The Bard Magazine: Issue 2

Winter 2012 Issue 2

The Bard Magazine Issue 2: Winter 2012 Menlo School’s arts and lifestyle magazine Atherton, California Since 2012

Issue theme: Comics

Captain America (Editor-in-chief): Maya Singhal The Flash (Photo editor): Katelyn Weingart Spiderman (Layout editor): Kyle Vaidyanathan Wolverine (Tech editor): Hunter Brown Batman (Chief reporter): Pooja Kathail Professor X (Teacher advisor): Carla Pugliese Staff reporters: Wonderwoman: Christina Dong Rogue: Helena Ong Catwoman: Elise Smith Mystique: Tara Saha Phoenix: Polly Golikova Violet Parr: Elena Mendez Leal Superman: Lexi Davirro

The Bard Magazine Table of Contents

Page 4: Letter from the editor Page 5-6: The adventures of a comic book author Page 7-10: Wearable art Page 11-16: Turning musings into money Page 17-20: Tiny canvases Page 21: New on campus: architecture club Page 22: Carla Corner

The adventures of Sushu Xia, comic book author

By Maya Singhal Although most know her as mild-mannered history teacher Sushu Xia, Xia also has a super alter ego as a comic book writer.

In high school, Xia was inspired to draw by reading web comics. “[They] gave me an ‘I can do this too’ feeling, which I don’t think I would have gotten if I had just read manga or American comics,” Xia said. And drawing the comics made her take comics more seriously.

“When I read comics, I would take note of the cool things that the author did,” she added. In college, friends also began to take interest in her talents, which is when Xia decided to team up with a friend of a friend to write a comic. They eventually submitted their story to an online comics hub called “Girls-oMatic,” and Xia found herself writing one page a week. In her junior year of college, Xia began a book. However, after two years and 50 pages of work, Xia decided to stop the project, which she felt was too much for her life at the moment. Xia didn’t start seriously drawing comics again until she was married. Inspired by her husband’s effort to start drawing comics, Xia decided to take a teaching approach to her drawings, writing an informative comic about China, which was released every month. When her comic grew to be 24 pages long, she decided to publish it and finally be done. “And that,” Xia said, “was the end or my comic career.” At least for the moment.

Photos by Lexi Davirro

Wea

arable art: the fashion designs of Donya Dehnad

By Polly Golikova Photos by Katelyn Weingart

We all remember what “art” consisted of during our childhood: messy finger-painting, coloring inside the lines, and crafts that resulted in glitter in our hair and sequins glued to the floor. But while most us were busy crafting chaotic masterpieces to be hung on the door of the refrigerator, junior Donya Dehnad was beginning to doodle what would later become her earliest fashion designs. Dehnad became serious about her interest in fashion design while in the third and fourth grades, her ideas began to materialize on paper in the fifth, and finally, in seventh grade, she made her first dress.

Dehnad refers to her own grandmother as her main influence in the realm of fashion design.

Though Dehnad plays the principal role in the creative process of designing her clothes, her grandmother completes the process by creating patterns based on her granddaughter’s designs and sewing the pieces together. However, she has only attempted sewing her own designs.

Her main fear, she said, is breaking her grandmother’s old sewing equipment, but with some supervision and some guidance “it’s all good.”

(Continued on page 9)

Dehnad’s inspiration comes from everywhere – in her opinion, “everything can inspire you”. She is always open-minded and very receptive to new ideas for her designs, and she says that you can see most anything from common household objects to elements of nature “as a piece of clothing or something to put on your clothing.” She does, however, reference a website that we all know and love as an artistic stimulus: the one and only Tumblr. But more important for Dehnad is the role that jewelry plays in inspiring her designs. If she finds a piece she particularly likes, she either tries to emulate its look through clothing or fabricate an outfit to accompany it.

From “preppy” to “grungy” to “old school”, Dehnad’s personal style changes on a day-to-day basis.

In fact, she believes that people her age are too young to be able to define their personal styles. She is particularly fond of the “vintage” look, which she achieves by shopping at consignment stores and appropriating her grandmother’s clothes. Though she struggled to narrow down her list, Dehnad named Alexander McQueen and Valentino as a couple of her favorite designers, the latter being the first one that she ever actively studied.

