Last-Minute Holiday Shopping (or should I say Crafting)

This week, Tapestry is celebrating amazing events! McKenna and Marisa are turning 18! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Also, we are having a White Elephant gift-giving party on Monday for the holidays! (And speaking of amazing events, Jessica Server, our guest speaker on Wednesday, was amazing)

Below is a guide to the greatest gifts for everyone on your list (or Santa’s) this holiday season/for their upcoming birthdays/just because. These gifts are, as they say, TAPA-CHIC (S/o Jaagrit)

• Coupon book in hand, buy pillow stuffing from your favorite crafts store. Gather your knitting needles and a copy of Tapestry 2012-2013, which you have on hand at your bedside table beneath a mug of tea, Starbucks, or tea from Starbucks. Knit a throw pillow with a front and back design matching last year’s Tapestry.
• Ride a bicycle to your nearest thrift store. Select the finest in vintage T-shirts. Turn them into high-waisted skirts. Pair with a Tapestry T-shirt. (A gift for non-members only, of course)
• Bake slutty triple brownies and arrange in individual cupcake tins. Place inside a vintage handcrafted découpage box wrapped in twine.
• Procure an encyclopedia from the local used bookstore. Sit down by your scrapbooking drawer. Cut out a keyhole shape from the second ¼ of the pages to create a hidden space. Select pages at random, and circle words for a blackout poem using light pencil lines. In your earth tone scrapbooking paper, cut out holes for each word of your blackout poem, and use a glue stick to secure the piece of scrapbook paper onto the page. Like you would for a textbook, use newspaper to create a book cover and secure with double-sided tape.
• Six different colored and different sized children’s books such as The Giving Tree, The Kissing Hand, The Polar Express, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Eloise, Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• A basic gift certificate to ModCloth.com
• A basic thirty-year subscription to Netflix
• Louder Than a Bomb and Freedom Writers on DVD
• Audiobooks of Stephen King’s body of work along with a hard copy of On Writing (for those unfortunate friends and family members who haven’t taken Creative Comp)
• Sets of erasable pens and calligraphy pens
• Scrounge the aforementioned local used bookstore for a first edition or marked-up copy of The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (which is what Eleanor gets Park in Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell!)
• A functional record player (Make sure your loved one does not already own one) and records he or she would like on vinyl (He or she will need something to play on it) with personal notes written on the backs underneath the song lists
• Gather your ten best pieces of writing or art from throughout your life. Sew and glue together like publishing companies would with a real book (More detailed instructions available online.) Allow five pages for a handwritten letter.
• Apparel from the college of his or her choice/his or her alma mater (which is what my parents got each other this year!)
• Write ten handwritten letters on ten different kinds of stationery, one each day for ten days. Make sure to date each. Use pen. Write first drafts. Write impromptu. Write about little memories and long opinions. Write about nothing. Lick to seal. Write his or her name on each one. Tie together with white or lilac twine. Or mail one a day (two on Saturday for Monday).

HAPPY EARLY HOLIDAYS AND NEW YEAR! (since this is my last post for 2013) Love, Dani

Tapestry Fashion

Tapa-Chic

Etymology: This term derives from a village set deep in the tumultuous, offset hills of Greenland. The fertile ground of this village allowed for growth of healthy cotton, for selling and vast pastures, for grazing.  The sheep and the rabbits that grazed in these pastures were sheered for their soft and high-quality wool. The old maidens and two warriors that lived in these parts experienced lack of connection from rest of the surrounding world and thus had their very own eccentric sense of clothing. Their culture and traditions were different. Their clothing style had developed from their own imagination and captured the maidens’ true essence and spirit. Their clothing had the appearance of a 19^th century tapestry, and was intricate and inspiring. It was a cold winter, when a man who worshipped fashion accidentally stumbled on the village on a hiking trip that he coined the term, Tapa-chic. He was awestruck by the unique clothing and the variety of styles that he immediately proposed a fashion magazine story based on the village, and brought this term into the main scene.

Definition: Adj- A style of clothing often seen on and worn by the elite members of Tapestry’s senior staff. It is a defining characteristic of someone who has worked their way up to Senior Staff. The clothing is often thrifted, hand-me-downed, or once in a while handcrafted. It inspires future trends and sets the tone for the rest of the school.

Usage:
Ex.        Becky: “OMG! That girl’s outfit is so on point, and different. I wish I looked like her."

 Sandra: “Same. Hail to the Tapa-Chic”

Ex.        Sharkeisha: “I am devotedly in lahve with the outfits that people of QRT 176 were sporting  today. I felt I was viewing a fashion show in reality. I was so dumbstruck. It was… How do  you say.. .TAPA-CHIC!”

