Comments for WAM! Newark Academy Writing, Art & Music

Comment on Animation by Silvy Zhou ’21 by Alexandra Mahoney

Alexandra Mahoney — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 12:38:37 +0000

Can’t get over the cat’s slinky tail! LOVE it!

Comment on Green Committee Film by Aidan Fox ’16 & Matt Thekkethala ’15 by amahoney

amahoney — Tue, 19 May 2015 14:19:27 +0000

I used this video as instruction in 9th grade classes which are all collaboratively creating scripts & then films involving 3 characters from the year’s studied works. We reflected on editing approaches that they might imitate as they headed into their final days of editing the film.

Comment on Green Committee Film by Aidan Fox ’16 & Matt Thekkethala ’15 by amahoney

amahoney — Mon, 18 May 2015 00:58:02 +0000

Both stunning & hilarious at the same time. The visual motifs (train tracks are my fav) knock my socks off. I hope you guys SEND this film somewhere in addition to gracing the NA student body with it.

Comment on “Fracture” a film by Brendan James ’14, starring Bailey Galvin-Scott ’14 & David Yaroshevsky ’14 by amahoney

amahoney — Mon, 18 May 2015 00:55:03 +0000

Crickey is the bomb!

Comment on “Intimacy and Disequilibrium” an essay by Claudia Lu ’15 by clu15

clu15 — Mon, 04 May 2015 02:49:43 +0000

In reply to sacquadro. NO YOU ARE THE BEST MS.ACQUADRO (I LOVE YOU)

Comment on “Intimacy and Disequilibrium” an essay by Claudia Lu ’15 by sacquadro

sacquadro — Mon, 04 May 2015 00:10:25 +0000

Claudia–you’re the best–I will miss reading your wonderful perspectives.
Best wishes–SNA

Comment on “Behind the Counter” Kitchen Staff Documentary by Cohen ’16, Fox ’16, Merritt ’17 & Persing ’15 by amahoney

amahoney — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 19:44:59 +0000

Very informative and entertaining — the hallmarks of a good documentary! Clean & professional editing makes for a very polished piece of work. I only wish I had learned MORE of the names of the people featured both in the images & in my daily life. Even an image to go along with the names at the end would help the many people who need to “take notes” as your opening suggested!

Comment on “Night Without Words” a Sestina by Josh Martin ’16 by amahoney

amahoney — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 19:36:48 +0000

So inquisitve & raw & honest & beautifully powerful, Josh. The simply chosen words that are recycled through the sestina resonate with a gripping intensity in that those words & what they encompass will not let the narrator go. This wrenching intensity is balanced with the utter unresponsiviness of the dying father — a deafening silence.

Comment on From the Desk of Poet Vanessa Jimenez Gabb by elapadula

elapadula — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 15:51:04 +0000

I vote that Ms. Gabb’s desk is not only clean, but organic/tactile, and colorful in a pleasing way. I have a desk (given to me by a dear friend, so it has good karma) in a quiet room where I am supposed to be writing, but it’s more like a train station on a forgotten line than an actual workspace. In the past, my writing spaces have required windows. No view necessary–just a window. I also like post-its on the walls. Now that I’m mostly digital-, rather than than paper-oriented, I find myself yearning for a bulletin board’s palimpsest.

Comment on From the Desk of Poet Vanessa Jimenez Gabb by amahoney

amahoney — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 04:51:28 +0000

I vote “clean”! But not too clean. Like a messy bun. I am interested in where chaos fits into the creative process, and wanted to ask Matt Diffey about it as his beautifully chaotic “page of ideas” — which is his morning’s work — seems deliberately to thwart orderly structure.

Comment on Micro Marine Photography by Kristin Duszak by amahoney

amahoney — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 01:11:49 +0000

Such mysterious beauty. Thank you for sharing this glimpse into a hidden world, Ms. Duszak.

Comment on “Cathedrals” a poem by Emma Hoffman ’16 by elapadula

elapadula — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 23:50:05 +0000

This poem made me go back and listen to the wonderful Joanna Newsom album “Ys” from 2006. The first song, “Emily,” would go well with this poem, I think. I absolutely love and appreciate the first section of this poem—the rising of the voices from the sea like the rising of consciousness, an assonance.

