Self portrait in progress.

Edward Tufte Open House

        A little while ago, I got the chance to visit the property that Edward Tufte lives on. Edward Tufte lives on very big piece of private property, that he has dedicated to putting up huge sculptures. Once a year, he opens his property to the public and people can come and admire the art that he created. The land was amazing! There was so much to see that you could never have the time in one day to admire all of the art.
    
       The first thing we got to see was a sculpture of a gigantic steel fish hanging from a small crane. This sat at the entrance to Edward Tufte's driveway. The driveway was on a seemingly endless hill. There are actually road signs that joke, by reading, "road never ends." When you reach the top of hill you are greeted to the land from Edward Tufte himself.

          After finding a place to park, we started to look around the property. We started off at another hanging metal fish, this one was not hanging down from a crane though; it was hanging from a tree. The hanging fish can be found scattered all around the grounds. After every few statues there is found a hanging fish. 
     Right after the fish, we walked along a rock wall. Each piece of stone along this wall is about ten feet tall, they lean against each other and form a long wall. Down the hill from that we found smaller stone walls that raise a couple feet off the ground. These form a small path way that people can walk along. just past that we were greeted by another hanging fish. After that, there was another stone wall. This wall was much smaller and seemed very delicate. Each piece of rock was put together in the way that it looked as though if you were even to just touch it it would fall apart. Then we came across yet another rock wall very similar to the first, yet this one was up to twice the size and formed its self in a circular pattern.

         On the other end of the property you will find the air streams. Tufte puts air stream camper vans on top of long poles that stick diagonally into the air, and he decorates them to look like rocket ships. Edward Tufte used some of the old parts from a nuclear power plant in some of his sculptures. One is a old piece from the power plant that is shaped like a C and you can push it and spins. There is a big lake on his property in front of his small house. In the lake, there is a paddle boat that is shaped like a big swan.

        He had so may great sculptures to see on his property. I had a great time and I highly suggest going next year. There is so much art to see and it is truly magnificent.

Meeting Monroe

  I was sitting in the audience at the Grand Ole Opry, just as Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys were ending their concert. I was going to find Monroe, to see if I could audition for his band. I slowly walked out of the Grand Ole Opry, to my car to pick up my instruments. at the back of the auditorium, stood Bill Monroe. A little bit nervous, I came up to him and asked if I could audition to be in his band. He said “sure come on in, backstage.” He had his bass player come and back me up. First, I pulled out my banjo and I played an instrumental he recorded called, Bluegrass Breakdown. Then I played a tune called, Back to the Old Home. After that I brought out my guitar and I sang, Uncle Pen and, Molly and Tenbrooks. He started to give me advice, and tell me what he thought of my playing. His answer as to whether or not he would have me play in his band, was still to be decided.

    I’d love to meet mandolin player, Bill Monroe. Bill Monroe is known as “Father of Bluegrass.” With Earl Scruggs, and his new three finger banjo style, Monroe took old time instruments and used them in his band. No one person stayed in his band for longer than just a few years. Bill Monroe didn't believe that the band should stay with the same members for long, that way it would keep things fresh. People would come up to Monroe after the shows and talk to him about auditioning to be a member in his band. He would give them feedback on what he thought of their style. I would chose to meet Bill Monroe, so I could audition on guitar/vocals and banjo to see what he thought of my playing. I’d be honored to hear what the Father of Bluegrass had to say.  

Workin' on a Building

This is me with my band the Still River Ramblers, and special guest, Roger Sprung on banjo.

Hand-made Clocks

For the past six years, I have made paper mache clocks, as a gift for my dad on Christmas. I start with cardboard shapes and glue paper around them. Then then they are painted, with whichever color and design I choose. A battery powered clock is installed last. The first clock was the candy clock on the far left. I am looking for good  ideas for the next clock, any suggestions?  

