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What school did you come from ?

Posted by Victoria Odom in Storytelling - Rami - B on

Artist Statement:
What I set out to do is tell my personal story about the different school environments I've been in and compare them with my peers. My work incorporates the art of storytelling because in the video I created, the students are in fact telling there own story about the schools they attended. In the film I ask a series of questions in which they go in depth with their answers so the viewer can possibly relate to some of the stories being told. I hope that the audience gains a better understanding that even though we all come from different school environments we all have the ability to do our best because we all got accepted into SLA and enrolled. I personally gained a better understanding of how to tell a story and one that is not just my own. I feel like making this film helped me gain confidence in myself that I can be storyteller.
​Personal Story:

As a young child I have always loved school, learning new things everyday was always just a wonder to me. Math in particular has always been my favorite subject, there is just something about numbers that I really enjoy. Problem solving has always come naturally to me even in everyday situations, knowing that I have found the solution to things has always been a good feeling. Growing up, I attended a private school called Ivy Leaf located in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia until it closed my 6th grade year in 2008. Ivy Leaf was an all black private school and I loved it there. I still until this day communicate with some of my friends from there. After Ivy Leaf my parents enrolled me into St. Raymond’s an all black catholic school also located in Mt. Airy. My first impressions of the school weren’t so good. It was smaller than what I was use to and I wasn’t entering school with people I knew. After a while I started to warm up to my peers and eventually made friends. Now that I’m in high school enrolling into a public school was a different experience but not that much because SLA is so much different from other Philadelphia public schools. There were a lot of new things I wasn’t use to, such as not having a uniform or dress code, taking public transportation to and from school, using a laptop as my foundation of learning instead textbooks, and having classes that were vastly diverse. At first SLA rubbed me the wrong way but now that I’m a senior I’m actually glad I came here.



Below is a video of me interviewing my peers on their experiences at the school(s) they attended:

Senioritis

Posted by Ayoola Hooks-Gibbs in Storytelling - Rami - B on

Artist Statement:


  I set out to learn about seniors and their struggles throughout this year. How my work incorporated the art of story telling was by incorporating different thoughts and answers to the questions I asked. To make it have that type of story flow, I incorporated how I felt during this senior year. What I hope the audience gains is insight on how other seniors felt during this year, and whether it was similar to how they feel or not. What I gained from doing this work was that, the majority of the students I interviewed had the same answers, and they were more laid back during there senior year.


Senioritis-A lack of motivation by  students who are close to graduating, which  also includes laziness and a lack of studying.

  Every single thing distracted me this year as a senior, I’m actually pretty surprised how I was given A’s in the majority of my classes this year. My procrastination kicked in five time stronger than it was in 11th, 10th and 9th. I have a lot of regrets as student this year, because I wish I was more organized. I wish I was able to just complete the assignments instead of day dreaming or binge watching series. At the beginning of the year, I was a go getter as always, then I get comfortable, and lazy. I began to get side tracked by other things, I was always distracted by either something or someone.

 

  After a couple of months, school was no longer a place where I was able to peacefully do my work. Instead of doing my assignments in school I would wait until I got home to do my work. Home, wasn’t a place to do work either, I didn’t know what I was able to do to over come my procrastination and senioritis. I began to make check lists for myself every week, including the different assignments and projects that were due each week. I had to make the change to become more organized, because when in college, I won’t have the time to procrastinate and wait until the last minute.


  This senior year,has widened my eyes to the things that I never really payed much attention to. I’ve learned from my mistakes in order to not make those same mistakes in the future. I intended to better myself, so I could become more organized, but I never knew how that was going to happen, or how I would discipline myself to became this person I wanted to be and become after high school in a learning area. 


Media: Podcast

Can You Dance!

Posted by Shanayia Roland in Storytelling - Rami - B on

Dancing is an act of expression, through this project I hoped to show that anybody could dance as long as they were able to move there bodies. In my proposal I aimed to show many people dancing but I was inspired to do interviews and show videos of different types of dance to show the broadness and variety of different types of dance. The wide variety of dance shows the story that dance has evolved so much that it has become different forms and there are many different opinions on dance which shows the story that dance is what we make it. I hope the audience gains the confidence to never say that they can't dance. I want the audience to feel able to understand that dance is just a physical form of expression that is supposed to be fun and not over thought. I was gained a scene of enjoyment and happiness from this project. While doing this project I realized how much, I myself enjoy dancing and the excitement of watching other dance/ express themselves. I feel as if this project helped me to know how I can relieve stress later in life and what I can do as a hobby.

