Walking the Boards

My friend Joseph and I performed Act 4 Scene 3 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Thanks to our fabulous teacher, Mrs H., at Different Directions.

And here are my monologues from a recital at my acting class at Children's Acting Academy, NY.
 

Ping Pong, Spin Pong

Here I am at Spin NY, training with my coach, Matthew Khan.

Fall Colors

I took some photos of the fall leaves!

Brown

Red

Yellow

Orange

Ping Pong!

 I've started taking ping pong lessons at a club called PIPS in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Here I am beating...I mean playing my dad!

Bee! I'm Expecting You!

Zoe and I made another poetry movie! Here we perform Emily Dickinson's "Bee! I'm Expecting You!"

We are Seven

Zoe and I made a new movie! Here we are performing William Wordsworth's poem "We Are Seven." It was all filmed in the churchyards of Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY.

Homeschool History, Religion, and Culture Studies (Part 4)

(The nine circles of hell inspired by Dante's Inferno!)

So far, we have studied Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Plus the Hebrews and the birth of Christianity. During the spring of this year we went on to study the Middle Ages in the West.

We still use Gloria Fiero's Humanistic Tradition to start us off, but then we read and watch lots of other cool stuff - and go on museum tours too, of course!

Books:

Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy
Brenda Mulvihill, Treasury of Saints and Martrys
Everyman (Miracle Play)
Dante, The Divine Comedy
Seymour Chwast, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation
Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
Marcia Williams, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

Audio book/lectures

Modern Scholar: Dante and the Divine Comedy (lecture series on The Divine Comedy)
Modern Scholar: Odyssey of the West: A Classic Education through the Great Books: The Medieval World (lecture series)

Film and TV

Brother Son Sister Moon (Zefferrelli film about St Francis of Assisi)
Medieval Times (BBC series, Terry Jones)
Joan of Arc (Victor Fleming movie, 1948)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer and Falconetti, 1928)
Vision (2010 movie about Hildegard von Bingen)
Hildegard von Bingen: In Portrait (BBC documentary)
Dante's Inferno (1935 movie)
Six Centuries of Verse (TV series presented by John Gielgud, which includes readings from Canterbury Tales, Divine Comedy etc)

Tours at Museums

Medieval tour - The Metropolitan Museum of New York
Medieval tour - British Museum

The Scottish Play

In May, I performed in a fabulous New Genesis teen production of Macbeth. I was Macduff's son. (Thanks to Alan Brooks for filming the play and helping my mum download the footage!)

Star Trek - "Human Potential"

We made our first Star Trek episode while we were at Esalen. Check it out!

Me and my Uke!

I was just at Esalen for 3 weeks, while my dad taught a workshop. One of the work scholars gave me ukulele lessons. I'd never played before, and this was my final performance! Thanks, Syd, for teaching me.

The Story of Siddhartha: Part Two

Finally, the second part of our Story of Siddhartha is done! In this installment, Prince Siddhartha leaves the palace and sees old age, suffering, and death for the first time.

In case you missed it, here is part one:

He has killed me, mother: Run away, I pray you!

I love New Genesis Productions! They cast me as Macduff's son in their awesome teen-production of Macbeth. Last weekend, we did four performances at Woodstock's Byrdecliffe Theater. It was so, so fun!! I had to learn stage combat and I had to die on stage! (thanks to Ted Ojarovsky for all these great photos!)

And here are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Everyone in the cast was so great and really kind to me!

 

Wondrous Walt!

Me and Jojo and Baba like this poem because Walt Whitman shows that, even though astronomers can come up with a whole bunch of figures and tables and diagrams about the universe, nothing beats just going out and looking (and wondering) at the stars!

Truly Absurd!

Baba and I waited for Godot. He never came!

Check out our version of Samuel Beckett's classic play, Waiting for Godot.

Reading my Poem at Barnes and Noble

A couple of weeks ago, I read a poem I wrote - called "The Night" - at Barnes and Noble on the Upper West Side, NYC. This is the poem:

The Night

By Benny

You know there is a day.

But, the night stands it's ground.

Like life and death, they lead to each other.

If we live on our candle burning out,

We do not see our candle.

So, dear friends, love the day,

But, night will come sometime.

Homeschool History Studies: Part 3

After studying Ancient Greece and Rome last year, Baba, Jojo, and I moved onto studying the rise of Christianity. We read lots of the New Testament (and listened to a great dramatized version), listened to lectures, and saw lots of great movies! We are now onto studying the middle ages, but here's the book and movie list for our Christianity studies:

Books:

Gloria Fiero's Humanistic Tradition (chapters on the birth of christianity)
The New Testament
Treasury of Saints and Martyrs by Margaret Mulvihill
Jesus by Demi
Usborne Family Bible

Audiobooks:

Modern Scholar: 14 part Lecture Series: From Jesus to Christianity: A History of the Early Church
The New Testament in The Word of Promise: Complete Audio Bible

Film, TV, and Documentaries

Jesus of Nazareth (1977 Franco Zefferrelli)
The Robe (1953 Henry Koster)
Quo Vadis (1951 Mervyn Le Roy)
Peter and Paul (1981 Robert Day)
Life of Brian (1979 Terry Jones)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 Norman Jewison)
Peter and Paul and the Christian Revolution (PBS)
Jerusalem: Center of the World (PBS)
The Lost Gospels (BBC documentary)

Our Streets, Our Lives

We made this video with our homeschool documentary club! Check it out.

Benny = James!

Last week, I starred as James in New Acting Company's production of James and the Giant Peach. It was so much fun!

My fabulous friends came to see me!

The New Michael Moore!

Check out my first ever documentary! It is called "The Militarization of Boys." It's about how our culture wants to make boys like me into fighting machines.

Lost in Rome

Zoe and I made a new movie!