Book Review: Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner

        Kate Messner's novel, Eye of the Storm is for tween readers. Messner is known for writing to audiences of young children. Eye of the Storm is one of the few novels she has written for a middle school audience.  She had spent 15 years teaching middle school before going into writing. She has won many awards for her books.  

         Eye of the Storm, takes place in the future around the mid two-thousands. In that time global warming has caused storms to rage across the world. Huge tornadoes seem to devour the earth and people have to take shelter in underground storm safe rooms almost every week. The midwest has some of the worst storms and gigantic tornadoes.  

          A young girl named Jayden lives with her mother in Vermont. For one summer she goes to visit her father in a small town in Oklahoma called Placid Meadows. Placid Meadows is the one storm safe town in the world, where storms seem to magically surrender when they come close to the town. Jayden's father is the head of an organization that specializes in the study of trying to stop storms from increasing. The organization also runs a summer school for kids to learn about preventing storms. For the summer, Jayden attends that school.

         Her father gives her some data to enter into the storm simulator at the school that will hopefully decrease the amount of storm energy that comes through the simulator, but all it does is make the storm worse. Then one night, out of curiosity, Jayden sneaks into her Dad's office and logs onto his computer. She looks at the storm research and finds herself very confused. She doesn't understand much of the data, but she doesn't seem to find anything on decreasing storms and more on rebuilding old storms and making them stronger.

          Then Jayden hears footsteps, she knows her Dad is coming to the office. As fast as she can, she logs of his computer and hides underneath his desk. After looking on the computer a while he gets a phone call. He talks over the phone about how he used the storms to destroy farms and now they won't have any trouble trying to buy the farms for their own use. With this knowledge, Jayden gathers her friends and attempts to stop the biggest storm in all of history from making its way to placid meadows.

         Eye of the Storm, gives the reader such a thrill to find that someone the reader believed to be helpful becomes one of the hardest villains to defeat.  This story of good vs. evil, has many unexpected moments.  It has a lot of twists and turns.  I found it a fun read.

 

Heart Drawing

When I started to draw a diagram of the heart, arteries, and veins it fell into art work. I then felt like each little vein had to keep going instead of just randomly stopping, it then turned into a giant sea of overlapping veins and arteries. 

Grace Farms and the River Building

 

  This past Saturday, I visited Grace Farms and saw their new River Building, the farm and forest, where it is located. I got to learn about the ways they brought together people for nature, art, community and faith.

    The first thing I did was listen to the architects, Sanaa, talk about the new River Building. The main goal behind the building was to make sure that it didn’t take away from the landscape. They made sure that the roof was not built higher than the trees, so that you could see the whole forest from any place on the farm. The building was formed in the shape of a river to blend in with the area. It has glass walls and glass on the roof to reflect the blue sky. It was also made so that you could see the variation in the landscape. When you looked one direction you could see the wetlands, where as, if you looked another, you could see black locust trees. The main auditorium had the best view. Behind the stage you could see the whole hill side. They also hold church services in the auditorium every Sunday.

   A short walk down the hill, beneath the river ceiling, would bring you to a room where you can get food and listen to live music. Just downhill from there, you'll find a tea room. It is a small room with seating. You can order from a menu of different Japanese teas. Just outside of the tea room, is an underground basketball court. You can look down on it from ground level. The idea was that the basketball court would bring together community, but having it in the ground would not take away from the landscape.

 

Off to the side of the building, there are two barns that were converted into class rooms and other kinds of rooms for different purposes. The barns have been renewed and painted grey. This makes them look very modern. They sit facing each other, with a medium sized yard in between them. Connecting the two buildings are gravel pathways formed in a very artistic fashion. In the yard there are two stations with women selling apple cider.

 At Grace Farms their main focus was always nature, then came community and faith. They show this in many ways. They build a community centered around art. One piece of art was tiny little glass tiles that were placed on the wall. At night, the shadows on the glass look like the New York City skyline. You can see different kinds of paintings and drawings in rooms like the library and dining hall. 

