Scrolls from Sir Charlie

During the last two weeks, I have been working at the IIIC ( Irish International Immigrant Center ), in Boston. They help immigrants from over 120 countries to become citizens of the United States. Our family friend, Ronnie Millar, is the Executive Director there, and he very kindly allowed me to intern with him for the two weeks that I was on school vacation. During my time there, I did a variety of things, including, helping out in some of the classes, delivering and picking up packages (some containing tasty sandwiches), and organizing a great variety of cords. I also had to dress nicely, and get up early, neither of which was a problem for me. Due to snow days, and other time constraints, I only had the opportunity to attend and assist in two classes, the first was an English class and the second was class to help immigrants learn some technology basics. During the English class I sat next to a man from Mexico, who used to be a teacher before he moved here, now, I’m pr...

Colorado Friday, February 16, 2018 : Dad and I left our house as Mom arrived home just in time to say goodbye to us. We took a Lyft to Santarpio’s Pizza (my dad’s favorite pizza place) before heading to Logan airport. We got a shrimp pizza as well as a meat lovers pizza. I preferred the meat lovers because I did n’t. We took another Lyft to Logan airport and quickly made our way through security and into our gate. During the flight I watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 for the first time, then my computer died so I was forced to watch mind dulling boring cable shows and doze off. When we arrived in Denver, we grabbed our bags, walked through the airport until we got outside. As we got outside, Neil (a college friend of my dad’s who lives in Denver) pulled up with almost perfect timing to pick us up. We were staying at Neil’s house for the first night before we headed to Vail. Neil’s house was crazy, it had a massive kitchen (because he is a really good cook), ...

The Art of Documentary Filmmaking For the past three weeks, I’ve been working on a documentary about the access to healthy foods. We interviewed five different people who have access to healthy foods as a large part of their life, whether personal or helping others in their access. For the first week we learned about the technical aspect of the product, we watched various different documentaries and learned about what made them good. We had to know what angles and scenes would make good content. We learned the importance of what was not in the picture as well as what not to show. Every time we took a picture or a short video, we had to keep in mind the light sources, depth of field (how deep the focus goes in order to highlight what we want), rule of thirds (to try to keep the main subject in one of the thirds of the frame, rather than the middle), the composition (What is actually in the frame and why) as well as many more things. After learning all of the...

Last Monday, I started a new studio (aka a class) at NUVU called the art of documentary filmmaking. The goal of this studio is to make a short documentary about accessibility in the next three weeks. All of last week we talked about the technical aspects, getting used to the cameras and trying to figure out the best angles. Specifically, we learned about: “Rule of Thirds” (which is when you place your main object in the crosshairs of the camera located every third of the image) The depth of field (the object that is not in focus, is more or less in focus depending on what the depth is) The composition (what is in the frame, is just as important as what is out of the frame) Different kinds of light (natural, artificial, etc.) We watched a few short documentaries and talked about what made them good, for example, the camera angles, the lighting, depth, etc. I think I want to make a documentary about disabled people in wheelchairs, or the similar...

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 hav e 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 sho...

There’s a demon in my attic I see water dripping from my roof I pack my bag with snacks and tools To help me find my proof I climb sneakily on a stool Ascending upwards to the room Sweat flowing down my cheeks As I contemplate my doom I see stacked boxes in a wall That could be hiding the beast My mouth curves in appall As I imagine myself as his feast I jump to reach my goal To see a large shadow And in hand my vicious ski pole I run at my foe To see him turn with a spade I realized he only wanted to make a garden He wore a sweater that was crocheted I slowly considered a pardon Realizing he only wanted a garden

For the past few years, I have not been in traditional public school as often as most other families. A few years ago, my immediate family and I took six months off of work and school for a six-month-long sabbatical.  We visited many famous places around the world around Asia and Europe. Also, last spring, I took off two weeks from school to go on a trip with my grandmother to England, France, and Holland. I took off the rest of the school year after the trip and homeschooled mainly using Khan Academy. I mainly practiced Algebra 1, so that I could take Geometry at the high school as an eighth grader. In truth, I really disliked doing multiple hours of math every day, but I had to in order to stay out of the Healey school for math the following year (this year). Currently, I am liking Geometry as well as the teacher, Mr. Morgan. He is a very nice guy with an odd sense of humor. You can't really tell whether he’s joking sometimes or if he believes what he’s saying, however, ...