Qrt. 4 Benchmark

Posted by Korah Lovelace in Storytelling - Rami - B on

I wanted to create a  visual story that depicted inequality in the U.S and how young people grow up masked by their surroundings. I think it is important to show how helpless and innocent children are in a world ruled by adults. My work incorporates storytelling by using the worlds of a song and footage to match my interpretation of those words. I hope my audience gains a perceptive of a child in a world of corruption with very little assistance to escape poverty. By doing this project I gained a lot of experience editing film and trying to depict an ever changing vision.  


Song: Double Dipping 

Artist: Subliminal Orphans (My Uncle’s Band) 


Footage of Military and U.S events I didn’t tape myself:  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsRRwcF31b8&app=desktop  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V1SCWOXJbc  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0VQH8hODlo  


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq5oGwQL-bU   


Statistics: 


http://www.yesican.org/stats.html  


http://broadeducation.org/about/crisis_stats.html   

Rhen Wars: Battle for Superiority

Posted by Jonathan Spencer in Storytelling - Rami - B on

​You are the Supreme Overseer of your own army of Warriors, Spell-casters, Assailants or Mythical Creatures.
You must fight to the last man in a battle for magical energy, or Rhen. The purpose of the game is to deplete another players Rhen, or to have the most Rhen at the end of the game, which would be when a player has run out of cards to draw.
Each deck type comes with 5 different types of cards in it. You have Soldiers which are your basic units. Generals are more powerful units that cost more Rhen to summon, but have more powerful effects. There are three main types of effects: BattleCries, which activate when they are first summoned; Last Wishes, which activate upon death; and Secrets which allow a card to be face-down where it can't be revealed to an opponent unless you choose to. Generals and soldiers cannot attack the turn they are summoned. The Overlord is the sole most powerful card in the deck. They can attack the turn they enter the playing field. All of these cards named cost Rhen which is the number on the left side of the card and you must pay from your Rhen pool to do so. Every player starts out with 50 Rhen and every turn after the first, each player gains 20 Rhen a turn. At the start of the turn each player draws one card. 
The last two card types are Flashes and Barricades. Barricades defend the user himself from attacks on enemy monsters when they have nothing else to defend themselves with. You can only have three Barricades in play and Barricades don't cost any Rhen. Flashes are instants that can be activated from the hand at any point and are generally cheaper than most other cards in the terms of Rhen cost.

Each player's turn takes place in this order. Start Phase, Main Phase, End Phase.
There is no Start Phase during the first turn but for every turn after that the Start Phase is the time where a player draws a card and gains 20 Rhen to their total Rhen cost. The Main Phase is where everything goes down. You can summon, and activate Flashes as much as you want, as long as your Rhen is greater than 0 by the End Phase. During the Main Phase you can also initiate combat between a Soldier, General, of Overlord and an enemies Soldier, General, Overlord, Barricade or player. When a combat is initiated, there is a time for any effects to be added on to any item within the combat. After that one items, Attack/Health, which is the first and second numbers on the right side of the card, is compared to another items, Attack/Health. If the first item has a higher Attack then the second items Health or vice versa then said item dies. When a Soldier, General or Overlord die from a combat then the other player gains however much Rhen it says on the card to their total Rhen pool. This is not the case if it died from a card effect. During the End Phase, any changes made to the Attack/Health of something on the field become 0, and any damage dealt to something that didn't kill it goes away as well.

That's all the rules and here is a printout that you can use to have games with your friends. There are even some blanks cards if you want to card your own. Have fun!!
Artist Statement:
When I made this card game I set out to get rid of all the things I dislike about other card games that I play, like Magic: The Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters. Each battle tells a story about the prowess of a player and in a match of say, 3 or 5 you end of telling a story of the Rhen Wars. How the Mythical Creatures devoured the Warriors, or how the Spell-casters enchanted the Assailants into defeat. How the Warriors, killed all the Spell-casters; Or how the Assailants hunted the Mythical Creatures into extinction. The battle can go anyway and each one tells it's on story and is different from any other. I hope that when the audience plays my game they will find it enjoyable, and I hope to learn how people grasp to new ideas.

