ones
as a book would bind its pages
share your story through art and song
fix your eyes on the stars so your voice
can be heard
"taas noo, iho, taas noo!"

you are more than
what they say
what they think
what they see

pinoy is more than
brown and alibata
barongs and tinikling
pansit and Goldilocks
you will understand

queer is more than
cocks and A.I.D.S.
white men and the Castro
June and pride marches
you will understand

life is more than
angst and depression
money and aspiration
wanting and loneliness
you will understand

how how the carabao said to me
tell the people your story
don't think an amendment frees your
speech
if they cover their ears and refuse to listen
yell if you have to
you do not have a choice
this is not a request
you need to be heard

how how the carabao said to me
rush out into the world in perfect
surrender
give in to the sun as she licks your face
and thighs
offer no words when the winds
whip at your backside
respect the moon
yield up limber arms in reverence to
the stars
for darkness is also a gift
and silence can be a friend
go out into the world and do these things and you will understand

how how the carabao said to me
sadness is not the absence of happiness
but your incapacity to witness its presence
your soul is not just a bird taking up
wings
your soul is the sea
your spirit is the shore
your mind is the black expanse
that births planets and consumes galaxies
you are not only part of the revolution
but you are the revolution
when you stop building comfortable walls
and notice that your feet are planted
on the same ground on which millions
have stood
you will understand
you will understand
you will understand

you are more than pansit
A.I.D.S.
and depression

how how the carabao said to me in a dream
this is just a dream
these are just my words
breathe life into them
assign them feet
make them real

how how the carabao said to me

how

how

Timothy Arevalo, age 18
from You Hear Me?


carabao - water buffalo
"taas noo, iho, taas noo!" - "Look up, son, look up!"
pinoy - a Filipino person
alibata - ancience Tagalog script
barong - traditional Filipino shirt
tinikling - traditional Filipino dance
pansit - rice noodles

Instructions for Life

Catch the football and make sure you score a touchdown;
jump into the mud and make certain it is enjoyable; rip
your jeans and tear your shirts; bleed on the field of glory
and take it like a man; grind the grass stains into your
clothes; order a hot dog at a baseball game; watch the
Super Bowl and tell everyone about the play in the second
half to prove you watched it; root for the home team; get
hurt but don't cry; hide your emotions; pick yourself up
when you are down; watch violent movies and crave blood
and destruction. This is how to act tough on the outside;
this is how you act in front of the guys. Slick your hair
back with your father's gel just the right way to catch the
eye of the girl next to you; don't burp; act like a gentle-
man; wear clothes that make you look cool; walk a walk
that shows the girls how suave you are; act mature; protect
your sister if she needs help. This is how you act in front of
the girls. Do well in school; get straight A's because you
have to get into a good college. This is how to succeed; this
is how to be prosperous; this is how to be happy and live
life to the fullest.

Brando, age 15
from You Hear Me?