Agile Learning Centers

Whattt is upp drama alert nation I’m your host, Illiterate Iphy lettts gettt riggght into the famous birthday of the week!!!! ITS KEEMSTAR! (@thewitchqueen908‘s BFF!)

back to the program.

This week was […]

@catmooy and I opened this old draft blog post and asked people to help us finish it. We asked what people do when they’re

B

O

R

E

D

and they (@kirkorovfan @thewitchqueen908 @serenagermany […]

This week a facilitator (@melody), two parents, and some students (@douglasawesome, @simoneboss, @serenagermany, @thewitchqueen908, @agilesaylor, @flamewheel) from ALC NYC visited Mosaic. Serena and Nahla stayed […]

This one is for @thewitchqueen908 @yapyapwizard @pigcraft8 and everyone who went “HUH?” when I used the word earlier…

We have our own ever-evolving language at ALC-NYC, and much of it is comprised of […]

~(≡ω≡)~     This week

 

 

 

was fun.

I went to philly and bought souvenirs.           @thewitchqueen908 showed me how to color words and make emojis!!! (ˆ∇ˆ)/     […]

On Friday, October 2nd, @thewitchqueen908 and @serenagermany slaved away at the stove, while @kingthanos and @panda joked around and played word games that involved human body parts and other stuff we don’t […]

Doing homework for my comic hero MOOC (Last week @douglasawesome!), I started researching Egyptian deities. I was talking with @thewitchqueen908 @shadowjack and @jacobcb about Isis, Orisis, Seth, and Horace, and […]

It’s AERO week, 2015.  @douglasawesome, @thewitchqueen908, @fireballdeath, @abram, David and I made the trek to LIU Post yesterday for the conference.  It was a bit frustrating for me because we spent the majority […]

On Friday, three of the younger ALC whiz kids–@agilealfie, @thewitchqueen908, and @likeaboss–showed up at high noon to make brownies, vanilla cream and hot fudge sauce. The culinary prodigies not only whipped up […]

These are a few things I did this week…

Minecraft:

-Ruined a village

-Went to the End (and learned how to get the Ender Egg)

-Fought lots of M.O.B.S. in survival mode (they eventually killed me)

-In another survival world, I went to a beach and made a little cabin with a path, which zombies and skeletons got onto to.  A creeper even blew up my door!

Read Calvin and Hobbes with Ryan:

My favorite one was when Calvin broke his dad’s binoculars.

Failed to play Terraria (due to download issues):

Watched Timo play Sky Rim Elder Scrolls–  he killed 5 dragons!

Played war with @shadowjack, @timotree, @thewitchqueen908, and @kingthanos.

Today I brought in magazines to make a collage (I’m going to do this next week).

 

This week, I intend to…

1) Make my lunch every day

I supplemented my lunch with an El Aguilá burrito on Monday, but that’s because I was extra hungry and ate my lunch for 2nd breakfast.

2) Have only one serving of caffeine per day

Coffe in the morning on non-training days, and NO Explode pre-training in the evening-  √

3) Support Jack in building a bookshelf [we have to buy a new T-square Monday]

After getting a new T-square, @shadowjack and I began our bookshelf project.  We cut pieces of birch plywood for the back, sides, top, bottom, and 2 shelves.  After winter break, we will assemble the pieces using wood glue and screws, then sand the whole thing smooth before (maybe) sealing the wood with a clear varnish.

4) Go to see the 3rd installment of The Hobbit trilogy

Despite diverging from the book’s storyline (and just plain making stuff up), Peter Jackson directed some awesome action scenes in the epic conclusion to The Hobbit trilogy.  I think Dain and his brethren from the Iron Hills were my favorite:

4.5) Offer a challenge to read The Hobbit before we go to see it Wednesday

A super-full weekly schedule (much of which I agreed to participate in/hold coherence for) prevented me from even offering this at set-the-week– this was a good decision in hindsight.

