Antorcha de Independencia -revised

It is currently Tuesday 9/15/2009 at 10:39:27 a.m. Costa Rican time. Yesterday I woke up at 6am, went to school, stopped for some delicious ice cream at the lecharia, walked home, finished my homework (of course) then started looking around for that pair of black shorts I was sure I had brought with me. After locating the shorts in my heap of clothes, that I usually don't wear in public, I quickly changed into them. I had a few hours before I had to go to the colegio at 11pm - I spent these hours preparing myself for the upcoming physical trials.

Dan and Emma came over at around 9:30 pm. We arrived at the colegio a few minutes early so we sat around and tried, unsuccessfully for the most part, talking to some of the other youths in Spanish.

We were soon divided into groups of 14 and we chose partners within that group. This was when the director explained what was going to happen. Prior to this speech I knew about as much as you do now about what I had gotten myself into. And after the director's talk I knew only a little more because it was in very rapid Spanish.



Luckily my friend was translating the parts I didn't get.

The plan was to take 47 students in two buses 55k to the Pan-American Highway, a 1.5 hour journey by bus, to meet the main torch representing the liberation of all Central America from Spain. From that torch we would light our own torch to be run back to Santa Elena.

When the group behind came running up with the torch we would take the torch and continue the charge and after handing the torch off to the next runner we would we would run as part of the entourage for two more Ks. After we ran our 3k we would wait until the bus came around then run and jump on as it struggled up the mountain - so it didn't have to stop and lose momentum. Running was difficult but also rewarding.

Whenever we passed a town or a school the people would come out and get their own torch lit and cheer and wave around bottles of liquor.

Most runners ran 4 times. For reasons I never knew, at the end you had to run 6k before getting back on the bus - had I understood that I would have never gotten off the bus that last time.

At around 8:30am we arrived in Santa Elena at the gymnacio where most of the local population had gathered to sing the Costa Rican national anthem and other patriotic music.

After this 30 minute break we lit yet another torch and all the MFS students ran the 4k up the mountain to the school. Once we arrived at the school we sang liberty and peace songs in Spanish - the songs were led by Tim Curtis.

Then I thought I was going to have to walk the 3k back to my house, but lucky for me my friend's father is a taxi driver so we all got rides to our roads.

A day in the life of an 11th grade student at Monteverde Friends School.

curtisjsampson@gmail.com

#2 news from Costa Rica

I am having a great time at school my teachers are absolutely awesome!
Even precalc is going well . I'm sorry
about not communicating that much but its hard to get access to the
internet. Love to everyone - email me - Curtis


curtisjsampson@gmail.com

News from Curtis in Costa Rica

Dear family and friends,

Estoy en costa rica!!

The flight was fine and my new exchange family is great. I hope that soon I will have wifi in my house so i can communicate regularly. My costa Rican Mom - Martha's cooking is great so not to worry, I am eating well. We got off the plane and picked up by Checo, his wife and 7 year old daughter. The ride was fine with beautiful views.
After an hour we stopped to eat - the food was good and cost aprox $10 for Pack and me together. We got back in the taxi and before we knew it(2 hours later) we were in cerro plano.

We met my family and I unpacked in my room. I have my own bedroom, a kitchen(no stove or fridge), a study, and my own bathroom. It may sound luxurious, but it can really only be related in photographs which I will send as soon as I get the internet en mi casa. My rooms are separate but also very open.

School starts on Tuesday - I will send more news soon!!

Please write to me at curtisjsampson@gmail.com

Love, Curtis

P n C en Costa Rica

Curtis and I had a smooth and exciting trip from New Jersey to Monteverde. The plane was good, we switched seats with a Costa Rican woman so she could sit next to her young son. With our new seats we sat across the aisle from each other and that worked out well.

We met Checa(la taxista) and as we filled the van with ourselves and our stuff we found out that a baritone is called a bon-bom in costa rica. We stopped and had lunch about an hour into our trip. The resturant had an amazing view of the green mountains that we were already very much into. Perhaps the undulating foliage was too much for Curtis as he at one point in a our meal exclaimed ´´everything in my sight has turned green… for a split second´´ I theorized that the light receptors of his eyes were overcompensating for the green onslaught of the montanas verdes so much that when he looked away from the mountains to his plate of food, his eyes put a green lens on everything so they could make sense of the extreme change in view.

The ride was smooth for Curtis and me even as we left the paved road and traveled on the mountain road made of médium sized rocks and clay. As we climbed the mountains in our ´´tourism´´ van the taxista´s wife had their daughter breath into a bag to combat her altitude sickness. I was sorry for the little girl, whose smaller body had less tolerance for the extreme pressure change that came with the seventeen-thousand kilometer vertical ascension.

