Mantis by Brad Garber
Brad Garber’s photograph captures the praying mantis, a species known to kill its own kind at its most vulnerable.
Month: November 2015
Rediscovered Stories: Monster or Messenger
by Camellia Mukherjee – The praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) has been known over decades for its fierce hunting techniques. I was first introduced to this insect, or the “monster,” as perceived by many of my friends, in fifth grade when I read “A Shocker on Shock Street” in the famous Goosebumps book series. The enormous green eyes searching for a kill, the sharp bloody beak, and the long legs rampaging […]
The Mirror’s Eccentric History
– For millennia, mirrors have not only served as objects for personal grooming, but also for magic, light, weapons, and even prototype cameras. We’ve come a long way from that first mirror, a still puddle or pool with a dark bottom. Today’s man-made mirrors maintain reflective properties but add more consistent clarity and, unlike a pool of water, they are portable. Over the years, mirrors became prized objects for refreshing […]
Interview with Jennifer DiCola Matos, Executive Director of the Noah Webster House
– Jennifer DiCola Matos is the executive director of the Noah Webster House in West Hartford, Connecticut. The house was the birthplace and early home of Noah Webster, author of The Blue Back Speller and An American Dictionary of the English Language. The house runs tours seven days a week and provides programming that serves the community. PY: How would you describe the position of Executive Director? What goes […]
Skull Talk: One-Room Schoolhouse 46 Miles from the Big Apple
Stopped at a traffic light in the upscale bedroom community of Bedford, New York, I looked out the car window at what seemed to be a stone storage shed at the edge of a Catholic church’s parking lot. A sign indicated that it was a historic, one-room schoolhouse, and I immediately pulled over. As a high school English teacher at a Connecticut high school with over 2,000 students and a […]