The Beginning of the New End by Byshera Moore-Williams

Posted by Byshera Moore-Williams in Storytelling - Rami - B on

Artist Statement:


I have always been a fan of science fiction. X-Men was one of my favorite shows as a child. I had never worked with it before so I set out to write a science fiction story and make a diorama of one moment in the story. I ended up making a digital image instead for two reasons. One I think that it looks cleaner and more put together. Two I didn't really have time to make and paint all of the parts I would have needed for a diorama. My work incorporates storytelling because I wrote a story that you can draw your own images from and an image that you can make your own story out of. I have gained the knowledge of working with a new genre and another change to improve my digital art skill. I hope that my audience gains some enjoyment and appreciation of the genre the way I always have.


Intro:


The year is 4040. There is a new world order. In 2050 there was an uprising of the third world countries and the impoverished of Americas. The battle resulted in nuclear bombing and air strikes. But those would were once on the bottom came out on top. Now the world is built of an artificial atmosphere and so run buy the fat king and queen. There are now only three classes with three gods. Pigs for the extremely wealthy. Owls for the middle class that is thought to be wise and rats for the lowest class.  This is the story of Cyferia a young girl in the Owl class. She, her mother, and her grandfather are on the way to Prince Irose manner so that he and Cyferia may be married.


The beginning of the new end:


Another day in Athasar. Its a perfect seventy five degrees.The factories were making clouds and the cocos had there daily gear tightening before they want off flying just like they did everyday. The glass and bronze egg shaped buggy was making great time to Princes Irose’s manner. Which is to be expected when you are getting pulled my two steel horse, the best that money can buy, there is no reason you shouldn't be. “The road is much smoother here. Don't you think? You could take wonderful walks here. It will be an amazing home Cyferia.” Her mother's words cut through her thoughts. However she was right as they moved closer and closer to the home of Prince Irose the road had become a lot less rough but Cyferia really didn't care how smooth the road was. “Can I keep one of the horses?” She asked her mother is a lethargic voice that matched her mood perfectly.

She was dressed a lot like one would if they were going to see someone down the black river. A long dark grey dress that cover her from neck to hands and a grey lace vale. “Why of course not dear. The Prince will have horse that you can ride.” Her grandfather looked at her mother with the same tiredness that his granddaughter was experiencing from waking at three this morning so that they could make good time. He had been quiet for most of the ride sat next to her facing the front of the buggy. He unlike her mother and herself wore what he always wore. A brown metallic suite with a black tie and a white shirt with his favorite black shoes. Cyferia was wearing a white dress with gold pieces of gears and clocks hanging off her waist. She hated the dress however this is what the so called great Prince Irose had sent her and it was what she wore.

“Cyferia do smile when me meet the Prince.” her mother said as she forced a smile onto her own face. “I wonder if the Fat King and Queen ever roll down their smooth roads.” Cyferia said under her breath. “Why of course not dear they can't risk losing any weight.” Her grandfather whispered to her. They both laughed at their newest inside joke. “Father please do be kind to the Prince. And no making jokes you two, we are honored guest and must act as such.” Once her mother finished her statement she began checking the clocks on her daughters dress to make sure they were on time.

“My poor dumb daughter one would think that you would have more wits about yourself.” Her grandfather paused to pulled out a small gold owl and attached it to Cyferia’s dress. “The rich are nothing that we should fear or respect they are alone here to show that this world is working the way it should be. However we all know it is not and I will never stop scuffing because of the Fat King and Queen or the Fat Prince for that matter.” When her grandfather was done talking he looked out of the glass buggy to see how much longer he had to share space with his youngest child and only grandchild. For even though he loved them both he hated small spaces. “I didn't know we were meeting the Fat Prince.” Cyferia said looking at her mother through her vale. “We’re not. We are meeting one of  the noble Princes. Your grandfather was just talking nonsense.” Her mother was obviously upset with what Cyferia grandfather said.

She was one of the only people that thought that the Fat King and Queen were doing any more then sitting up in their castle eating. “It makes sense to me and if it was up to me there would be another rebellion.” both her mother and grandfather looked at her but they were two totally different looks. Her mothers was full of shock and fear, while her grandfathers had a pride full look on his face. “Where did you hear about the rebellion?” Her mother said in her womanly soft yelling voice. She was leaning over so that her face was only a hand space apart from Cyferia. Cyferia took a deep breath and said “Mother your father is 463 years old and you let him watch me when I was young. Don't you think he would tell me about the rebellion. In Owls name stop treating me like a child.” Before her mother could say anything else the buggy stop. The coach robot was at the door opening it up on the left side so that her and her mother could get out first. His blue and gold medal looked worn when it was compared to the gold and bronze five floor home that lay in front of them. “Thank you Aqual. Please be very careful with the bags.” Cyferia said rushing out the buggy and to the door the home. Her mother got out next and then her grandfather last handing the robot something very small. “Aqual please be very careful I’m feeling that something strange is coming.” Aqual looks into his hand and sees a small golden owl. “Oh sir thank you I am honored and of course sir I am always careful.” As the family walked up the long winding steps the robot gathers each of their bags.