The family of Lidier, Marta, y Josue is tranqilisimo, very warm and welcoming. Lidier especially was ready to get right down to meeting us and joking with us. They know how to make folks feel at home without being too overt about it, to the point of being saccharin.

The welcome extended beyond kind words into the action realm. Soccer and dancing happened in the living room post dinner, which was prepared, in part by the other ´´member´´ of the family who is staying in the house till the end of August. Jehns is his name and he is doing trail work at the Santa Elena reserve. He´s from Canada and a very nice chap for sure.

We are going to make a list of foods that Curtis eats so that Marta´s kitchen can be as effective and effecient as possible. We´re going to scout the supermercado in Santa Elena and the coop of Monteverde. It´s great to be back in Monteverde after four years shops and buildings have changed but the naturaleza and the vibe of the neighborhoods has maintained!

ps. we´ll get some photos up soonishly!

bon voyage.

Curtis and Pack fly to Costa Rica Saturday morning early! 8/15/2009. There is still packing and organizing to do but we still have 6 days until take-off, plenty of time!! Our family will not be all together again until Christmas so Pack came home for the weekend and we celebrated.


Siblings having fun -



brewster-sampsons and friends rock the anthill music festival

hershey 2009

There was quite a gap between our last visits but we made up for lost time during our three days in Hershey.  Curtis at 16 had a great time with Joe at 15 and Sarah -14, they picked up where they left off at 8,9,and 10 -although much more mature of course!! 

Valerye and I reminded each other of life before kids and our Goucher years - we picked up where we left off but maybe a little less mature.  We spent a whole day floating on the lazy river pushing each other underwater falls and chatting about work, church, girlfriends, obama, sailboats, kayaks and family. 

Pemaquid Point Maine

What a week! it rained at night and was sunny during the day - all week long . I kayaked everyday until the fog chased us off the water on Friday afternoon. We had lots of oysters...yum...,saw Schooner Faire at the Little Brown Church in Round Pond with Mugs and Deb and went to a Barn Dance in Damariscotta. Robin got her sea legs for ocean kayaking -a grand time -a good week for the Sampsons.

Maine 2009

Monteverde Friends School

August 15th very early in the morning Pack and Curtis will be flying out of Newark for San Jose, Costa Rica. Pack will be back to Philadelphia in a week and Curtis will be home at Christmas break - return to Costa Rica for the remainder of the school year and be home in June 2010. Curtis is spending his 11th grade year of high school at Monteverde Friends School on a mountain in the cloud forests of Costa Rica. He will live with a Spanish speaking host family and attend the bilingual high school. He wanted an adventure - more challenge at school - and to see the world. We understand he will have access to internet curtisjsampson@gmail.com ; we have been told mailing letters or packages is very slow and expensive. Mag has plans to visit him over Thanksgiving and he will keep us updated on this blog.

6 yo centerville race

Once again, fastest 6 yo boy and girl live at bumps river road. Kate got a late start(she foolishly waited until the starter said go) so she had a lot of catching up to do. Connor and the rest of the boys didn't make that mistake, he almost caught the rabbit.

Connor winning the Centerville 6  year old race.
Eye of the Tiger, baby.
Leave it on the track!!

The Charming Rebel is sixteen!

RISD COMMENCEMENT — SATURDAY MAY 30, 2009

Getting there

Hello,
I would like to start this email by saying congratulations to Mag for finishing so well at RISD. I was at the last two art sales, helping Mag sell her wares, and seeing Mag's art in the context of the other RISD students and alumni it was clear that she has gleaned many things from art school while concurrently chanelling her personality through her art with deft clarity of vision. !Que corres como un mariposa, hermana!

In Philadelphia things are getting nice, nicely. There's sun and ample breeze to make the trees flip their leaves. I do a good job not getting sunburned but some of my friends are not as prudent. Just yesterday I was sitting with this girl by the fountain in center city and while I repositioned myself to stay in the shade as it inched east, Allison stayed in the sun and now she's burnt on her back and shoulders. The next time I'm sitting with a girl I'll try to keep her close.

I am teaching english in North Philly now four days a week. The plan is for me to replace the main professor when he returns to Haiti for the summer. I'm hoping it will work out.

I've joined a band and I'm playing my violin and singing in it. Its a five piece band with two guitars, a bass, drums and me. Its all practice for the summer and the gigging should start in Sept. The songs so far are not my compositions but once the whole band gets tighter I plan on introducing some of mine. We shall see...

Bueno, I hope the sun shines on all of you, not too much though, and i hope you get good breezes to blow away the summer heat.

love,
Patrick

RISD textiles graduating class of 2009!!!!!!!!