5) Hold coherence for Geoguessr [Tuesday]

@abbyo and I got the highest score in the history of ALC NYC this week!  We scored over 4,000 point in the first 4 locations, and approximately 3,500 on our final guess for a whopping score of 22,098!!!

Want to challenge us?  Try here:  https://geoguessr.com/challenge/PdmVLz0OVRO3VCwD

6) Participate in Wikitrails [Friday w/Lorax if there is enough interest]

No Lorax this week… I guess he is hibernating upstate =)

7) Analyze two hip-hop songs with @kingthanos

Again, this was an AWESOME hour spent with @kingthanos.  Check out what we listened to this week:  http://ryanshollenberger.agilelearningcenters.org/2014/12/18/hip-hop-lyrical-analysis-1218/

8) Schedule and facilitate a culture committee meeting re: restructuring clean-up jobs

We met today to review job tasks and solidify our jobs now that @kingthanos, @failspy, and @AgileAlfie have joined us full-time.  In addition to my stated intentions, here are some of the other things I accomplished this week…

-Sports Chats with Luca (including reviewing and updating our playoff predictions)

-Playing a game of Order of the Stick with @kingthanos, @failspy, and @timotree.  We defeated Xykon!

-Acrobalance w/ @failspy, @thewitchqueen908, @abbyo, @kingthanos, and Yoni!

-Chronology w/ @shadowjack and @fireballdeath

-Summerhill Philosophy, offered by @failspy

-PokéChat w/ @timotree

-Contacted @dimeglio to update me on the IP change for #NOCHEATS, then went on an expedition and found an Ocean Temple at: -2451, 63, -1252.  Enter at your own risk, @tinocrafter and the ALC Mosaic MC crew!

-Played an epic game of Werewolves DM’d by the original master, @themadhatter

 

Happy Holidays!

With love and agility,

Agilion

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 […]

I’ll tell you where… to the BLOGS!   =)

I want to lead with an awesome GIF (click the image below to see it) @abram made for me, which I woke up to this morning:

 

This week featured some good work in Minecraft.  Today, I participated in “Blocks vs Zombies,” a fun game made by Seth Bling, a famous ‘Crafter.  The object is to prevent wave after wave of zombies from reaching your position as you pick them off with bows and arrows.  You can also purchase various upgrades, barriers, cannons, and even a scroll to spawn Iron Golems.  I played with @theskycookie, @douglasawesome, @legolad22, @likeaboss, and @thewitchqueen908.  We tried a few times, but couldn’t make it farther than 5 mins (you must survive for 20mins to win).

On Thursday, a group of Agile Philosophers met to discuss a topic we first opened last year… Spongebob!  We watched 3 episodes (“Slide Whistle Stooges,” “Ripped Pants,” and “Sandcastles in the Sand”) and discussed our observations and questions afterwards.  At first we focused on meta-questions of Bikini Bottom, which was sparked by some observations by @kingthanos.  These included things like:

-Why would a squirrel want to live at the bottom of the ocean?

-(How) can a fish get sunburn?

-How is there a beach with waves (“The Goo Lagoon”) underwater?

…the final question led to some cool outside research about oceanography.  We did some research on what a lagoon actually is and what sort of creatures can actually live at the bottom of the ocean, especially in the really deep parts where the sun’s rays have practically no effect on life there.

Most interesting was our discussion on some aspects of “Ripped Pants.”  My personal favorite was a discussion on whether a lobster, a squirrel, or a sponge could best perform a clean and press.  It led to a discovery of the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates, and ultimately it was decided the squirrel could do this the best, despite the relative strength of the lobster’s exoskeleton (mostly because of its limited range of motion).  We also learned how a lobster must shed its entire shell when it grows!

That’s about all I have time for today.  Until next week- stay agile, man.

 

With love and agility,

Agilion

As I slooowly begin to think about attempting to maybe one day utilize my digital Kanban board known as Trello to easily look back on all the wonderful things I get to do every week, here are some juicy reflections over the past few. How in the multiverse could I have forgotten to share these fun-filled, creative-juice-inducing, satiating activities with you? Forgive me.