Before they can make it halfway up the first set of steps they hear a voice form what seems to be the top of the house. “Hello guest, please come no further I will have my butlers come and get you. Welcome to Irose Manner. You will be treated like family from this point on.” As the nameless and faceless voice echo fades into the metallic leaves of the trees four very buff and well maintained  robots in what looked like black and white dyed silver were rolling down the steps with large rhinestone pillow in one hand and a snake tray in the other. “Wow, what a way to spend your inheritance.” Cyferia said before the last of the four stopped in front of her. “Hello madam Cyferia. An amethyst pillow with gold trim along with a tray of rose punch and blondes.” She was shocked that so much work had gone into planning out each of these small details. As she sits on the pillow and the robot slowly rolls back up to the door that they had just exited from. Her mother had a pillow of sapphire with white tea and lemon cakes. Her grandfather had a pillow of real feathers and a plate of whiskey and a cigar. Each one the these things must have cost at least a million silver. Cyferia could not even imagine what the inside of the house looked like if this was just the greeting.

As the doors of the manner opened Cyferia was slowly let down for her pillow. The great hall of this house had a very large fireplace plated with diamonds and silver. The artificial fire was one of the  elegant that the family had seen. On either end of the fireplace was there was a set of square spiral steps. By the time that Aqual was let down from his coal pillow three young men were standing in front of the family. And the two robots where on either side of them. the one that seemed to be the oldest stood in the center. He was tall at least six foot three. He had tanned olive skin, eyes of night and hair of coal that was well kept. He had light scruff on his jaw line. His larger muscles did seem to make him heavy enough to be thought of as a noble however his clothes said otherwise. He wore black trousers that were well fitted, a lime green button up shirt , a white scarf that was fouled into it and a pair of round black glasses. He looked more like a scholar then a noble. The one of his left looked more like a doll them anything. He was no bigger than 5 feet tall. He had eyes like the river of live a mix of blue and green. His hair was black like coal but his dark skin made his eyes look that much bigger. He was wearing a blue and pink swirled pattern top that looked as it it have been filled with foam in the arms. His pants and shoes matched the pattern. He was the biggest of the three boys. The one on the right of the tallest was only a bit shorter close to 6 foot. He was wearing an all black suite with what looked like a sapphire crusted top under it. His shoes seemed to melt into the gold floor.

“Welcome to Irose Manner.” All three of them said in unison. At bit tired of the show Cyferia steps forward and says “Which one of you is Prince Irose. My mother and I have business with him.” The three boys didn't move for a few moments and then the one in the center  finally says “My lady, I'm very sorry if our hospitality has hindered your meeting. My Prince Irose is to my right. and his brother Prince Emat is to be left. I am Ezok their tutor and caretaker.” When he bowed it draw Cyferia’s attention to his bare feet on the gold floor. “Please come with me to the library my lady, we can start the meeting there.” Ezok’s walk was very proud his height only added to what looked like the skillful walk of a knight. The arches of the doorways were decorated with ravens feathers and copper, all five of them. The extremely long hallway have doors between each arch. No one looked at them, ask about them or dared to open one. At the end of the hall there was a door that when from the floor all the way up to the sealing. Ezok reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a key that was almost the same size of Prince Emat. He used the large grey colored key to open the even larger matching colored door. “Welcome to the original library of rats. Here was where the first rebellion of the broken people meetings took place. Every plan that they ever made, decision they ever had, and fight that was ever won, was planned right here along with many other things. The story of the rebellion lives in this very room. Because of the Irose families involvement in the great rebellion they were granted the luxury to build their home around this monument. You do know the story of the rebellion yes Madam Cyferia, Madam Eldema, and Sir Luforus.” They all were very still as Ezok finished his rounds around the oval room moving books back in place and tidying the desk. “The rebellion is not to be taught in schools.” Eldema said looking straight at Ezok. He laughed at the the comment. In fact he was laughing so hard that he was almost doubled over. “Prince Irose if you would be so kind take your brother to the play room. This meeting is going to be a lot longer then I had thought and we would not want him getting antsy, do we.” “Of course brother Ezok I will be back as soon as possible.” The lean body quickly took the little boys hand and left through the large door that the group had entered through. With in seconds the both boys where gone. Ezok moved from the desk to the door closing it only a little and then the auto lock set in. He then moved with the same swiftness he moved to a book that seemed like it belonged in a poor mans house not in the home of a Noble Prince. “With your permission Lady Eldema, I would like to tell you three a story.” As he says the last word he opens the book an a blinding beam of blue-white light eliminated the room.  “Yes I mind. My father has filled my daughters head with enough nonsense. I thought we were here to talk about.” She took a long pause. Ezok looked on confused. “I am so sorry. Prince Irose is still much to young to be married off. He is but sixteen and your daughter must be.” “Eighteen.” Cyferia said. Interjecting her self. “If he is not interesting in marriage why did he send me this dumb dress? Why are we here?” Ezok walked back around the table and laid the book on the table. “I need your fathers’ help. The dress was a gift to get you to come. This was not an invitation of marriage. I am afraid I have a much more pressing matter.”