While being a professional fashion designer would be a dream come true for Dehnad, her interest in fashion has shifted from designing to styling. Her idol is Rachel Zoe, the renowned stylist known for her work with high-profile clients. Dehnad plans to take a practical route in her education and major in something that is not directly affiliated with fashion, such as business, that she can later apply towards a career in the fashion world.

by Christina Dong

W

hen he’s not sitting in chemistry class studying ions, or in English class discussing A Separate Peace, sophomore John McNelly leads another life—the life of a cartoonist. Making their way from a classroom whiteboard to a humble blog to a website, and then finally to local publications, McNelly’s drawings have had quite the journey since their 2007 debut. Now as 2012 becomes 2013, the distinct one-frame caricatures festoon the pages of Menlo School’s Coat of Arms, and Los Altos’ Town Crier, bringing a glimmer of life and humor to a droning sea of text. This month The Bard Magazine takes a peek into the framework of McNelly’s cartooning avocation.

Rather ironically, McNelly was merely going about his daily life as a student the first time he tried his hand at cartooning. In sixth grade, he filled a dull moment in class by drawing a funny picture, which he then showed his friend. His friend not only enjoyed it, but passed it around the room.

Eventually, the Sharpie-scrawled creation found itself under a magnet on the class whiteboard. This series of events soon became a weekly occurrence.

“In middle school it kind of…died,” McNelly said of his early cartooning.

The drawing that did take place was done inconspicuously at his classroom desk, and was subsequently stuffed in a binder, which was then stuffed away.

“I kept it to myself,” he recalled. But

as the binder became fuller and fuller, “some people wanted to see it.” Soon enough, this stack of art became a point of interest to a growing number of classmates. “My friend told me I should start a blog,” McNelly said. And McNelly listened.

His freshly launched blog added another dimension to McNelly’s drawings, as it lent itself to experimentation with digital art. After trying computer cartooning for the first time, McNelly chose to stick mostly to this style. “It’s a lot easier in some ways, because if I want to draw a circle, poof! There’s a circle,” McNelly said.

As his blog feed became increasingly longer and McNelly became more devoted to his drawings, he thought

of the next step: his own website. He paid a host, and the website was up and running. Titled “Da Weekly Comic,” McNelly’s website features his comics in chronological order in a digital flipbook.

His cartoons, for the most part, are one-frame drawings with little or no dialogue. “We think that life gets a little boring without a good comic here and there, and we hope that you agree,” the home page reads.

When asked about sources of stylistic inspiration, McNelly acknowledged the characters of Cyanide and Happiness.

He hints at the character style of that comic series, but not its crudeness, he explained.

On the digital front, he had fulfilled his hopes for developing his hobby. But what about good ol’ paper cartoons?

In the summer of 2012, McNelly wondered if his town newspaper, The Los Altos Town Crier, would be willing to feature his work. He went ahead and wrote to the editor, and soon enough he was sitting in the newspaper office interviewing with the man himself.

After taking a look at McNelly’s portfolio, the Crier was more than willing to feature his work. They would even pay him to be a routine cartoonist.

“It gave me enough money to cover the monthly website hosting charge. And for a few slushies on the side,” McNelly joked.

McNelly continues to submit comics to the Crier while also adding a comic to his website every Sunday. “I draw on weekends, but I think of comics all the time. I have this book that that I write ideas in whenever they come

up,” he said of his current work. McNelly doesn’t have a specific theme to his comics. Rather, he cartoons about whatever he finds humor in at the moment. “I haven’t had as much time to draw lately, so often I end up drawing on Sunday night and putting it up immediately,” he laughed.

Though McNelly has considered expanding his cartooning into something larger than a weekly hobby, he’s happy with his current level of commitment.

He doesn’t see himself taking it to a career level, as “it’d be stressful to have

to do one every day.” In addition, McNelly does not want to be syndicated, which is when a cartoonist submits his or her work to an agency that would then have partial rights to the cartoons. “It would be stressful to have to draw one every day,” he added, along with his concerns about income. In the near future, “I might try to get into a bigger newspaper,” he said. “If I can make a bit of money—enough for slushies—that’s enough for me.”

Look for McNelly’s comical beat in The Coat of Arms as well as on his website, http://www.daweeklycomic.com/.

Tiny canvases Nail masterpieces by junior Amelia Blackburn

By Pooja Kathail Photos by Katelyn Weingart

Junior Amelia Blackburn can often be seen on the quad sporting a unique and orginal design on her nails.

