2009 April (3)

Archive for April, 2009

Beat

Monday, April 20th, 2009

BEAT to your own rhythm

Beat by beat, and symbol by symbol,

smashing through your head,

bleeding through your bones,

rambling through your voice, and jumping out your toes,

let it slide across floor of wood slate and brick,

it runs out runs out and out, further out then ever before,

breathe it in, let it bloom,

colors vibrant as the veins that course under your skin of heavenly descent,

pouring out through cracks holes and splinters,

bursting through skin, sliding amongst teeth, lips, and you, and me,

smiles and handshakes, greetings and goodbyes,

kisses of charity, those of lust, beauty, love and all in between,

manners of shimmers upon hands,

grazes, grips, and grasps, gasps of life and the love we lead,

opposites run amidst those that fly,

those that crawl, and the others that swim

among waves of crashing, flowing, and dripping,

watch the ocean float by in a bath tub

and a hurricane hit you in a shower

watch mist gleam on silk skin, and silvery mirrors,

watch it breath against your own breath,

watch it burn away the chill, watch it rip through cold and sad,

let it wash amongst your tears, let soap bubbles float along,

let them pop and fizzle, falling out as you will one day do,

only wish for it to not come to soon, wish as i do,

for it shall not come as soon as you will think,

grays and blacks will fight there way into you,

see in color, block them out, rage through life in a beautiful grace

step your step in the way you wish to step,

dance your dance to your own music,

sing your song to your own tune,

let the words flow between your teeth,

let them gleam in the light of day, let that moment be yours,

one and only, never again shall it come as they wish,

it will be yours, as mine will be mine,

one day, you and i, shall write a song to our own tune,

and dance a dance with our own steps,

our own beats and measures,

one day you and i will have a moment that is simply ours,

until that day, dance your dance, and sing your song, live your life,

scream out against all those that would speak against you.

Emery Kate Tillman

Tags: high school, poetry
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This picture is of the bridge over the New River in West Virgina. I took this picture when photo class had a field trip to place in West Virgina. This picture is taken at a 25 shutter speed. It has an aperture of 4. The focal length is 55mm, and the ISO is 200.
I took this picture to represent lines and pattern. It also shows the rule of thirds with one third being the sky, another third being the bridge, and the last third being the trees. The picture leads you to the end of the bridge, a leading line. All of the crosses in the bridge architecture are a pattern. The keep on repeating itself. The bridge is 877 feet tall, and you can only walk on it, or jump off of it on bridge day. I took this picture from a lookout deck below the bridge.

Emery

Check out some more pictures from our flickr site.

Tags: high school, photography new river bridge
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Jason Craig’s Chilean Adventure

Monday, April 20th, 2009

Hola gringo amigos! I have been in Chile for the last eight weeks, traveling with New River Academy, an accredited adventure high school for kayakers. This quarter I, along with twelve other students, seven teachers, and coaches paddled, schooled, and experienced all that Chile had to offer.

New River Academy compose a creative group photo near the Rio Fuy, Chile.

The semester started in the town of Pucon, Chile. Pucon is incredibly beautiful, surrounded by massive volcanos, beautiful blue rivers, and steep creeks. Pucon has it all, even bonita chicas en the dusty streets! I would wake up in the warm morning, do morning workout, six periods of classes then go paddling. In Pucon we got to paddle on three rivers; Trancura, Liucura, and the Middle Palguin. Our base is on the Trancura River with an awesome playhole that we would wake up early and do morning sessions on. Then after school we had the option of training in the Liucura hole, or paddling the upper Palguin’s waterfalls. Then on weekends we would walk around Pucon in search of the very best burgers!

NRA’s next stop was the little town of Chosuenco, and the Rio Fuy. My first impression of this place was that it was just a little town, but I slowly fell in love with Choshuenco. We stayed in La Posada, a family owned hostel. Here we lived right with a Chilaen family in rooms above the their restaurant. In between classes I would run to the supermercado across the street and buy a Super Ocho (candy) and a Pepsi in a glass bottle. That kept me going throughout the school day. When we hit the river, we had lots of options. The Upper Fuy had a great waterfall section. The Middle Fuy, which was full of awesome boulder gardens and endless boofs, was another option. Or the Lower Fuy, which was a great beginner run, where we could paddle right down to the lake and walk back to La Posada. Then at night after study hall I would go on walks on the beach and try to speak Spanish with the local girls. When the week was done I was sad to leave Choshuenco.

New River Academy returned to Pucon for a week before we were to leave for the Futaleufu River. I had watched the Kayak Session guide about the Futa and was pretty ecstatic to go visit the famous river. Well, right in the middle of us packing for the Futa, we got news that Volcano Chaiten, near the Futa had erupted. The eruption caused cancellations of our ferry boat ride to Southern Chile. Right away the school came up with an awesome new plan: Pichilemu. Muy grande ocean waves!!

Jason Craig surfs Pichilemu Chile point break.

We loaded into the big silver Mercedes Sprinter and headed to the coast. New RIver Academy arrived in the surfing town of Pichilemu. This is the location of the Quicksilver Tow In Surfing World Championship, so I knew I would not be disappointed by the waves. I had met a few surfer gringos from Santa Cruz that were telling me about this break called “Punta de Lobos” or “Point of the Wolfs,” which consisted of huge 20′ foot sets constantly rolling in. The very afternoon we arrived, we met the wolfs.

You could hear the roar of the wolves standing on the cliff. Huge azul faces would break into massive foam walls, and die out just before the rocks. We suited up and paddled out. We were like rabbits to wolfs: Some of us making it past the fangs, and some of us getting “ragdolled” in their jaws. But, in the end once, we got on that first wave…it is indescribable. Just perfection.