Ex.        Vogue Editor: “I feel this month’s issue is SOOO Tapa-Chic, that it is bound to skyrocket  sales like never before!”

STAY TAPA-CHIC

JAAGRIT

TAPESTRY AND MANUSCRIPT STAFF ROLES

Hey everyone, these are the roles of the Tapestry and Manuscript staff!

Tapestry Staff - Roles and Responsibility

Editor-In-Chief – McKenna Trimble

Head of Layout- Faith Kim/ understudy Maria Burns

Secretary/ Treasurer- Megan Markovitz /asst. Maria Burns

Communications- Rachel Stein/ asst. Sophie Rodosky

Submissions- Juliet Millard/ asst. Bailey Yousem

Art Liason- Emma Lloyd

Technology & Website Creator – Stephen Polcyn

Marketing – Sarah Ssemakula/ asst. Che Esch

Social and Spirit – Jaagrit Randhawa

Social Media/ Busking Liason – Emily Fabiszewski

Grammarian- Emily Katz/ asst. Che Esch

 

Manuscript QRT – Roles and Responsibilities

 

Head of Manuscript- Adlai Nelson

 

Tutors:

McKenna Trimble

Dani Burton

Emily Katz

Marisa Acevedo

Habiba Shalaby

 

Underclassmen Tutors:

Che Esch

Sophie Rodosky

Tapestry Open Mic Recap

High school is often stressful. Life can get pretty busy between the tests, extracurricular activities, friends, and really good TV. But occasionally there are opportunities when your peers are able to teach you life lessons, lessons that can't be learned in a classroom. These are opportunities to appreciate your classmate's skills and creativity. At a recent Tapestry open Mic I was reminded of the immense talent that my friends posses. The diverse performances, which ranged from music to slam poetry, left me with renewed motivation to appreciate the universal high school tribulations that each student faces.

Below please enjoy some of the beautiful faces of the talented FC Tapestry students and friends.  

-Rachel Stein

December Blog Schedule

Hey Tapestry Staff! Here's the blog schedule for December! Make sure you check it out and blog on the day you're assigned. Happy December (:

Dec. 7 - Dani

Dec. 8 - Megan

Dec. 9 - Stephen

Dec. 10 - Jaagrit

Dec. 11 - Emily F. 

Dec. 12 - Adlai

Dec. 13 - Bailey

Dec. 14 - Maria

Dec. 15 - Rachel

Dec. 16 - Habiba

Dec. 17 - Che

Dec. 18 - Marisa

Dec. 19 - Emily K. 

Dec. 20 - Faith

Dec. 21 - Sarah

Dec. 22 - Emma

Dec. 27 - McKenna

Dec. 28 - Juliet

Dec. 29 - Sophie

December Manuscript Schedule

December Manuscript Schedule

2 - NO SCHOOL

3 - Marisa (McKenna)

4 - Habiba (Dani)

5 - McKenna (Adlai)

6 - Dani (Emily)

9* - Adlai (Marisa)

10 - Emily (Habiba)

11 - Marisa (McKenna)

12 - Habiba (Dani)

13 - McKenna (Adlai)

16* - Dani (Emily)

17 -  Adlai (Marisa)

18 - Emily (Habiba)

19 - Marisa (McKenna)

20 - Habiba (Dani)

December 23 - January 1 ~ NO SCHOOL

* - SQRT days

Pixar

I'm a massive pixar fan. I have been ever since I remember.  For me, pixar movies are really the only great animated movies. When compared to other studios (DreamWorks, Disney) nothing can come close to pixar.  For me, this is probably because of the richness of the characters, the incredible character development, the creativity, and the storytelling.  Every line and scene in the movie leaves you at the edge of you seat and anticipating the story. The layered, relatable characters keep you emotional involved the whole movie. The witty detail makes their fantasy world believable. This is what I like to use to justify my love of pixar, but I have to admit some of it comes from nostalgia. Also pixar shorts. Enough said.
Here are some useful pixar tips for storytelling that always motivate me.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#2: You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won't see what the story is actually about til you're at the end of it. Now rewrite.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#8: Finish your story, let go even if it's not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
#9: When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you've got to recognize it before you can use it.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it's poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it.

sorry for the late post!

-Emma

Also, if the month change has gotten you in the Christmas mood like it has for me, I recommend listening to Sufjan Steven's Christmas album.  They're the kind of Christmas songs that aren't annoying.

source:
http://aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/07/pixars-22-rules-of-storytelling/