Something that I found to be surprising, was that a place that appeared to be a very artistic and nature based would also have a church and basketball court connected to it. At first it seemed unexpected but after learning about it more, I saw that Grace Farms wanted to build a community and having stuff like a library, church or basketball court were great ways to bring people together.

Glass blowing in Kansas

   I had a great time this past week visiting family out in Wichita, Kansas. I did all sorts of fun stuff, but one of my favorite parts was when I went glass blowing. In a little town just outside of Wichita, called Kechi; there is a glass blowing shop with all sorts of cool glass stuff. In the back room there are a few guys making glass art. If you sign up, you can have them teach you how to make either a Christmas tree ornament or a heart shaped paper weight. I signed up to make an ornament. The next Monday, I came in to the glass shop and went to the back room. There I began to start the glass blowing.

   On the table in front of my instructor, there were small plastic boxes with little shards of glass in them. In each box the glass was a different color. The instructor then brought over a long metal pole with a hot ball of glass on one end. He dipped the hot ball of glass into one color of glass on each side. He then took it over to a huge oven and stuck the glass end in the oven while twirling the pole.

     When he took it out of the oven, you could see that the glass shards had formed a spiral on the hot glass. He then brought the pole over to a flat spot to keep it rolling. He handed me a tube that he had attached to the other end of the pole. I blew into the tube, which caused the glass to grow larger and form a perfect, round shape.

    The instructor took the glass ball and knocked it off the pole. He took the end of the ornament and formed a loop so it could be tied to a string. Then he put it in an oven where it cooled down from 900 degrees, for three days.  

    Early humans found that glass could be very useful to the making of beads and pots as well as other things. Sand and colored pigments we heated with other types of materials and then formed into a shape. When the glass cooled, they would be left with that same shape and color. This was proven to be very useful to the making of art and became an item often used in trade.  When glass is put in a oven it reaches about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.  After it is done being formed into as specific shape, it is put in a cooling oven that is 900 degrees and it cools down from there.

   I had a awesome time glass blowing in Kechi, Kansas and learning about the making of certain kinds of blown glass art. I enjoyed getting to learn about the history of glass and  the processes it goes through.

Jewish Musicians and the American Struggle for Civil Rights

I have always loved music and I have been attending concerts since I was very young. Traditional folk and bluegrass music are my favorite genres and I’ve been playing guitar for the past five and a half years. About a year after starting guitar I picked up the banjo. Since I started going to bluegrass parties where people come to play along with the music I've learned so much on both the banjo and guitar. I am proud to have an interest in traditional folk music and music history.

For years I have had a strong interest in traditional American folk music and the music of the Sixties. When looking to for a good topic for my Bar Mitzvah I was looking at different styles of Jewish music. I soon discovered that many of the famous songwriters of the nineteen-sixties were Jewish, such as Bob Dylan and Peter Yarrow. These people wrote some of the most famous songs that were used in protests for the Civil Rights Movement. Today I will share with you some of what I learned in researching these songs and the artists who wrote and performed them. I will also be talking about some aspects of Jewish history and values which might have influenced these artists.

Some of the Jewish musicians that I studied are Bob Dylan, Peter Yarrow, Phil Ochs, Abel Meeropol, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Arlo Guthrie.

Bob Dylan was born May 24, 1941 with the name of Robert Zimmernan. Born Jewish, Dylan had a Bar Mitzvah but at that time he was not very religious. Later Dylan converted to Christianity and made a religious Christian album. But in the later years of his life he found that he was back to being Jewish. in many of his songs the lyrics send a Jewish message. Like when he tells the story of abraham in the song highway 61. Today Bob Dylan considers himself to be a very religious Jew.

His early songs became anthems in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements. His big mentors included Woody Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot. Dylan’s first protest song was “The Death of Emmett Till,’’. His most famous protest songs were written in a period of 20 months, from January 1962 to November 1962.