Screen Shot 2014-05-21 at 1.57.18 PM
Screen Shot 2014-05-21 at 1.57.18 PM

My Story, By Willie Willson

Posted by Willie Willson in Storytelling - Rami - B on

Artist statement:

When I set out to do this project, my goal was to write a story that fulfilled all of my own expectations.  I read a lot of books, and some recurring themes in stories have started to get old, so I wanted to write a story that went against these stereotypes.  I wanted to create a story that would surprise the reader with it's frankness.  I hope that when people read this they feel the same way I did when I created it.  I hope they feel like they have no idea where the story is going to go because the possibilities are endless, and nothing is out of the question.


1

Hello, my name’s Adam Daniels, and this is the beginning of my story.  I led a pretty normal childhood, up to a point.  Then I realized I was a little bit special.  This fateful occasion was one morning, when I was about twelve, and had just watched Star Wars.  I had just witnessed Yoda lift Luke’s ship right out of a swamp, so of course I was trying to use the force to see if I was a Jedi too.  I was a weird kid.  Imagine how ecstatic I was when I discovered that I could actually move certain things with my mind.  After a while I discovered that I wasn’t actually a Jedi, but a Super who could control metal.

What exactly is a Super, well first I’ll give a little background information.  The first recorded super was in 1953, who went by the name of Sally Wershire.  She discovered she could fly when she tried to jump over a fence, and almost immediately hit a tree.  That didn’t stop her from becoming incredibly famous, as the first human being who could actually fly.  From that point onward, the human race was on the lookout for other individuals who possessed the same type of talents.

Well, twelve year old me liked having a trump card over everyone “normal” in the world, so I kept these new powers pretty quiet throughout my early life.  I spent a lot of my time trying to figure out exactly what I could do, and it wasn’t until I was fifteen that I got a really clear view of my powers.  I had complete control of every piece of metal within a ten foot radius of myself.  When I say complete, I mean absolute.  I could control individual molecules of iron, steel, titanium, within that radius.  It’s true that the more delicate the work I have to do gets, the harder it was, but I could manage.  

As soon as I turned 18, I left my house to go to “college”.  In actuality I rented an apartment by a junkyard, and spent the next four years of my life exercising and refining my powers.  I had no true physical powers, so I did some remodeling of my body.  I reinforced all of my bones with titanium, and integrated spring steel into my muscle fibers and my skin cells.  The end result was that I came out of those four years an expert in my power, with an incredibly tough body, and a sharp mind.

Now seems like a good time to explain how the world works these days.  We have the Hero’s, all the goody goody little kids that always wanted to be superman.  We have the Villains, mostly psychotic and power crazy, and then we have a third subgroup of supers that try to ignore their powers and lead a normal life.  When I was 22, finished with my training, I was looking into which group to join.  Neither group really appealed to me, so I went to a coffee shop to list the pros and cons of each, and hopefully decide.

While I was at this shop, I looked outside and saw a couple of other supers fighting it out in the distance.  They were having a merry time, knocking each other through buildings, shooting energy blasts at each other, and in general causing havoc.  At that point I realized something quite ingenious. I wouldn’t join either of the groups.  I would sell my abilities to the highest bidder for protecting against these supers, and hopefully have a few good fights in the process.



