This is by far AMS’ darkest and most frightening costume. She came up with the idea and we then found bits and pieces of material, foam, yarn, polyester fill. The mask came from a street vendor I ran into in San Francisco while attending a conference.
Mockup No. 3
Mockup No. 2
Mockup Trials
White
Nightmare Hag at Paly
Dementor Hag
Dementor Hag
Living Nightmare
Dementor Hag
A vision of a waking nightmare and paralyzing terror in the suburbs.
Halloween Contest
AMS wore her costume to school for the high school Halloween Contest. She didn’t win a prize but most of her friends thought she should have gotten it.
Halloween Contest
Inspiration
This was the source of inspiration for AMS’ costume. A more benign bug-like representation.
Shared a taxi to the White Knight Hotel in Intramuros.
Casa Blanca
On Roxas Boulevard
Spend our first full day walking around Intramuros and along Roxas Boulevard in the heat. Still jet-lagged. Drank some excellent coffee at the White Knight Hotel – Batangas coffee!
June 7, 2016 – Tuesday
Departed Manila and arrived in Hong Kong. We’re staying at the Eaton – Kowloon. From the airport we took the K1 bus that dropped us off directly at the Eaton Hotel – Kowloon. We arrived at the hotel very late.
June 8, 2016 – Wednesday
Spent the day walking around the Eaton Hotel. Went to the night market on Temple Street.
Till We Have Faces
Lotus – Kowloon Park
Night Market
Night Market
Temple Street At Night
Temple Street Night Market
Nathan Road – Kowloon
Nathan Road – Kowloon
June 9, 2016 – Thursday
Disneyland
Disneyland – Hong Kong
We went to Disneyland with Maria, her daughter, Vivienne. It was Vivienne’s first trip to Disneyland – her 6th birthday present. She would never dream of going to Disneyland until now.
June 10, 2016 – Friday
Went to Hong Kong by Star Ferry and found the Mid-Levels longest escalator.
Hong Kong Skyline
View of Lantau Island
Kowloon View
Jordan Road, Kowloon
June 11, 2016 – Saturday
Hong Kong -> Manila -> Iloilo City -> San Jose
Hong Kong. Woke up early to rain pouring down. Packed up, got a quick breakfast at the Main Street Cafe and caught Bus A21 to the airport. Our check in counter was in Terminal 2 but the gate was in Terminal 1. Got through security, immigration and customs without a problem and headed off to Manila at 11:30 AM. Arrived in Terminal 3 in good shape.
Manila. Transferred by taxi to Terminal 3, got checked in for the next leg and waited. A delayed flight and gate change and we were off for Iloilo City by 5:30 PM (late).
Iloilo City. Arrived after dark and looked for a van but they were all gone already. Had to transfer to another location to catch a van to San Jose.
Two hours later we arrived in San Jose welcomed by a small group of family kids and a motorcycle taxi waiting for us.
Checked in to the Adelaide Travelers Hotel. Chill.
Part of the journey to adulthood is being able to drive – onward to the future [Baba].
October 8, 2016
First driving lesson with a licensed driving instructor. 2 hours of practice driving. AMS is signed up for 8 hours of behind-the-wheel driver training with a licensed instructor. Then she needs to drive with a licensed adult for a minimum 50 hours (with 10 hours of night driving) before taking the driving test. [Baba]
May 24, 2016
DMV Appointment – passed the written test! Now I needs one hour minimum professional training before I can start driving with a licensed driver at least 25 y.o. (Dad?) in the passenger seat.
Driver’s License Mug Shot
Next Step
The next step is to start in a professional driving school program for beginer’s.
“Children’s Musical Theater Marquee is honored to be one of the first local theaters to present Billy Elliot. Set in a northern English mining town against the background of the 1984-85 miners’ strike, Billy Elliot is the uplifting tale of a young boy’s struggle against the odds to make his dreams come true. The story follows Billy’ s journey as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into a ballet class, where he discovers a passion for dance that inspires his family and whole community – and changes his life forever. Featuring a memorable score by Elton John, sensational dance numbers and a powerful story that has captivated audiences around the world, Billy Elliot is a funny, positive and spectacular theatrical experience that will stay with you forever”
Intel Free Tickets
We received free tickets from Intel for this wonderful production of one of the best loved musicals.
“Camp Unity is a requirement for the social justice pathway since it is great camp that focuses on social injustice of all types that help students become leaders within the school. This goal ultimately aligns with the Social Justice Pathway’s (SPJ) goals for our students as it serves as foundational understanding for our students in terms of discussion, understanding of leadership, and our perspectives when considering social justice issues.
Furthermore, this camp will help unify the students within SJP as a shared experience. Ms. Evans and I find that this will be such valuable experience for Amelia because it will give her a platform to explore issues she is interested in as well as allow her to bond with other classmates beyond her immediate friend group.”
Day (Evening) 1:
We arrived at Camp around 7:00 PM after a long and windy trip through traffic to Boulder Creek, in which my friends and I pretty much just slept the entire way, as comfortable as we could get in the cramped bus seats, one torso piled on top of another.
First things first; bags out of the buses, and we entered into the main lodge with our duffles piled on a lunch table outside and newly made nametags secured around our necks.
“Rainbow!”, someone called, and we learned that “Rainbow” meant the whole room shuffled around seats, actively trying to sit with people not of the same race, gender, or friend group. One of the best traditions of camp, as I don’t believe all 60 of us would’ve gotten half as close if we hadn’t been forced to sit and eat and talk to everyone else we didn’t know.
It was here we first met Richard, the lead counselor and adult of Camp Unity. Not so tall, not so short, bone white hair and a grizzled, tanned face. I remember one of the first things he said to us, an order to enjoy the food of our first dinner, to clean our plates because of how good the pasta bake was. I jokingly replied, “we’ll try,” and he clapped me on the shoulder and chuckled.
After dinner, it was bunk assignments and I got to meet my cabin mates. Luckily, they put me in one closer to the main hall so I didn’t have so far to go in the morning.
Back at the main hall, we all sat in a huge circle and introduced ourselves and “built community”, until the main event of the evening; tackling racial stereotypes. No notice, just straight “hey kids while this particular ethnic/racial group steps out of the room, please come up with every derogatory term/slang/stereotype for them you can think of, and we’ll bring them back in and make them look at them.”
Peer Comments
“Ace Emelia Straight”
strong sense of self
not afraid to talk about it
educator & tolerance
fearless spirit
always looking out for others
a voice for those who can’t
voicing your opinion
you know who you are
strong and courageous
gorgeous
teach and educate
passionate
very unique
born leader
Peer Comments
Conclusion
In the end the entire camp became friends and started talking about their shared experiences, triumphs, failures, successes, preconceptions. And the world moved forward one little step in one small way.
We’re going to the opening of the new Annie Leibovitz photography exhibit at The Presidio in San Francisco. She might even be able to meet Ms Leibovitz!
Onward to the future…
Portraits of Agnes Gund, Denise & Linamandla Manong, Cindy Sherman, Sally Mann, Katie Ledecky, Jane Goodall, Lena Dunham, Shonda Rimes, Misty Copeland, Adele, Malala Yousafzai, Aung San Suu Kyi, Caitlyn Jenner, Laura Poitras, Elizabeth Warren, Lupita Nyong’o, Kathleen Kennedy, Gloria Steinem, Amy Schumer & Kim Caramele, Kara Walker, Natalia Vodianova, Alice Waters & Fanny Singer, Sheryl Sandberg, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Mellody Hobson, Samatha Power, Shirin Neshat, Wendi Murdoch, Kamala Harris & the Queen Mum (QE2)…others