Bob Dylan’s Civil Rights songs include:

“The Times they are A-Changing”, “ Oxford Town”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Death of Emmet Till”, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol”, and “Hurricane.”

Hurricane is a song about a man named Hurricane Carter who was wrongly accused of a murder. In it, Dylan writes: “To the white folks he was a revolutionary bum, no one had doubted that he had pulled the trigger.” Another famous quote from that song is “How can the life of such of a man be in the palm of some fool’s hand. To see him obviously framed, couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed. To live in a land where justice is a game.” I think this song is really good at sending the message of discrimination.

“Oxford Town” is a song about the riots in Oxford, Mississippi after the first black student was admitted to the University of Mississippi in the year 1962. “Guns and clubs followed him down, all because his face was brown.” “He came into the door, he couldn’t get in, all because of the color of his skin.”

Another Jewish folk singer, Phil Ochs was born December 19, 1940 in El Paso, Texas. After writing several 60’s protest songs, he developed bipolar disorder and became an alcoholic. This led to his death in 1976 at the age of 35. Ochs was influenced by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Elvis Presley. He was very much in the shadow of Bob Dylan and also wrote a song about Oxford, Mississippi called “The Ballad of Oxford.” Known to most as a protest musician, Ochs preferred to call himself a “singing journalist,” simply stating what he saw in the news.

Another famous song by Phil Ochs is “Here's to the State of Mississippi “. Ochs wrote this song the day 19 suspects accused of murdering 3 civil rights workers were allowed to go free. This song shows Phil Ochs’ anger against this racism. Some important quotes from that song are:

“For under her borders the devil draws no lines. If you drag her muddy river nameless bodies you will find.”

Another quote from this song is:

“Where they’re teaching all the children they don't have to care. All the rudiments of hatred are present everywhere. and every single classroom is a factory of despair. Nobody’s learning such a foreign word as fair.”

A few years older than Phil Ochs, Peter Yarrow was born May 31, 1938. He is known for being in the band, Peter, Paul and Mary. The Weavers influenced him to become a folk singer. Peter, Paul and Mary played protest songs in 1963 at a march in Washington led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Yarrow received the Allard K. Lowenstein Award, in 1982, for his "remarkable efforts in advancing the causes of human rights, peace and freedom."[11] In 1995, the Miami Jewish Federation recognized Yarrow’s continual efforts by awarding its Tikkun Olam Award for his part in helping to "repair the world.”

Some famous protest songs made popular by Peter Yarrow, include: If I Had a Hammer, No Easy Walk to Freedom, and We Shall Overcome, In “No Easy Walk to Freedom” Yarrow is comparing America’s struggle with South Africa’s:

“We lived it, you know that it’s true. Nelson Mandela, now we’re walking with you.” “In our land not so long ago we lived in the struggle and that’s how we know. Slavery abolished, coming freedom’s call, keep on walking and apartheid with fall.”

Two of the most famous songs of the sixties are Peter Paul and Mary’s “We Shall Overcome” and “If I had a Hammer.” Both give the message that freedom will be attainable throughout all of the country for all people.

Another famous Jewish musician of the Sixties is Arlo Guthrie. He was born in 1947 to a Jewish mother, although the famous folk singer Woody Guthrie, Arlo's father, was Protestant. Arlo’s Grandmother was a famous yiddish poet. Arlo had a Bar Mitzvah but at the age of 30 converted to Catholicism. Arlo Guthrie's protest songs were about the Vietnam War and not the Civil Rights movement but I wanted to mention him as another Jewish protest musician.

The Grandfather of protest songwriters, Abel Meeropol was a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx. After seeing a picture of a lynching, Abel Meeropol was horrified and could not get it out of his mind so he wrote the song, “Strange Fruit,” first as a poem and then put music to it. He wasn’t a singer, so he asked Billie Holiday to record the song.