2

I was working security at my third or fourth gig when my entire world changed forever.  I was downtown, sitting indoors, wearing a security uniform to blend in with the normal people around me, when two supers started fighting and heading my way.  All I could see at first were two shapes surrounded by dust, then there was a blast of energy and they became clear to my eyes.  They were two of the highest ranked supers from both sides, Block, and the Mind.  Block stood at least 7’2”, and appeared to be a solid 400 pounds of muscle.  His powers are pretty simple, but nevertheless incredibly effective.  He was incredibly durable and strong.  I thing the heaviest object he ever lifted was a couple trains, at once, and that was after those trains had crashed into him going full speed.  The Mind was a normal 5’10”, since his powers didn’t affect his physical body, but he was equally deadly.  He was the strongest telekinetic known to date, he could move things with his mind.  They were both wearing their costumes. Mr. Blocks was a variation of the standard army uniform, sleeveless camouflage top with pants, Mind was just wearing a neatly pressed suit, and of course they both had masks on.

Their fight appeared to be evenly matched, with Mind stopping Block’s fists with his powers, and Block being unaffected by everything Mind threw at him. Neither of them were slowing down, and they were coming to my building, so I decided to get involved.  At times like these I’m glad I took the time to remodel those titanium crowbars into arm braces, so I can carry around a little bit of metal with me everywhere I go.  For the moment though, I just walked up to the two fighting supers and starter to yell at them.  

“Hey, calm down before you break my building!”

They were so startled that they just stopped fighting to stare at me for a second, then completely ignored me and continued to fight.  I shrugged, and used my power to melt the titanium I kept around my left arm into a spear, then caused it to accelerate to 900 mph towards Mr. Block.  I don’t have control over the spear after it leaves my sphere of influence, so I only did this when I was sure I wouldn’t hit anything important.  It actually managed to knock him back a few feet, and again both of the supers stared at me.  No one was supposed to be able to do that.  But then no one had ever met me.

I smiled, then used my power to melt the other arm brace down into a sword, held in my right hand.  Your probably thinking, why would you use a sword?  This sword was rather special.  It had taken me a while to perfect, but eventually I figured out that since I had complete molecular control over metals, I could create something with an edge a single molecule wide.  This required a lot of concentration, and while I did it I couldn’t use my power for anything else, but with that sword I could cut through literally anything.

Block didn’t know this so he just smiled wickedly at me, stepped forward, and aimed a punch directly at my face, hoping to finish me off quickly and get back to his fight.  All of his strength made him cocky, which in turn mad me angry.  I dodged under his punch, then cut of his arm at the elbow.  It took him a full second to realize what I had done, to realize that someone had actually hurt him, then he started screaming. I never liked screaming, so I cut his head off.  

The Mind was dumbfounded that anyone could have taken Block out that easily, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to take a crack at me.  Villains always were crazy.  He started throwing telekinetic blasts of power at me, which I kept dodging.  His complete confidence in his power made him easily predictable, and eventually I was able to get him within my radius of power.  I stopped maintaining my swords edge so I would have enough concentration to pull of this next trick, and then I tore all of the iron from Minds body.  As he toppled to the ground, I started to walk to talk to my employer, and tell him to get ready for the news crews.




3

Later that day, after endless attempts of the paparazzi to get an interview with me and a couple of hearings about “manslaughter”, I was sitting in my apartment eating Cheerios when I heard a knock on the door.  I peeked through the doorknob and saw another rather famous super.  He called himself Bolt, and he was one of the only supers around who could shoot lightning out of his hands.  He was a teammate of Mr. Blocks, and was known for being an honor obsessed idiot.  Seeing him in my hallway, I realized he was probably here for revenge, so I shrugged, and reached to unlock the door. As I did this, I used my power to activate my “home defense system”.  Basically I keep a bucket of metal dust in a corner, then when I need it I can control it however I want.

On this occasion I spread the dust out around me in a circle, too thin to actually see.  It would appear to Bolt that I was unarmed, when in actuality I basically had a circle of death ready and waiting for him.  

I stepped out into the hallway with Bolt, and as he opened his mouth to probably give a speech I spoke up,

“Hey, so can we take this outside?  I don’t want to have to find a new apartment.”

I guess buildings tended to break around him too, because he was very understanding of that sentiment.  I walked down the hallway and got in the elevator, holding the door open for him.  He got in, and we got to spend the next minute or so awkwardly listening to elevator music.  Yay.  When we got to the bottom floor, I got out of the elevator and walked outside, with Bolt right behind me.  All the way I made sure to keep the cloud of metal particles floating around me.  

We walked outside and started towards a section of grass outside the back of my building.  When we got there, I turned to look at Bolt clearly for the first time.  He was average height, stood with the posture of a victim of religious schooling, and the air crackled around him with electricity. 