After dos semanas of insanity at Punta de Lobos, we headed to the Maipo River to finish off our last few days of our Chilean trip. Instead of green forests, and blue water, which was what New River Academy has encountered so far during our time in Chile. The Maipo introduced us to the beautiful desert cactus and chocolate water. This river was amazing, truly a desert gem. Big water, sweet playspots, and big rapids like the French Curve made our days there extremely memorable. On my last day in Chile, I visited a Chilean high school to meet Chilean students my age, aced my Bio, Algebra, and Creative Writing Mid Terms, went paddling down the side of a mountain on a crazy river called the Upper Yesso, then had an asada dinner with the awesome people who lived there. That was a good way to end a great adventure in Chile with New River Academy.

NRA students put on the Rio Yesso, Chile.

Big thanks to Huge Experiences for putting together such an amazing trip! Also to all my friends, teachers, and other who were there along the way.

Singing out from a new adventure in West Virginia on 4th quarter,
Jason Craig

Check out Jason Craig’s NRA Blog

Jackson Kayak Team Page

Tags: jason craig, pucon whitewater kayak, rio fuy whitewater kayak, whitewater chile, whitewater kayak video
Posted in Academics, Culture, Kayaking, Whitewater Countries | 1 Comment »

Photo Class: Pichilemu Signs Project

Monday, April 20th, 2009

The surf town of Pichilemu is filled with beautiful paintings and signs. The US would have computer generated and printed signs for advertising. Chile offers artistic wall paintings and supplies one of the most vibrant photogenic towns you can experience.

Photo students compose shots in Pichilemu, Chile.

Palmer Miller, David Gorski, Tracy d’Arbeloff, and Emery Tillman take turns directing photo compositions.

Photography classes in Pichilemu have been one day of planned assignments and shoots, followed by a day of uploading photos to the New River Academy Flickr account.

Two parts to the signs assignment: Capture a photo essay, series of 5 to 6 shots with signs that told a story. Signs must include both artistic and literature style signs.

David Gorski sits in front of this pre-school sign. Translation, “Life with out drugs is best.”

Students take turns directing a shot while other photo students take their turn being models within the compositions.

David Hughes spots a smoking burger and note the drinking fries too.

David Hughes found the smoking hamburger amusing in this boardwalk painting.

Photo class compose shots in front of signs in Pichilemu, Chile.

The colors of this restaurant sign were strong and offered a great contrast to Melina Coogan’s clothing.

Palmer Miller, Dave Gorski, and whale painting.

For more photos from New River Academy surf to the New River Academy Flickr account.

Tags: david gorski, emery tillman, melina coogan, palmer miller, pichilemu chile, tracy d'arbeloff, whitewater kayak photography
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Academic Report: Literature

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

I bet you’re wondering what’s going on recently in New River Academy’s English classes. I commend your curiosity, and now I will reward it, because, as always, there are big ideas, bold writing, and serious studying going on in all five of this quarter’s classes.

The attendants of World Literature are reading what so far has been a smash hit, a most popular book, a novel that has already inspired some to read it in its entirety and pass it off to others outside the class with a whole-hearted recommendation. Three Cups of Tea is the story of Greg Mortenson and the Central Asian Institute. This man has dedicated his adult life to building schools, particularly for girls, in the Karakoram region of Afghanistan. His story is one of persistence, courage and strength in the face of seemingly endless adversity. Each assigned reading is accompanied with thought provoking questions that serve as the basis for our classroom discussions. We begin each class with a writing prompt that helps us relate our own lives to the book. Such prompts have included:

1. Mortenson’s eyes and heart were opened when a poverty-stricken community nursed him back to life after a mountaineering accident. Tell us about an experience that has opened your eyes, and made you think about your place in the world and your impact as an American. Use the extensive travel in your past to give a great example.

2. Mortenson gains strength and inspiration from the trials of his beloved little sister, Christa. Have you ever been inspired by the strength in light of limitations of someone in your life?

The boys of American Literature (I call them the Lone Rangers of American Literature) are enjoying Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. We used this book in Chile as a vehicle to study figurative language, an important element to fiction that Alexie has mastered. We’ve moved on to discussing theme, the meaning of theme and how it can be derived from any story. Currently, Isaac Holden, Jason Craig and Keegan Grady have each chosen a favorite story from the book and are scouring their story line by line to find examples of prevalent themes. In addition to Alexie, we begin each day with a poem from 180 More Poems, a book edited by Billy Collins designed for schools. (There are 180 school days in a year, so the book is designed to provide daily poems.) Although I love teaching Alexie, I am very excited to move on to The Last American Man, because I know the story, set in the Southeast region of the United States, will be very well received and entertaining for this class.

Creative Writing is so far playing with the concept of free association. We begin class by reading aloud poetry from the beat generation, most of which was written on trains and buses. We do most of our traveling in the van, in Jason’s truck or in my car. So while Kerouac’s poem was called “Bus East,” we’ve just wrapped up a series of poems titled “Van North.” Emery Tillman, Stephen Forster and Zach Kathrein record our insights into ourselves and society, just as the beats did, as we cruise through the Southern states at night. We’re starting to add rhyming and free-rhyme association, which gives our poems a slam-poetry, beatnik feel.

Both AP World Literature and AP US Literature are on the home stretch! With the big test in just a few weeks, we’ve put our nose to the grindstone with rigorous practice tests and review. Both Nelson Jones and Palmer Miller are dedicated students who utilize not only the daily hour for class, but also allot an extra hour each evening to test preparation. Best of luck to them!!

Check out more of New River Academy’s academics!

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Rt. 2 Box 245
Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
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Archive for April, 2009

Beat

A picture from the quarter

Jason Craig’s Chilean Adventure

Photo Class: Pichilemu Signs Project

Academic Report: Literature