Tapestry's Underway!

Hey, hey, hey! It’s a new school year, and with that comes a new storm of submissions to Tapestry! For those who don’t know what Tapestry is, it’s the official FCAHS literary arts magazine. We accept student art, photos, poems, short stories and essays. Each year, we sift through the ocean of submissions and choose pieces that reflect the variety of opinions and experiences found at Fox Chapel Area High School. Anything that can be written, drawn, or photographed is eligible!

Once your piece is submitted, it undergoes an anonymous peer-review process to decide if it should be included in this year’s edition of Tapestry. Written material will get a verdict of “In”, “Out”, or “Manuscript”. If a piece shows potential but needs revision, we’ll look up the author and invite him or her to discuss it with the Senior Staff during Manuscript, which is open every day in room 176 during QRT. The selection process is completely open; any student is welcome to join the Tapestry staff by attending the peer-review meetings. They take place every other Thursday, and like Manuscript sessions are in room 176 during QRT.

You can share your materials with us any time between now and February. After that, submissions are closed so that we can plan, edit, and revise the book’s format before publication. The members of Senior Staff work together to create a unique book each year: the Grammarian checks all the written pieces for grammar, Art Liaisons create the book’s cover, and the Head of Layout comes up with preliminary designs and ideas. Then the entire Senior Staff gets together and edits the first drafts of the book...

...Then there’s a party! We’ll hold a publication party in May once the book is finally printed and sent to us. It’s pretty awesome; I’m pretty sure Taylor Swift’s coming. I sent her an email yesterday. I don’t want overhype it, but Taylor Swift could totally be there. So… yeah.

How to submit: If you’re reading this, I assume you’re already on the Tapestry Blog. In that case, click the button on the top right that says “Submit to Tapestry”. It’ll take you to a form where you can fill out information about yourself and your piece, but remember to share it with us on Google Docs too!

Alternately, you can go to tinyurl.com/submit-to-tapestry to access the form.

But there’s more to Tapestry than just submitting to a book! We set up open mics throughout the year -- if you have a slam poem, song, or other performance piece you want to share, the open mics are the place to do it. Tapestry even hosts local speakers who come to share their thoughts or conduct slam poem workshops!

What are you waiting for?
Get writing!

Here's a picture of Taylor Swift lookin' fine.

Open Forum: Who's your favorite superhero?

We're kicking off this school year with an open forum! So, who's your favorite superhero?

Batman?

The Green Lantern?

Spiderman?

...Aquaman?

Or someone else? Why? Comment below!

(p.s It's fun googling superhero memes)

Purple Martins of Lake Chautauqua

 By David Han
This is a repost from the National Geographic Club magazine at https://foxchapelnatgeoclub.wordpress.com - the other version has photography.

Peering up at the circling birds, Jack Gulvin steadily winds the nest box down while expounding upon their biology and habits to the gathered crowd.  To Gulvin, monitoring and caring for the effervescent purple martins that reside in nest boxes surrounding Chautauqua Lake is a time-consuming yet essential task in maintaining the health of the population.  “I started out as a teenager as a birder”, he says, “back in the good old days when my hearing was good enough that I could hear birds … As a typical birder I never paid any attention to purple martins, as they were semi-domestic.”  But after he was put in contact with Louise Chambers, who publishes the quarterly magazine for the Purple Martin Conservation Association, Gulvin quickly began to learn the skills relevant to the bird colony’s upkeep, such as nest cleaning and behavioral observation.  Jack monitors the population size each year for Chautauqua Institution’s Bird, Tree, and Garden Club, and demonstrates his caretaking regimen each Friday to groups of interested passerby, expounding upon the natural history of the birds in a slight, measured drawl.  Describing the reluctance of the fledgling birds, which are preparing to leave the nest, he jokes “There are a lot of parallels between martin society and human society.  Once [the young martins] get to a certain age they may be larger than their parents.  The parents have to call them from outside to get them to leave the nest.”.  A woman from the assembled group chuckled, “Just like my kids!”.

Holding a week-old martin in his calloused hands, Jack Gulvin notes the worried expressions of the surrounding group.  “A lot of people worry about [handling purple martins]… But it doesn’t do them any harm, and the parents come right back. In fact, it’s probably the number one myth in America today, is the idea that if you handle baby birds they’ll be rejected by the parents.  There’s no truth whatsoever to that statement.”.  The common platitude probably stems from the belief that the parents can detect the scent of humans on their young, but birds, according to Scientific American’s Robynne Boyd, have a relatively weak sense of smell due to their limited olfactory capabilities. 

After winding the birdhouse down the pole, Gulvin unlocks the latch securing each individual nest box within the birdhouse and carefully records the number of young in each.  When he notices boxes with very young birds, he gingerly removes them and places them on a nearby tray.  Because of parasites, such as bird fleas and blowfly larvae, the dried white pine needles that the nest is comprised of must be replaced on a regular basis, as the irritation can drive young to leave prematurely and the blowflies will often kill the youngest nestlings.  Despite the reasoning behind intervention, he told us that many audience members still seemed uncomfortable.  Grinning, Gulvin said “I find that once [the audience] sees the blowfly larvae, there’s no more skepticism.”  Due to the nest maintenance, Gulvin says that the survival rate is increased from 50% to 90% during a good year.  That’s good news for the martins, as they have become nearly dependent upon humans due to their near-domestication; since pre-colonial times, the martins have been housed by humans, ranging from Native American gourds hollowed and hung from trees, to the ornate, custom-fit Amish houses that resemble the Victorian homes along the shore of Lake Erie.  Without the care afforded to them by dedicated naturalists and amateurs, purple martins may disappear from the Great Lakes region for good.