Graduating.. it doesn't seem real yet. I had my final final crit ever at risd yesterday, it went really well. Working with my advisor, Maria Tolakus has been a wonderful experience , I have learned so much and met so many interesting people. I am excited for whatever the future might hold!
COMMENCEMENT 2009 — SATURDAY, MAY 30 at 10am — will take place outdoors -

reading and writing

The end of the semester is fast approaching at Temple University. Summer is coming, and I plan to enjoy/grip and rip it. The course work that I have left to do before the semester ends will keep me busy right up until may 4th, the last day of classes, after which I still have finals to pass.
I plan on taking summer classes and working in Philadelphia this summer. I will continue teaching English as a volunteer in the community center that I have been working at for the past month. When I am capable/certified I plan to make my living teaching ESL, supplemented with the money I will get from my music performances.

"The weather" has been rainy and grey in philly but I mention it only as contrast to the feeling that is still glowing from the past Assateague vacation where I had a wonderful time hanging on/out with mi familia y mis amigos. Era Buenicisimo, a real fun time! I'm slowly eating my Easter basket, the jane Goodall chocolate rocked me for the short time that it remained undigested. The dove eggs and peanut butter eggs are good too!

Bueno,
mucho amor a todos!
Love,
Patrick

The 5K Mag,Turi,Tara

Bob Stone Memorial 5K Run-Walk Road Race
Saturday April 18th 11AM. The race is at West Dennis Beach

Assateague Easter 2009

children's snow suit coliection

these patterns are what came about from the "motifs for cad" images that I posted a month ago

feelin the philliness

Hello friends and family!

Philadelphia is getting some rain today. i walk with water neath my feet and wonder what will be washed away.  Sharp, stark, tension seeps out and gives way to misty city street scenes that are shrunk serenely by the fog to the point that anything more than a block away cannot be seen, mega-structures fade out as the fog spirits in, without a din, just a grin, perceivable only if closely you are watching. 

 Men and women walk into my view unwittingly dramatic as they swish through the fog into sight passing the cone of gold that the street lamp holds in one place all night long just being what its supposed to be, doing what its supposed to do. a street lamp holds a golden cone, a street lamp holds a golden cone, in the foggy soggy street scene i see tonight in the zone of south philly.  The tones just right for me to see something free like a bird in the air or a fish in the sea. See, i'm a man with a plan that's ever evolving, a string on a cello that never quits singing.  Just rosin the bow and I go out swinging, swimming or flying through the world i am plying. I try to be in it till the day that i quit it so as not to waste it debase it or  hasten close-eyed through it so i don't see what is there, really there in the land sea or air, I care and don't want to mislay my efforts so I search for what works, what works for me, what works me and where is the right place to be doing this thing, alas, but i feel, for me, the answer is everywhere and anything.

Visit to Bumpsriver March 2009

This past weekend mom and I went up to the Cape for a day to visit uncle buck, turi and the twins. We went for a beautiful beach hike, it was great to get out of the city and be out in the open for a day. We had a lot of fun with the twins as usual. Connor was very enthusiastic about the wetsuit mom brought them and insisted on trying it on right away - Mom loved that!

The Broken West - Jeff's Band

The Broken West - Jeff Howell's Band

02/23/09 San Diego, CA Casbah
02/24/09 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour French Kicks
02/27/09 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge AA Bondy, French Kicks
Tuesday 03/17/09 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's $12 - door sales at 8pm 03/18/09 Washington, DC Black Cat AC Newman
03/19/09 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle AC Newman
03/20/09 Atlanta, GA The Earl AC Newman
03/21/09 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge AC Newman
03/22/09 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill AC Newman
03/24/09 Minneapolis, MN 400 Bar AC Newman
03/25/09 Chicago, IL Logan Square AC Newman
03/26/09 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room AC Newman
03/27/09 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop AC Newman
03/28/09 Pittsburgh, PA Andy Warhol Museum AC Newman
Sunday 03/29/09 Brooklyn ,Ny The Bell House 21 + General Admission - $15.00
Monday 03/30/09Boston, Mass the Middle East18+ $10 8pm Doors

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - February Book Group

Malcolm Gladwell comments about his book -
" Outlier is a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience. My wish with Outliers is that it makes us understand how much of a group project success is. When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances— and that means that we, as a society, have more control about who succeeds—and how many of us succeed—than we think." mg

Pack's braces-

The doctor said brace yourself and said oh my poor head! no!!!.........You do it, Doctor!!

Hola Familia,
Espero que todo mi familia amorada esta buena en todos los lugares!