Comment on “Can We Escape?” flash fiction by Daniel Kwiatkowski ’15 by elapadula

elapadula — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 23:20:30 +0000

That last sentence is the kicker!

Comment on Learn how to “Dance the Michael” from Artist-in-Residence Jonathan Lee by amahoney

amahoney — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 18:58:06 +0000

As a “Thriller” graduate myself, I need to expand my “Michael” repertoire, and so am working on this move. Combining the hands AND the feet? Not so easy. Luckily, I can keep replaying in my kitchen until I get it.

Comment on “Hammerhead Goes to the Gallows” a story by Andrew Alford by aalford

aalford — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 22:23:27 +0000

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for reading my piece! And for sharing some of your own experiences & personal reactions over the virtual campfire. That’s what it’s all about…

(I can’t really remember the words I used back then, but I *was* fairly fluent in the language of emotional blackmail…)

Warmly,
Andrew

Comment on “Hammerhead Goes to the Gallows” a story by Andrew Alford by mthayer

mthayer — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:31:57 +0000

Andrew –

Love this. Your sister was a much softer touch than my little brother. Heck, he probably would have been the one tormenting his Star Wars figurines into oblivion as I stood by and watched in horror.

(And a side note to anyone with quarters dated 1977-1980 – they probably passed through my hands before getting spent at the Janesville Mall.)

-mike

Comment on “Hammerhead Goes to the Gallows” a story by Andrew Alford by dkapferer

dkapferer — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:56:12 +0000

Masterful. Both your writing and your business acumen. (Also, I feel so foolish for thinking this was a story about a shark)

Comment on “Hammerhead Goes to the Gallows” a story by Andrew Alford by aromay

aromay — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 17:15:24 +0000

I had always wondered what had really happened during The Great Action Figure Crash of 1981. Thank you for providing the background story!

Comment on “Hammerhead Goes to the Gallows” a story by Andrew Alford by tjames

tjames — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:54:09 +0000

“Fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners. Often the attachment is scarcely perceptible.” ~ Virginia Woolf.

My vote: Real? Maybe. True? Yes!

Comment on “Hammerhead Goes to the Gallows” a story by Andrew Alford by kmorin

kmorin — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:02:11 +0000

I laughed out loud and smiled more than a few times whilst reading this piece.

Made me smile remembering my childhood. Not exactly spot on (there was never a pressure-cooker Disney land money grabbing venture), but there were some joint Star Wars, Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, GIJOE adventures that never ended well for my Barbies (and whatever StarWars figures I got in our “picks”). I distinctly remember my brothers sending my favorites all packed in my Barbie camper down a flight of stairs…I may have cried…hard to say…I’d like to think I was a strong nine-year-old and took their devastation nonchalantly, but I think I probably screamed. The perils and passion of the “pick” and choosing characters I loved always caught up with me; my twin brothers, age seven at that time, knew my weak spots well.

Did your story really happen?

The image of a plastic, decorated in perfect 70s style camper complete with my prized possessions R2D2 and Han Solo tumbling down a braided-rug covered stairway is forever etched in my memory…

You don’t need to convince me otherwise. Regardless of the votes, I know this story is true.

Comment on Photography by Stephanie Acquadro by rbitler

rbitler — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 13:36:56 +0000

Magnificent photos… Beauty is everywhere, if you look…

Comment on Flash Fiction by James Blume by gskagerlind14

gskagerlind14 — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 17:02:54 +0000

I like how you varied the sentence length throughout the story… the second paragraph seemed a little choppy at first, but as I read on, I realised that you have some great long sentences as well that balance out the instructional-“how-to”-sounding nature of that second paragraph.
This story is really well written in that you capture the unsettling nature of the acts that the narrator’s brother is engaging in: details like the “London Bridge” are extremely creepy and add a lot of originality to this piece. The brother is very well characterized, too. I get a sense of the ominous-ness (?) of his demeanor…the Robert Frost quote really helped in that respect!!