Publication

Hello Artists and Writers!

Thank you to all who submitted to the Tapestry magazine this year.  There were a large number of submissions this year, and we enjoyed reviewing all of your work.

We are pleased to announce the students whose work has been accepted for publication in the 2014-15 Tapestry Literary Arts Magazine:

Alexis Buzzatto

Alisa Quemado

Anna Burns

Brendan Valley

David Han

Elena Meth

Eli Berman

Emma Amorose

Emma Paulini

Faith Kim

Gabi Young

Hannah Mueller

Helen Paulini

Ian Gillespie

Ian Tracey

Iris Schaitkin

Izzy Acevedo

Jared Cohen

Jess Hertzberg

Joey Desmone

Joshua Manuel

Julia Lynch

Katherine DiBenedetto

Kat Nestel

Kyla Dean

Lily Hartsock

Madeleine Doerr

Maria Burns

Mary Clare O’Connor

Maura Clark

Natalie Columbus

Nicole Fallert

Nina Mulroy

Natalie Walsh

Rachel Stein

Sarah Ssemakula

Sophie Rodosky

Stephanie Buzzatto

Stephen Polcyn

Will Kolbrener

Congratulations!

We would also like to invite ALL students --whether or not your work was accepted this year-- and parents, siblings, friends, etc. to the Tapestry Publication Party on Tuesday, May 12 from 3:30-5 pm at Hartwood Cafe.
Join us for a casual open mic, light refreshments, and a fun atmosphere as we celebrate the publication of the book.

Thank you again!
Tapestry

Spring Mood

With the comfortable temperatures, soft, lilting breezes, sun that kisses the freckles on your cheeks, tunes of birds splashing in April showers, shy buds of flowers emerging to show their bright complexions, honeyed breath of ambrosia in the wind... 

comes the swell of opportunity, refreshment, joy -

comes Spring.

Enjoy,
~Emma Paulini

Food for Thought

 It seems I have an obsession.

Let’s call it a hobby of sorts.

I used to collect stickers when I was little (I remember the first day I found a wrinkled, faded sticker on the floor, picked it up, and decided it needed friends - the collection made its debut).

Now, it’s recipes.

But not just any recipe drawn from a simple search online such as “what should I eat for dinner?”….

Starting a few years ago, in the dead of winter when the sun disappeared at 4 o’clock, mere minutes (it seemed) after school was let out, I did make a search like that.  After convincing my mom to cook comfort food for that cold winter day, and two substantial helpings of dinner later, I was still yearning more; winter had put an extra oomph into my appetite, physically and creatively.  I needed some comfort food for the brain.  I started looking up all sorts of recipes from cooking channel websites, blogs, family cookbooks in the cabinet, circling and cutting out magazines… I found I was almost addicted to finding yummy recipes!

Along the way, I’ve realized my preferences.  For example, I found out that I really like breakfast, after heading to the breakfast category first in every source I go to (I especially love muffins and waffles).  

A majorly prominent theme I’ve discovered is that I am attracted to healthy recipes.  Now, I know you may be thinking, “hmm, this ‘healthy’ stuff can be kinda sketchy…”

These things are homey awesomeness.

It is true that I enjoy collecting healthy recipes - who doesn’t want to feel good about what they’re eating? - and I’ve grown to love EATING them too!  This all comes on one stipulation…

My major, #1 rule is it has to TASTE great!  

I do not enjoy slogging my way through “healthy” fare when it tastes like bland cardboard.

#2: Be relatively simple to make.

I’ve discovered, I love the challenge of researching kitchen techniques, nutrition, and learning about ingredients and then putting it to use in making food taste great while maintaining its purpose of nourishing.

These are better than burgers! Lots of fresh flavor. Paired with sweet potato fries = great combo.

While time can be sparse within school schedules and activities, when it shows up, it can be relaxing to turn up your favorite music, cook freely, and eat (this is especially fun in the summer).

Within this post are some of my favorites that I can personally recommend (had the curry for dinner yesterday; it gave me inspiration). Plus, they're easy to make! Whether to appeal to your eyes on while reading this post or to your tastebuds on your plate, I hope you enjoy these, too :)

Yum, yum, I love cuisine from around the world.

Beautiful, delicious salad.

Two dessert finalists... this one tastes like mint chip ice cream!! So sweet and creamy, yet good for you.

And finally, perfect for Valentine's Day and PB &chocolate lovers...

munch munch munch...

Happy eating!

Emma Paulini

Tapestry Submission Deadline: FEBRUARY 17

Hello Creative, Artsy Tapestry members,

We are approaching our submission deadline for Tapestry! The deadline is February 17th, less than a month away! We strongly encourage you to submit your work, which can include photography, short stories, poetry, paintings, sketches, sculpture, etc. We would love to see your work in our 2014-2015 edition of the Tapestry book.

Remember, to submit, just click on the "Submit to Tapestry" button on the side of this blog, fill out the form, and share your work with foxchapeltapestry@gmail.com!

Have a wonderful new semester!

SUBMIT, SUBMIT, SUBMIT!

- Emily