Here are some of the lyrics from “strange Fruit:”

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees.”

Meeropol published “Strange Fruit” in 1937 so it is not a song of the Sixties, but I wanted to include him as a Jewish protest songwriter anyway.

Born in 1941 in Newark, New Jersey to Hungarian Jewish parents, Paul Simon became one of the most famous protest song writers of the Sixties. As a child, Paul Simon was interested in music, writing his first song at the age of 12 or 13. The song was called “The Girl for Me.” He wrote the song to be played with his friend Art Garfunkel who was also born in 1941 and also Jewish. They grew up three blocks away from each other in Queens, NY. Together they became know as the group Simon and Garfunkel, with Paul Simon writing songs and Art Garfunkel singing the harmony.

One of the most famous protest songs by SImon and Garfunkel is “He Was My Brother.” It was written about a college friend of theirs who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. Some lyrics from the tune are:

“An angry mob trailed along
They shot my brother dead"

"He was my brother and he died so his brothers could be free.”

This shows empathy for the victim who was a close friend, almost like a brother.

Another famous song of Simon and Garfunkel is “A Church is Burning.” This song was written in 1965 and tells the story of the Klu Klux Klan burning a African American church. Some significant lyrics from the song are:

“Three hooded men through the back road did
creep torches in their hands while the village lies asleep”

Another one is:

“You can burn down my churches but I shall be free .”
and

“Freedom is a dark road when you walking it alone. The future is now, its time to take a stand so the lost bells of freedom can ring through my land.”

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with being Jewish. There are many Jewish values as well as history that may influence Jews to have a strong belief in equal rights.

One Jewish value is Tikkun Olam: to repair the world, suggesting that Jewish musicians wanted to fix the racism that existed in America at the time. Others like Gimmie-loot Hhh-a-see-deem- acts of loving kindness and V’Ah-havta I’ray-eh-hhhha k’moe-khhhha- Love your neighbor as yourself suggest a deep background of peace in the Jewish culture.

Some Jewish holidays, such as Hannukah, Purim, and Passover commemorate victories over persecution, similar to the experience of African Americans in the U.S.

When we celebrate Hannukah, we celebrate the memory the Maccabees. These brothers and their small army of followers fought the Greco-Syrian empire for Jewish freedom. The Jewish temple was destroyed by Anti-ochus and his army who did not allow Jewish people to practice our religion. The Maccabees then took back the temple and the right to practice their religion.

Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, stopped the King of Persia from killing the Jewish people. In this story from the bible, Esther was picked to be the King’s bride although the King did not know she was Jewish. Haman, the King’s assistant, organized persecution of the Jewish population. Haman tried to make Mordechai, Esther’s cousin, bow down to him, against Mordechai’s Jewish religion. He eventually got the King’s permission to kill all the Jewish people. Esther decided to save them, by telling the King of her Jewish background.

Moses and the Passover story are another good example of protesting Jewish persecution in holidays that we celebrate. The Pharaoh of the time was afraid that the ever- growing Jewish population would overthrow the Egyptian kingdom so he enslaved the Jewish people to stop this. He also demanded that every Jewish baby boy be drowned in the Nile River. But one boy was laid in a basket and floated down the Nile to safety. When the Pharaoh's daughter found the boy floating she took him and the royal family adopted him as raised him as their son. They named the boy Moses. When Moses grew to be a man, he learned of his Jewish background and noticed all the slavery being done to the Jewish people. Moses went to the Pharaoh and demanded the he let the Jewish people go. Moses then led them through the desert and out of Egypt.

These stories that are passed down teach Jewish children that we have gone through persecution and we should never let it happen to other people. These lessons taught the musicians of the civil rights movement to stand up for other people. Jewish values and holidays encourage us to love our neighbor as ourself and how to treat all people with respect.

