NUVU - Studio 1 - Bibliotech

For the last few weeks, I have been at a new school called NUVU Studio in Cambridge, MA. I will be continuing at this school for the rest of the year. 

I have a very different daily schedule than what I did when I was at the Healey School. I wake up at 6:30 in the morning, taking a half an hour to slowly get my brain working. I then eat and do all of my morning activities until 7:30. At that time, I complete about forty-five minutes of math on Khan Academy. After doing Khan, I walk into Davis Square and take the Red Line (subway) to Central Square. I get to school at around 9:00 and usually start work on my project until lunch. I am allowed many more freedoms now, which was quite disconcerting for my first few days. I am still not used to the fact that lunch is an hour long and I'm able to just get up and leave the building without anyone telling me it's lunchtime. After lunch, I work on my project for the rest of the day. To get home, I take the Red Line back and do a short private blog post of what I did that day for the school.

The school is structured around multi-week project "studios," where we work in small groups to fix a problem or create something new.  My assigned studio is called "Bibliotech," where we are following the design process to make an interactive kids' book about a current global problem.  With my partner, we are making an interactive book about a cheetah in Sudan who loses his home after a forest fire. It shows the situation in a kid-friendly way. The book is a children's novel that uses the journey of a Sudanese Cheetah, as he searches for his parents after a destructive wildfire. This is also to represent the ever-growing global refugee crisis.

We made topographical style art that shows the various scenes in the book. The scenes are abstract topography, not necessarily viewed from the top.




These were the scenes that we were able to model, cut, and paint (apologies for the poor resolution -- higher quality photos to follow). The first scene is showing the plains that the cheetah lives in and the second is the fire. I was able to model the next scene and the last scene but unfortunately, I was not able to cut them out due to the extremely long line for the laser cutter.

My partner insisted on doing most of the story, while I did most of the physical aspect.

The Story: 

(PAGE 1) 

Flying through the tall grass, a young Cheetah felt on top of the world.  

Sidi lived his life clear of fear; playing and preying into the mere hours of dawn. 

(PAGE 2) 

Each morning,  Sidi awoke to trees rustling and birds bustling

as he awaited the return of his parents.  

(PAGE 3) 

But as Johnny awoke one day, there were no trees rustling nor any birds bustling.

The young cheetah was met with flames overhead 

and leaped up from bed!  

(PAGE 4) 

With his parents nowhere in sight, Sidi began to fright, 

forced to leave with no time to grieve. 

(PAGE 5) 

Alone and afraid Johnny felt betrayed. 

His home and beloved grasslands destroyed, the inexperienced Cheetah began a journey of no return.  

(PAGE 6) 

With nowhere else to roam, Sidi made his way to a new home.  

Entering a cave, the tired, young, and hungry cheetah looked around without a frown.  r

(PAGE 7) 

This was, until thousands of small, black, bats flew from the ceiling, squealing “Leeeaaaavveeee. Yoouuuu arrreee nottt weeellccoomee heereee.”

(PAGE 8) 

Under the starry night, Sidi, alone, cold to the bone, and now with no home, wandered the forest forlorn.  

Stumbling across a puddle, the young cheetah could not help but examine himself, as he could barely recognize his own reflection in the glowing water.  What was only a few days had felt like years.  

(PAGE 9) 

Sidi began to think back to both his parents and beloved grasslands.  

(PAGE 10)

His father had once told him, "We are blessed to be born on these grasslands that provide us with bountiful food and wide open lands to roam."

Sidi recalled the flames and how it gobbled up the prized land. Amidst the sadness, he could  hear his mother's voice inside his head.

" We are Sudan Cheetahs, known all across the grasslands for our protective fur and distinct spots that mirror our landscape. A single cheetah can chase away viscous jackals and even the golden wolves. Don't ever forget how strong you are."

Tomorrow, we present our project to the entire school (approximately 50 students and 10 adults).  More on that later!