Introduction Hey again, you know the drill: Find any flat surface and a utensil that you can manipulate pigment with; I’m using a pencil and paper, but you can use practically anything.  This article covers texture detail and is a related sequel to what we learned in How to Draw Part 1, which is also posted here on Parker Press. I would recommend that tutorial first, but that is also the beauty of free will. I want you to look around at your environment right now. Zero in on

Mint chocolate chip has always been one of those ice cream flavors that is either loved or hated. People strangely seem to feel confident about hating such a delicacy. It is more than just a dessert, though. It is an idea about what we should think and value. It is undeniable proof that some of us have taste buds evolved a little above the average human. That group is also strong enough to survive the slander from people who simply can’t admit the truth. Mint chocolate chip i

How did people in the 1500s build complex, giant, seaworthy ships without machinery, using only their hands and a few simple tools? During the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a flurry of people rushing across seas looking for treasure to bring back to their kingdoms. Any boats used on these journeys had to be able to withstand months on open ocean, hold enough supplies for the crew, and store whatever treasures or slaves they took on their voyage. The people who built thes

Solar flares can contain as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs. They are intense explosions of light and matter from the Sun and occur almost daily. Solar flares are measured by their intensity, in a similar manner to earthquakes, each level being ten times stronger than the last.  The weakest flares, the ones that don’t really affect Earth, are labeled A, B, and C, with A being the weakest. Ten times stronger than C is M. M-class solar flares can cause radio blackouts i

Mark your calendars! The Parker School Winter Showcase is happening Thursday, December 11, at 6:00 PM, and it’s shaping up to be such a fun night! Students from choir, theatre, and dance have been working on these performances for months, and they’re finally ready to share them. If you’re looking for a great reason to come out and support your friends, this is it! We’ll kick off the night with Choir Class, a group of students who meet on E days and have been rehearsing since

Last spring, I sat down with the acting class to table-read This Murder Was Staged . As Ms. Duggan wrote in her Directors’ Notes in the playbill last week, the moment we read it, we knew this was going to be our fall play. A lot of the time it can be hard to find a show that everybody likes and that fits our cast, but TMWS had everything: a large cast, a challenging number of lines, and a hilarious plot. There were lots of opportunities for a creative set, and I vividly remem

Chapter 31: Storm on the Water As Rienna built her boat, her mind slipped in and out of consciousness. Sometimes, she would look up at the crystal sky and see Xio peering down at her. Sometimes, she was in the middle of binding pieces together when she blacked out and would see a fuzzy image of crystal panes all around her. Her boat was made of fallen wood and giant leaves. She wasn't very sure that it would work, but hopefully, in the dream world, it would be okay. With Aya'

Our interaction with the universe is intrinsically based on what we can understand about it. Since a lot of time has passed—enough for us to document a few thousand years of it—the expectation of society provided by the records of science has built up a number of assumptions about the possibilities and limits of our world and of humans. This has created a habit of shortsightedness that David Hume and William James attempted to broaden in two very different ways. From the pers

In the last article, we talked about worldbuilding. Now that you have built your world, you have to figure out what you want to tell with it. What do you want to talk about, comment on, criticize, or make your reader think about? The plot is what lets you tell the story you want to tell. It is the events of your world and the ultimate effect on it. Your plot should be divided into points, events, or actions that move it subtly. An example of a plot point is your characters ne