Category: Uncategorized

  • Ending February

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    We came back from mid-winter break to end February with visitors, trips, and lots to reflect on. Monday we played Werewolves and Town of Salem (a similar game, played online). Or rather, I made some jewelry with wire and pliers while playing Werewolves and spectating T.O.S. Tuesday @ryanshollenberger @themadhatter @failspy @thewitchqueen908 @douglasawesome and I went…

  • Between two [imaginary] ferns, with Javair

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    Who are you? A logic-loving experience-devil (like dare-devil…). I love computer science. Oh, and I’m socially manipulative. What’s an example of being socially manipulative? My favorite example is in card games, like in Coup. When someone challenges you, they choose their own card. I like manipulating them to choose the wrong card. I use a…

  • The Smell of Pony Noses

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    There’s a giggle-filled werewolves game happening in front of me. Between a crackling fire and a giant group kanban. @themadhatter is DM-ing and dancing, next to the kettle heating water for my mid-day mint tea. Most of the other adults are missing, helping install windows in a community member’s addition, around the inverted pine tree…

  • Guest Author: Charlotte <3

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    Charlotte, my seven-year-old friend from QIV-C, has been hanging out with ALC-NYC and Cloudhouse these past few days we’ve visited her home. Here’s a guest post from her: I liked when my sled was going really fast, last night. With Eric, Abby, Chuck, and Javair. I kept falling out of my sled, which was funny.…

  • Oh! I found an old blog post draft on my hard drive (from 10.17)

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    Monday didn’t really feel like a Monday, since we rolled into it after having ALF-ed through the weekend upstate. I love getting to play with wonderful adults and hang in beautiful Chatham, but there’s always a point where I become impatient to come back to the kids. We filled the weekly schedule board! We cheered…

  • Whirlwind and Peace

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    I’m curled up, warm in a sunny window, a little bit amazed at how much organized chaos filled the beginning of the week. This weekend, I had a guest and a staff working day (in which @ryanshollenberger and @tomis gave the bathroom an amazing make-over!). We rolled into the week Tuesday morning with the arrival…

  • Alchemist Book Discussion: Part 2

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    @failspy and I both finished reading The Alchemist over the weekend, so we reconvened today for philosophy part two. Right away, Javair found the line that evokes ALC/alt.ed. philosophy: “There is only one way to learn and that’s through action” (p 125). Ummmm….yes. Were we both newer to this actually-thinking-about-industrial-schooling business, we would probably have…

  • The Alchemist: part 1 discussion

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    @failspy and I are reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It’s been seven years and several lives since I last read it, so Javair’s invitation to revisit and discuss it appealed to me immediately. Today we sat for an hour with the book, our notes (his mental, mine written), and Wikipedia for our first “mini-philosophy” about…

  • Brainpickings Gem for New Years

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    Famous thinkers’ self-growth resolutions? Thanks, Brainpickings! I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. I dread being asked for my “resolution,” as for most of December and January the word conjures in my mind a memory of facebook-feeds-gone-by filled with well-meant and mostly ill-fated resolutions to go to the gym every single day. Or the sincere…

  • Of course you won’t be bored over the break, but just in case…

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    Mostly thinking of @failspy @kingthanos @jacobcb as I write this, but here are a bunch of resources for anyone in NYC over the break and unsure of how to keep adventuring while school is closed 🙂 Free museums! Don’t be shy about taking advantage of “suggested/donation-based admission” 😉 Also, I would highly recommend taking a…

  • Last week before the break!!!

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    My week started gettin’ agile Sunday evening, when @bear and the Cloudhouse crew arrived at my apartment to join Brandon and I and our Polish quantum physicist friend for the biggest sleepover I’ve had in years 🙂 Monday, the weather was BEAUTIFUL! So a group of us took off to climb rocks, picnic, draw, hide-and-seek,…

  • A basic question…

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    Last week, I finally recorded the story-line of an MM game @thewitchqueen908 DMed. At the end of the game, my character finally makes it to the lair of the great golden dragon to ask for an apprenticeship. The great golden dragon asks whether the little dragon wants friendship and wisdom or just power. After being…

  • Chuck comes to school!

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    Today I had the delight of bringing two wonderful friends to school, not-so-secretly hoping that they would fall in love and want to awaken their potential ALFs. Vincent and Chuck both live in Rhode Island now, working to build and run summer programs on a tall ship, but I met them first in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.…

  • Body Worlds!!!

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    Thanks to curiosity of students, generosity of parents, and agility of facilitators, I had the opportunity to support a really interesting field trip this week. @RyanShollenberger , @douglasawesome , @likeaboss , @kingthanos , @FailSpy, Elijah, and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit at Discovery Times Square. It was so exciting to get to go…

  • The week it got cold.

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    Recipe for (mostly) quiet productivity (of the most joyful kind): Ingredients 2 visiting students 1 guest observer @Ninablanco and @Tomis back from travels Geva, with many offerings 🙂 Foam puzzle-piece mats for forts A culture committee meeting A field trip to Body Worlds An arduino + Nintendo controller project Splatter paint project New woodshop projects…

  • Scribbles for Grammar

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    Douglas has been playing this game called Scribblenauts that I’m really enjoying. His character gets missions to do minor helpful things for people he encounters and larger heroic things for super-heroes who summon him. To play, Douglas types in nouns to conjure different items he wants. He can also click on objects and characters to…

  • Ink on my hands

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    I started a new project this week. Writing every day for November reminded me how much I love creative work (the invisible kind I do at school, but also the kinds with more concrete outcomes), so over the weekend I bought a sketchbook. It’s my first sketchbook since high school, and I’m nervous each time…

  • I asked a bunch of people, “What is MM?”

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    “D and D without all the papers and things to remember. And it changes depending on who’s telling the story. Crated by people who were astonishingly bored and had an astonishing knowledge of D and D and medieval times and magic. It’s a combination of what the DM wants to have happen and what the…

  • WikiTrails from 11/4

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    Even with Ryan upstate, @timotree and I ran WikiTrails in its normal Tuesday time slot. We used the “random article” button to generate our start points, and we took turns choosing our end points. We had a full half hour scheduled, and I expected to get one or two rounds in before GeoGuesser time. We…

  • Why I’m cool with day-long Doctor Who marathons…

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    Yesterday, Adin came in and offered to host a 5-hour Doctor Who marathon. The projector glow mingled with the hum of recorded voices, and the resulting spell pulled passers-by through the door to the Red Room. Some kids powered through the whole marathon while others dropped in and out as they pleased. I was invited…