Friday, March 15, 2013

World Premiere of LA Movies

It's here. 
It's what you've been waiting for! 
Are you ready for a Scare? Suspense? Gore? 
"Erin" and "Aaron"
Friday, April 5, 2013
7pm in RMPAC

Student Winterim produced movies made in the 
Return of The Horror, The Horror! 





Check out the blooper video from 
the movie "Aaron."




Republic Reflections

In a country much different from where we attend school, a group of LA Students spent time with the Mariposa DR Foundation working for their school for girls. They returned home yesterday and today we pulled from them some BFO's - Blinding Flashes of the Obvious or "AhHah Moments."

(Some are direct quotes, others are statements we created from listening to them tell their stories. Calle Seis refers to the name of a street the group visited.)

Calle Seis was the moment when I realized we were really doing something to help people.

It's hard to communicate even with words, we met a young girl at the school who was deaf and had no language (sign or speech), yet she found a way to talk with us. Awed and inspired I couldn't imagine what her world must be like.

"As I realized how similar I am to those I met, I stopped thinking of or noticing the severe differences in our life styles."

The hospitality and positive attitude rose high above the impoverished neighborhood we walked through. A little girl on Calle Seis invited me to come over to her. She posed happily for a photo. This stood out for me because the people were so open to us, unlike what it might be like in my home country. 

Dominican Republic -  full of beautiful people with big hearts and open arms.

These girls were able to state their dreams and goals because of the existence of the Mariposa  DR Foundation, in a country where women have few opportunities.

Walking down Calle Seis you can tell the people had so much less than us, yet they were all willing to invite us into their homes, talk with us and share their lives with us. I realized instead, they had so much more than us.

Visiting Calle Seis, seeing the houses of the girls we were working with and the poverty they faced daily was a defining moment for me.

I met a girl who has been deaf and mute her entire life, she wanted nothing more than to give her time and communicate with us.

The kids and adults are so much friendlier, despite the language barrier they still wanted to work with us.

Caribbean Grande

The Rio Grande and Caribbean Kayaking have exhibited amazing skills in "radio" silence. We have heard nothing from them. However, we imagine they are having a blast. 

Photos are from earlier this winter. Not all group members may have been present.

Also they must be tired because of the amount of work they are putting into their travels. Everywhere they go they have to put effort into propelling their canoe/kayak through the water. In addition, they need to set up and break down camp often. Kayaking was with a tribe, while canoeing was with guides. Although, we didn't expect to hear from these groups, we do hope they have safe travels back to us and we get to learn about their experiences soon.

Show Me the Green


Students in Be Your Own Boss are pitching the ideas for their business ventures to a board of investors. The three groups came up with one idea each. The ideas are as follows:

  • A laundry service for the  LA community
  • Cabs and Coffee- an on call taxi service
  • Welcome Home!- a dog training service that trains people how to care for a dog.

The students also went to small businesses to educate themselves about the life of a business owner. The two most recent businesses they visited were Plaster Fun Time, and Harvard Sweets Boutique.

Plaster Fun Time
Harvard Sweets

Creative Endgame

The creativity and reasoning at LA 
is producing astounding products.

The final prep work for a creative strategy game.


Some final Watermedia paintings.


                                        


Final editing for two horror movies.
 















Clay and Kiln ceramic work



Turn, Baby, Turn! final work.


 


Stained Glass Creations

Pura DiversiĆ³n

We just heard from the group in Cost Rica!! The photos they sent are great! Below is the email written to us by the faculty leaders.


Just some quick pictures and an update from the Pura Vida Winterim.....

Costa Rica is headed back after a tiring but fun second week of being on the Las Baulas National Reserve Beach. From learning about mangrove estuaries to experimenting with surfing, the students were able to compare two different ecosystems and lifestyles of rainforest versus beach that exist within one country. They are proud of their hard work and happy to be heading back to their families. 




On the Road

Many on-campus projects go on field trips during Winterim, this includes us, your social media authors or Winterim reporters.  Here are some of the types of places our on-campus Winterim groups have been over the last two weeks:


Art museums
Movie effects studio
Indoor skydiving center
Art studios
Pizza places
Yoga centers
Health and wellness centers and shops



Although your social media authors often visited the on-campus projects right here at LA, we decided to take two road trips, both of which were in NH - Rindge and Richmond.

For a reporter, visiting and researching the topic or group you need to write about is the best way to create a story. We  appreciate all the on-campus groups allowing us to quietly "interrupt" their process to take photos or just sit and listen for a while so we could learn what they were working on. The off-campus or travel groups have also been great with sending in information or posting to their own blogs.

Smoking in New Hampshire

It's so cold!

The studio
Smokey
Yesterday, Clay and Kiln traveled to Rooted in Clay, the business that their instructor, Shana Brautigam, runs out of Ringde, New Hampshire. The facility has multiple pizza ovens as well as the clay ovens and fire pits. They were wood-firing their ceramic pieces. Copper Sulfate (a blue crystal like chemical) was added to the pit after the saw dust was dumped in.  The prepared pieces were systematically placed with the heaviest on the bottom to lightest in the upper layer. While the ceramic creations baked the students made pizza in the home made pizza oven.


Prodding the fire
Enjoying the heat