“Is it true that you decapitated Mr. Block?”

Wow, this one doesn’t mince words.

“Yeah, after he tried to punch me to Mars.”

“You interrupted a fight between honorable foes and used trickery to overcome an obviously superior foe.  I’m here to avenge him, prepare yourself for death.”

With that he lifted his hands, and proceeded to attempt to electrocute me.  Only problem was that the air was so full of metal particles the electricity just ended up dissipating almost immediately.  Oh man, his face was priceless, I wish I had brought my cheerios with me, just to rub it in.  

Bolt was still a hero though, so of course he attempted the exact same thing, just with more power.  The blast of electricity that he unleashed could have powered New York for a month.  If it hit me I would be dead.  But I simply molded a few of the particles in the air around me into a lightning rod, which took care of that.  At this point, I started to get angry.  This guy just came in to my house and tried to kill me, all for just protecting myself.  I don’t let stuff like that slide, so I retaliated.  Violently.

I moved all of the particles in the air around me into a circular motion, each one moving at several hundred miles per hour.  The effect was a circle of destruction that ate up anything it came in contact with.  Then I walked forward.  Bolt attempted to blast his way through the spinning mass, but it wasn’t having any effect.  It did, however, help with the one problem with this use of my power.  It told me where he was.  I just sprinted at him, using my metal enhanced muscles to reach speeds of 50 mph.  I literally ran through him, the cloud following me turning him into a fine spray of red.  It sounded remarkably like a blender.  I had to make sure to stop before running into anything I didn’t want to destroy, then I walked back into my building to shower, and think about what I should do next.


4

In the shower, I concluded that at this point I was probably screwed.  I had already been directly responsible for three supers, and had effectively pissed off everyone that mattered.  This became even more apparent when I turned on the TV, and switched it to a news station.  It started out as the usual, some small woman describing the horror of some fast food chain, when it got interrupted by a screen with the letters M&L on it.  It then switched out to a camera, showing two incredibly imposing figures that are impossible to not recognize.They were Michael and Lucifer, and they took their names from the angels they each personify.

Michael was about 6 foot, and was one of the most beautiful people ever to walk the earth.  His skin shone healthily, and you could sense the vitality pouring off of him, making him seem that much more human.  He had huge golden wings, growing out of his back to drape majestically at his sides.  Lucifer was almost his complete opposite.  He was taller than Michael, close to 7 feet tall, and grotesquely muscular.  His skin was black and leathery, even cracked in some places.  Whereas Michaels face was beautifully angry, Lucifers was permanently twisted into a sadistic smile.  He also had wings, but these were demented.  They were jet black, twisted and broken, with too many shard edges and curves to be considered healthy.

As supers, they were even more terrible.  Both had super strength, could fly on their wings, and had durability, but their individual powers were even worse. Michael could control light, bend it, concentrate it into lasers, you name it he could accomplish it.  Lucifer had control over darkness.  It followed him wherever he went, always exuding dark emotions, oozing from him into the world.  They worked as the heads of their respective sides, Heroes and Villains, good and bad.  They were perpetually fighting each other, since they were the only ones who could hope to match the others skills.  Seeing them together meant trouble.

Michael stepped forward to speak first, with a voice that sounded of authority and calm self confidence.

“Hello, people of Earth.  My brother Lucifer and I would like to take this time to bring someone to your attention, someone who has succeeded in angering both my brother and I.  This someone is Adam Daniels. You may know him as the rogue super who has recently killed Bolt, Mr. Block, and the Incredible Mind. We have deemed him a danger to society, and have decided to take immediate action.”

Now Lucifer stepped forward to speak, and the sound that came forward was the equivalent of a machine gun firing forks at a chalk board.  His voice was full of barely suppressed rage, madness, and pain.

“We have decided that we will get involved in taking care of this little man, Adam.  If you know who, what, or where he is contact us immediately.  To Adam I would like to give a small warning.  We’re coming for you, and when we find you it won’t be pleasant.”

With that, the announcement shut off and returned to the news.  I sat back, stunned.  I had somehow attracted the attention of the worlds two most powerful and demented supers, I was officially rogue, and everyone now knew who I was.  At that moment I discovered what true panic was, and then my house exploded.

As I was flying through the air, I had time to ponder why building I stay around keep breaking, and then my fall ended with me crashing into a nice and comfy mini van roof.  I groggily pulled myself out of the van, and looked up.  There in the sky, were the two angels.  Sure didn’t take long for someone to rat me out.  Michael was burning, bright as a sun, and Lucifer was next to him, lurching sickeningly through the air on his disturbing wings.  