Ahora estoy escribiendo un poco en espanol porque quiero practicarme expresar en los dos lenguas y bueno, me gusta escribir en espanol y tambien estaba leyendo gabriel G marquez y su escritas me inspiren.
La vida aca en Filadelfia esta bueno. Estoy haciendo buenas cosas con mi musica, tocando en various lugares por la ciudad y tambien escribiendo/haciendo/construyendo canciones nuevas con un sabor que, no puedo negar, es muy Filadelfia, pero Filadelfia mezclado con el sabor do Brasil, Los violinistas del Tiempo Viejo y Buenos Aires, obviamente.
Asi con esto estilo tengo muchas ganas para continuar mi exploracion de la musica mia y la musica mia mezclado con la musica del mundo. Y BUENO vamos a Ingles, and why not english is a glorious tounge, more choppy, yes, less flowsome, yes, less awesome nuoh wuay, Joe.
I've been having a good time so far this semester. I mean, I have good classes, good work, good music making, good music making friends, good music opportunities. So its a mix of goodness in a variety of different forms.
My mouth is not all good, though it is on the straight and narrow road to recovery. I got braces three days ago and the braces are pulling my teeth around rather painfully. The roots are quite sensitive so there can be no chewing of anything much harder than soup...its basically the fluids only diet. However, things are getting better and I know that this period of extreme sensitivity will only last a few days more as my teeth adjust, for example last night, with the help of a milli or two of Ibuprofen, I had some pasta that my neighbor cooked, I went slow and I did it. I ate pasta!

I am happy, in a way, to have braces. As my sideburns grow in wildly and my lower jaw grows out leaving my teeth fainting together like a bunch of drunks I have nightmarish thoughts of being the posterchild for Clemo Corners and I take solace in the fact my teeth are on the straight and narrow. Yeah my teeth are moving up in life.

I hope all is well at everyones houses, apartments, attics.
BUENOs=SUERTE y MUCH LOVE a TODOS
-Patrick

Beginning my last semester at RISD

Today I had the first meeting about my degree project. It went very well, Maria, my advisor is very supportive of me and she seems to like my ideas. Above are some of the experiments that I did in the degree project pre-class I took during winter session. Most of these will be incorporated into larger collage pieces.

myspace linked

Ive just set upa MYSPACE account for my music.

www.myspace.com/patrickbsampson

What's on there now are some songs that joel and i recorded over thanksgiving and christmas break. I'll be putting some different songs on periodically so check it monthly or bimonthly or weekly or daily!

The snowball semi-formal at HHS 1-24-09

Delaware Braverman Fall/Winter 2008 and 2009

Delaware at home in Montana. He is getting bigger!!





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RISD Winter session and Maggie's Senior Thesis Show and Graduation!!!

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Wintersession is going really well for me up here at RISD. The past week has been particularly productive - all the work in the photos has been done in the past few days. I am playing around with creating layers of transparency in my prints. I’m not sure if it comes across in the photos but it has a mysterious effect. I also have been working more hand embroidery into my prints. It’s all experimental at this point but I am very hopeful about what is happening with it.

Save this date for a trip to Providence

The Reception for my Senior Thesis will be Thursday April 16, 6-7:30pm at the WOODS-GERRY GALLERY 62 Prospect Street, Providence.


The Textile Senior Thesis Show runs - April 17-21
Monday-Saturday, 10am-4pm; Sunday 2-5pm; opening receptions, Thursday, 6-7:30pm; weekend hours may vary. (Call 401 454-6141)

VISIT PROVIDENCE
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/travel/03hours.html



Save this date for a trip to Providence



COMMENCEMENT 2009 — SATURDAY, MAY 30

Commencement is a vibrant celebration of the RISD experience. Graduates typically festoon their caps and gowns with wonderful or outrageous decorations or create a costume of their own design. COMMENCEMENT 2009 — SATURDAY, MAY 30 at 10am — will take place outdoors on South Water Street at Power Street, with the city of Providence and its waterfront as a spectacular backdrop.

Yo-Yo Ma , Itzhak Perlman , Anthony McGill & Gabriela Montero at the Obama Inauguration

2009 Inauguration

The American people elected Barack Obama as President and today he and Joe Biden were sworn into office. President Obama said putting off and ignoring hard decisions is something we must put an end to . The people of the United states have decided to elect Barack Obama and it's been one of the best decisions made by the people of our nation in the history of our nation. So let us trust our ability as a people to act rightly, making the most important decisions that affect us all and continue to do so with the drive and vision that Barack Obama has allowed us to see in ourselves. Pack

Inauguration

New Year's Day 2009

here's some pictures from our lovely evening.
we all enjoyed ourselves very much,
we'll have to do it again soon.