Tag: nsshere
The Care and Handling of Science Fair Projects
Last month, nsshere got her science fair project into the Los Angeles County Science Fair. Her project, titled “Dyeing Fabric and the Effect of Threadcount”, was in the Junior Product Science division. Alas, she was disappointed because she wasn’t called back for an interview (meaning her project wasn’t going to the State Fair), and was doubly disappointed in that there were no judges comments on the project. She went from being on a high about science to having a very negative experience. We did contact the judging chair to find out where her comments were, and he indicated he would look into finding the judging sheet.
Last night, gf_guruilla got the answer. There were no judges comments because the judges were running behind on time during the judging, and thus didn’t prepare a comment sheet. There were 5 projects where the judges knew they weren’t going to have interviews, but lack of time prevented them from giving comments. They focused their time on the call-backs.
Now, I’m a judge at the state fair (you can be too). At our level it is emphasized that this should be a positive experience for the kids. It is emphasized how we must see all the projects, and attempt to have an equal number see all projects. We don’t do judging sheets, but we interview and talk to every kid in our category. I find it poor form that the County judges couldn’t provide feedback, either verbal or written, to all participants.
I do intend to bring this up to the directors of judging at the state level. This reflects badly on the entire enterprise.
And A Wonderful Time Was Had By All
nsshere’s Bat Mitzvah was yesterday.
She did wonderfully, and she pwned it. It was her Bat Mitzvah, and it reflected her completely. She led the service perfectly, read Torah and Haftorah perfect, and just took charge of it. After a hesitant first prayer, you could just see her confidence grow and grow and grow.
Her speeches were delightful, and perhaps I can persuade her to post them here. In her D’var Torah (interpretation of the Torah), she talked about why she chose the verses about Jacob’s death and his burial back in Caanan. Her theme was “respect”, and how one of the hallmarks of being an adult is learning to show respect. Her actual speech was uniquely her, and went into why she did her Bat Mitzvah (as opposed to what I did, as I didn’t want to learn Hebrew). She indicated that she didn’t do it for the religious aspects, nor for us, but for herself. She did it to show herself that she could do it.
At this point, I should note that not once during the process did I have to remind her to study her prayers or portions, nor to write her speeches. We didn’t have to nag her once about studying with the rabbi or cantor. She did it all on her own initiative.
The reception went beautifully (I’ll share some pictures once I get them back). Although she was initially hesitant to use the social hall, it worked out wonderfully. We had spectacular centerpieces and posters on the wall (the decision to use a decorator [Ramon at Linen Lenders] was well worth it — and cheaper than flowers would have been, I later learned). The entertainment [Dan T. from The Party Zone] was directed by nsshere: instead of the continuous loud dancing, the focus was more on drama. We had loads of improvization games, a bit of singing, a few dances. The music was kept toned down, and no one complained. The food [from Scott T. at Silver Spoons] was wonderful and enjoyed by all. It was the first time I’ve thrown a big party, and we received lots of compliments from our guests for it.
After the party, we had some select friends back to the house, where we had some additional food catered by Brents. This too was wonderful (although my headache was building — not a surprise). But it was a fun evening.
After the after-party, I collapsed. I took some meds for my headache, and went to bed… and didn’t get up until the next day.
At this point, we have leftover food (quite a bit), a bunch of centerpieces in the living room, and nsshere has loads of thank you notes to write.
Looking back, I have complained about the cost of this event. I won’t give specific numbers, but it was expensive. It wasn’t one of the big big shindigs you hear about that run more than $25,000 (yes, folks do spend that much, and even more), but it was a good chunk of change. Catered parties do add up (in addition to the Temple fees for the education). Was it worth it? I think so. I think that doing this process was one of the big things that changed our little girl into the remarkable and mature young woman she is. It taught her about responsibility, how to be her own person and how important that is. It taught her that she doesn’t have to necessarily follow the glitz and the trends to have a good time.
I am so proud of my daughter.
Cow Patty! Not!
For those not familiar with production, “Stinky Cheese Man” is based on the book by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith, and was adapted for the stage by John Glore, who graciously granted Nobel Middle School exclusive non-profit rights in Southern California (it was recently presented commercially in the area). It is a collection of well known fairy tales, with various twists on them. The best known of the stories in the bunch is probably the version of “The Three Little Pigs”, from the wolf’s point of view. Other stories included in the collection are Chicken Licken, The Princess and the Bowling Ball, Ugly Duckling, Frog Prince, Little Red, Jack’s Story, Cinderella, Tortoise and the Hair, and The Stinky Cheese Man. South Coast Rep described the play as follows:
The extremely cockeyed—and enormously popular—children’s book is even more fun when the fairy tales take on lives of their own and go berserk right on stage! Characters burst into song. Rumpelstitskin turns up in Cinderella’s story. Jack sends the Giant back up the beanstalk (which he hasn’t even planted yet). Chickens can’t wait for their cues. The audience can’t wait to applaud—and you’ll never want it to end!
Especially for a middle school production, the quality was excellent. Lines were said clearly and distinctly, and with appropriate emotion, and the kids seemed to be really into their characters. Costuming was simple but quite good: all but one of the actors wore colorful T-shirts with their character’s name printed on them (even the extras wore shirts that said “Extra”). The sets were constructed by the art classes and were quite good. Lighting had some trouble in the beginning but that got resolved later in the program. Not one kid appeared to forget their lines, although a few rushed them out without waiting for the audience to quiet down. The use of the outside script was good, and led to a very entertaining production (extremely funny at times).
I’m not going to list all the kids in the program, because there are *lots* of them and all are under 15. Suffice it to say they were all excellent. Particular standouts were Jack/Narrator (Jon B.), Cow Patty Kid (Jessica L.), Chicken Licken (Camille M.), Big Bad Wolf (Quest Z.), the Giant (Daniel B.), and I must not forget the Evil Step Mother (nsshere). But in reality, all were quite good.
The production continues tonight at 7:00pm and tomorrow (Saturday) at 5:00pm. I hope that some of the staff of the Performing Arts Magnet at Van Nuys HS show up for one of these productions — this would be a wonderful feeder program for their magnet.
And with that, our 2007 theatre year comes to an end, unless I schedule something last minute over Winter Break. I hope you enjoy reading these reviews as much as I enjoy writing them. I do encourage everyone to go to live theatre — it is an incomperable experience. Our theatre starts up again on 1/5/08 at 2:00pm, when we’re squeezing in a production (between a Bat Mitzvah service and a Bat Mitzvah reception [no, not nsshere’s]) of “The Color Purple” at the Ahmanson Theatre, followed on 1/12 by “Ain’t Misbehavin’” at Cabrillo Music Theatre.