They landed thirty feet away from me, and that’s when I knew I was seriously outclassed.  As soon as Lucifer landed, he stood up and laughed maniacally, then charged.  I barely had time to sit up when he was on me, punching me repeatedly.  Each fist was wrapped in darkness, which added just that extra zing that they needed to wake me up.  I used my power to reach out to the minivan under me, and used it’s metal to create a suit of armor for me.  This new suit proved effective at taking most of the force out of Lucifers punches, which let me gather my ability one more time and create my sword.

With it’s edge as shard as I could make it, I swung at Lucifer, and succeeded in lopping off one of his wings.  He screeched in terror and anger, retreating now behind his brother.  Michael didn’t bother to use his hands, instead his eyes started to brighten with a light that I didn’t think could possibly be anything beneficial to my health.  I therefore stepped out of the back of the armor, but left it standing as a distraction.  Then I sprinted around a nearby car to wait and see what would happen.  

Michael’s eyes finally became as bright as two suns, and then the light coalesced into two laser beams that tore through my empty armor.  It melted the entire top half off, but when Michael stepped forward to see if he hit me I ran out again, aiming to cut him in half.  I swung, and managed to cut off both of his wings, and I was treated to another scream of anger and loss.

At this point I knew I was pushing my luck to stay around, so I fashioned my sword into a type of surfboard, stepped onto it, and made it fly into the air with me firmly attached to it.  Since I had removed their wings, Michael and Lucifer couldn’t follow me, and I could get away easily.  Flying away, into the night, I finally realized that I would never become a super anything.  Not a Hero, not a Villain.  I would become something new, something other.  At least I wouldn’t have to work security anymore.

Threads- Q4 Benchmark

Posted by Margaret Hohenstein in Storytelling - Rami - B on

photo (4)
photo (4)
​
Poem:

Threads pulling pushing aching across the story
Ideas tugging 
through my mind
piercing through
one piece
then two
Hold 
everything 
together
now pull
piece by piece 
coming together
ideas coming together pushing pulling aching.

  • What did you set out to do?

I wanted to find a way to incorporate storytelling into quilt-making. I decided that I wanted to keep it simple and include words in this process. My goal was to show people, including myself, how the process of storytelling was similar to the process of quilt making. 

  • How does your work incorporate the art of storytelling?

I hope my work incorporates the art of storytelling by exploring the story that happens when a creator is making their story. It is also incorporating storytelling because it is the result of a story. 

  • What do you hope your audience gains from your work?
I hope my audience sees that storytelling isn't just one thing. Storytelling can be the actual process of creating something but it can also be the something that was created. Storytelling is complex but the process is manageable and interesting. 
  • What did you gain from doing this work. 
I gained practice in storytelling. I also gained insight into this particular world of storytelling. By researching similar project before starting mine I got to discover what other people were doing with quilts and how they used them to create or tell stories. 

Q4 BM

Posted by Shannon Powers in Storytelling - Rami - B on

  • I set out to write a prolog to my book Devil's Charms. There were a lot of charcaters mentioned there that didn't have an explained origin. The two most important characters were the ones I felt needed a story all their own.
  • The story itself is obviously story telling. There is planty of other work that went into it. I first needed to work out the backstories. Then the characters looks. Then work out the plot. It's still unfinished but I nevere said I was going to have it completed.
  • People can take what ever they want from it. I put my work out there not to gain anything but a reaction. Weather it be good or bad. After all every reader is differet.
  • I gained a better understanding for the characters in my book Devil's Charms. It helped me work out more twists and turns in both books.

    siragallows.wix.com/radiant-darkness

    • Guide To The World's Most Outrageous Creatures Q4 BM

    Posted by Michael Hall in Storytelling - Rami - B on

    Artist Statement - 

    When I first set out to do was create a picture story and where I ended up was not where I thought I would. I ended up making a reference guide to the creatures in my drawings. I choose to do that because I have at least 12 books just like the one I made and I thought it would be nice to make one. In each drawing description, there is a short story about how the guide saw creature and what he went through. While creating my book I hope that the readers would gain a sense of wonder because the creatures in my book are very strange so I would hope the reader really thinks about them. While I was drawing the creatures I gained a sense of what it really means to be a artist and to be an artist that tells a story through his work. 

    Link - 

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7iOpvLg5fCuNlFFeDduc1JvZHc/edit?usp=sharing

    STORY-007

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    2013-14.S2

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