This piece here was created through a technique called drip painting. Artists: Askani, Taina, Eva, and myself
My friend, Eva, came in a couple of weeks ago and offered to facilitate this activity; it was filled with imaginative role playing, creative collaboration, feminine forces, animal energies, explosions, brains, a cupcake, a blue cat, the last breaths of a grandmother wolf, and an eagle with three eggs. Big thanks to Askani @thewitchqueen908, Taina @pinkpanda, and Eva for gifting me with such a fulfilling experience.

Check out my epic battle scar! Taina @pinkpanda, has been practicing her make-up artist skills. I’ve given her free rein over my face as her blank canvas.
For our Comic Con field trip, she painted a version of Two-Face on me (photo coming soon, if I remember to ask @abbyo for it!). Because of this, Jacob @jacobcb was inspired to create a meme of me. Love it!

Huge thanks to my friend, Marian, who came in to offer her passion for cooking earlier this week. Check out Taina @pinkpanda, Lescot @legolad22, and Thanos @kingthanos–the super team of sous chefs! We made veggie ravioli from scratch… whaaaat?! Amazing.

INGREDIENTS

Flour
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Water
Eggs
Milk
Heavy cream
Lemon juice
Carrots
Celery
Onions
Tomato paste
Salt
Pepper
Bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns
Basil
Parmigiano cheese

 
INSTRUCTIONS
Tomato Sauce:

Chop onion, celery and carrots to a small dice
Heat medium sauce pan with canola oil
Add veggies
Sweat down on slow heat
Add 1 tablespoon tomato paste, caramelize
Deglaze with water or white wine
Add water and aromatics (thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns)
Bring to a boil and down to a simmer for about 45 min

 
Pasta Dough:

Form volcano with flour
Crack egg inside volcano
Mix and add EVOO and water until sticky (but not wet) consistency
Roll on floured surface
Cut out ravioli shapes
Fill with *ricotta cheese and **egg-wash edges
Fold and seal

 

*Ricotta Cheese:

Bring whole milk and heavy cream (3:1) to a boil on medium heat
Add lemon juice until it curdles
Season with salt and pepper to taste
Strain through cheese cloth

 

**Egg-wash

Mix 1 egg with 2 tablespoons of water

 

BUON APPETITO !

 

 

Our second parent interest night (PIN) happened on Thursday. Listening to the questions of curious parents is something I’m learning so much from in terms of preparing myself for the kinds of questions I’ll need to be ready to answer in establishing an ALC on Oahu. It’s been a significant experience for me to hear the answers of our facilitators as well as parents of our own kids who were present to support in sharing their own testimonies and enthusiasm for the space we provide for young people.
It’s always inspiring to listen to @tomis, @abbyo, and @ryanshollenberger‘s responses to parent questions and concerns. Time and time again, I sense the internal and external challenges of parents/adults with trusting children. As I know very well, as Ryan mentioned at this event, and as quoted by John Holt:

“Trust Children. Nothing could be more simple, or more difficult. Difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.”

I’m in the mood to travel a bit farther back…
I’ve been journaling since age 9 or 10. It’s something I personally consider immensely therapeutic. In retrospect, I see and know it as a very necessary processing tool for self-reflection toward deeper self-awareness. Over the past year or two, I’ve been journaling less for therapeutic purposes and more for setting intentions, stating desires and noting synchronicity after synchronicity. Here are a few short excerpts from two entries, which I just now realize, sit EXACTLY a year apart from each other. Whoa.
                     

Ohh, the idealism. I wonder what I’ll be writing on March 23rd of 2015. Hopefully that I’ll have received an abundance of financial support, local resources, local interest/support in this vision, and physical space to establish ALC Oahu. Or better.
Beyond thrilled and thankful to be on the path I’ve chosen for myself.