While researching this project I was able to learn of how Jewish musicians of the nineteen- sixties stood up for the rights of African Americans. I learned about how Jewish values and holidays influenced them to fight for freedom. Through this project I have learned so much history about the songs and music as well as of the Civil Rights movement itself. These songs that were written by Jewish songwriters became one of the most important parts of the Civil Rights movement. Known as the “anthems of the sixties” these songs changed our country and called attention to the racism of that time. Values that had been passed down through Jewish families teach us that all people's rights are equal. Learning the stories behind our holidays, we learn that we have gone through persecution and we should never let it happen to other people. I now know so much more about the writing of protest songs in the sixties and I hope that after listening to my presentation, you do, too .

                                                             Here is some of my art

                                                   Here is a little video of me

About home schooling

From starting home-schooling, what has surprised me the most is that I could have such a good time while I was working. Very few days pass where working is a challenge because I can decide to work in my own way. Getting the chance to take breaks from my work occasionally helps me to work more fluently when I come back to working. Home-schooling is a very enjoyable way to learn. I am very happy that I decided to home-school.

My favorite part of home schooling is getting to play my music more often and I now get the chance to make a drawing or two. Playing guitar and banjo is the most important part of my life. Before, when I was enrolled in public school, I didn't get enough time to practice music because of my tight schedule. Now that I am home-schooled I get more of a chance to practice multiple times per day. I also love to draw, which I can get to do a couple times a month because of home-schooling.

Two of my favorite things, that I have learned about while home-schooling are, different parts of the body and beginning Spanish. I find knowing body parts is an important skill to know because later, I can know if something would be unhealthy for me. I find it interesting because I never knew such amazing things were inside of me. I think that learning Spanish is a very important skill because were I live many people know very little English and only speak Spanish. Someday, if I speak Spanish fluently it will be easier to communicate with the people who live in my city. 

If I could change one thing about home schooling it would be the Connecticut state law for home-schooling. In the law it does not require a student to learn science. I disagree with this because I think that science is a very important subject. If a person does not learn science then they will not understand what their college teachers are teaching them after they are done with home-schooling. Not only is science a important life subject but it also can be very fun to learn. I enjoy science very much and I think all students should have as much fun as I do when studying.

Home-schooling is quiet different from standard schooling. I enjoy getting home-schooled much more than public school. In home-schooling, I can relax as I do my work. I feel that I learn a lot more through home-schooling. When I went to school, we may have worked for about four of the seven hours I was there. During home schooling more of those hours are spent learning.

Every Friday I go to a outdoors camp for home-schoolers. All day from 9:00 to 3:00 we hike into the woods were we build fires, play games, sing songs, track animals, do a nature observation type of meditation called "Sit-Spots", as well as other exiting and enjoyable activities. This camp is called Two Coyotes Wilderness School. I have had the most wonderful time at Two Coyotes. It is located on a farm in Connecticut. My favorite part of home-schooling is Two Coyotes. Our normal day would start with a group meeting were we all say what were grateful for and sing a song. Then we pick a game to play and we play it at a grassy area next to the river. After were done with that, we take a hike into the woods. Occasionally we will stop during the hike to admire the garden that is on the path or eat some wild grapes or other types of wild plants. When we are done hiking we stop at our fire pit were we sit on logs and eat a snack. Then our instructors teach us to build a fire using a bow drill or flint and steel. Later, we play another game then eat lunch. After lunch, we do an activity that our instructor has chosen. Some days it's tracking animals, others it is making a mold of an animal foot print. After that we will do our sit-spots. Everyday we do our sit-spots. Sit-spots are a form of meditation were each student goes to a special place in the woods by themselves and observes all the nature and animals around them. After going to a sit-spot many times you begin to have a spiritual connection to the place where you do your sit-spots. Sit-spots defiantly are one of my favorite parts of the day. Then we all sing a song and hike back.

Some of my music

Here are some videos of me playing my guitar and banjo. One of them is with my band G Rockwell and the still river ramblers.