Her nail art has ranged from snowmen to tribal prints to sharks, and her enthusiasm and passion for nail art caused her to also start a blog, sharp-as-nails.tumbr.com, on which she posts her most recent designs.

Blackburn has been dabbling in nail art for the past two of three years. “The first really cool nails I saw that inspired me were on the Cobra Starship album cover for Hot Mess. They were super fierce,” Blackburn said. She has also gained inspiration from the popular nail blog, WAH NAILS.

Blackburn’s typical process when doing her nails is to first pick a base color and use it as the first coat of paint on her nails. Then, she makes the design of her choice using thin nail brushes. “I originally only had one little eyeliner brush that I didn’t know how to clean so it was hard with nail polish and really difficult to use, but now I have a couple more brushes and I learned how to clean them so they stay soft,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn’s nail designs often vary based on the season or her current pop culture interests. “During the summer I do a lot of neon stuff. [...] Sometimes if there is a movie I saw that I liked I’ll do nails for that. Like I did nails for Shark Week and Hunger Games,” she added.

In the future, Blackburn hopes to continue to paint her nails according to a theme and also wants to experiment with different techniques. “I want to do another series like [the Hunger Games because] it was really fun to have a set theme to go off of. [...] I get a lot of requests to do Harry Potter nails, so that will probably happen at some point,” she said. Blackburn also plans on trying the “marbling” nail painting technique, which involves swirling various colors of nail polish on top of water before applying it to one’s nails.

Blackburn also recently began painting other people’s nails in addition to her usual experimentations on her own nails. Blackburn explained that around semi and prom season many people want to get their nails done, but “it’s expensive to go to the salon and [Blackburn] will do it for just 10 dollars.”

What started as simply a fun hobby has now turned into a popular blog and business for Blackburn.

New on Campus: Although it’s a new addition to the many clubs Menlo School has to offer, the architecture club has promise and passion.

Leading the club is senior Manny Walton, who began architecture as a independent study and was inspired to share it with the school. To build a firm foundation (no pun intended) in the work involved in studying architecture, members of the club have studied the basics

of freelance drawing and different architecture styles in the modern world. They have spent time in the newlybuilt Whitaker Lab learning the basics of the laser cutter, as well as Google Sketchup, a 3D modeling application for beginners. For presentation in June, Walton plans to have students utilize the tools in the Whitaker Lab and their lessons with Google Sketchup to create

a physical model of a building they’ve designed. He hopes that with the completion of the presentation, students can understand the basic work that goes into designing a building, and strengthen interest in the area of architecture. Walton also aims for the club to branch out to more students and potentially become an actual class at Menlo.

The Architecture Club meets ab.

The Architecture Club meets Tuesdays at 12:15 p.m. in the Whitaker Lab.

Photos from Manny Walton’s personal design and architecture portfolio.

Carla’s Corner

When I was a junior in high school, blue metal lockers lined the brown walls of the arts buildings, their low frames forming a protective cul-de-sac far from the quad, the broad shoulders of the music rooms hunching close to the now-vanished art building. Low, leafy trees lent a closeness to the path and the long walls of the buildings were perfect for hiding behind. It was there, tucked away in a far corner under a wide oak tree, that we would sit, our tongues running over adventure -- treasures uncovered at Savers and Goodwill, long-simmering crushes boiling over in classroom debate, the ever-present mystery of exactly what kind of cologne the green-haired boy in mixed choir insisted on wearing. But before long, it would emerge, the holy object, the reason for our coven on the far side of campus.

The Wonder Woman book.

The current keeper would pull her gingerly from backpack or tote, brightly painted nails smoothing the crinkles from her corners, giving one last rifle through the pages. With self-deprecation -- "I really don't know what I wrote," we would each lie in turn -- the keeper would relinquish her to the next guardian.

Every week, we played the changing of the guard, the thin paper notebook passing from girl to girl, the pages growing crowded, one script bleeding into the next, a never-ending play of teenage girldom.

The fact of Wonder Woman was important. She was our avatar.

Our model. Our superhero. Resplendent in her patriotic garb, subversive in her golden bangles and tall boots, she flashed across the golden cover, lasso cracking. Blessed by Artemis -- her name, after all, is Diana -- she carried the torch for the feisty goddesses of old.

Wonder Women carries the lasso of truth and within the book, we were within its spell. No hurt, no shame, no joy went unrecorded, the lines glowing in rainbow ink.

-Carla Pugliese