Quercus Alba is a fantastic school and many Great wizards went to Quercus Alba.
I wanted to see what the students of today think about the school. I went to Alahna Peterson of HUFFLEPUFF first.
Alahna, what do you think of QA?
“ I think it is great. I love charms and chess.” said Alahna
Who is your favorite professor?
“ Professor de Delphi of course she is the head of my house.”
Who do you think will win the house cup?
“Ravenclaw.” Why? “ Well, they have the lead right now and they are good at earning points.”
What is the best part about QA?
“ Charms and chess.”
What is the worst part about Quercus Alba ?
“ There is no bad part! I love everything about Quercus Alba!”
What changes can be made to QA for the better?
“Longer meetings.”
As I spoke with Alahna I began to think what about the other students thought about the school, so I went to Natalie Morphis of HUFFLEPUFF. So, Natalie, why do you like Hufflepuff (not that I have anything against them.)” My mommy is the head of Hufflepuff.” And then she walked away, so I did not get much out of her. Then I went to Bradley Palmer of HUFFLEPUFF.
So Bradley who is your favorite professor?
“ Professor Bronte.” Why?
“ You forced me to choose one.”
“Ok what is your favorite class?”
“ Charms. It is the class I do my best in.”
“ What changes can be made to QA for the better?”
“Longer meetings and food on fridays.”
“Thank you bradley.”
Then I ran into Samuel Palmer of GRYFFINDOR
“SO, Samuel who is your favorite professor?
“ Professor Hunt. She is in Gryffindor.”
“What is your favorite way to earn house points?”
“ Clean the loft all by myself. Then I get 2 BIG scoops.” “What is the worst part about QA?”
“ Losing house points.” “What changes can be made to QA for the better?”
”More feasts.”
Then I saw Anna Peterson of RAVENCLAW.
“What is your favorite class?”
“Personal study.”
“Who is your favorite professor?”
“I don’t have one.”
“What changes can be made to QA for the better?”
“Snacks at meetings.”
So the students would like to see longer meetings, snacks, and more feasts. It seems that every student at QA is always hungry! QA students love food.
Discover Yourself with Arithmancy By Alahna Petersen
One part of Arithmancy is divination with names and numbers. It’s divining a person’s character using 3 numbers: the character number, the heart number, and the social number. These numbers all represent different parts of people’s life. The character number is your general personality. The heart number is your inner life. The social number is your outer personality.
`The first step in divining a person’s name is to convert it to numbers. Each letter of the alphabet is assigned to a certain number from 1-9 according to the chart below.
Take a name like Adelaide Agafaya, a Quercus Alba founder, and use the chart to find the numbers for her name.
ADELAIDE AGAFIYA
14531945 1716971
Add the numbers together and here we get the number 54. If the number is greater than nine you reduce it to a one digit number by adding the digits together, like this 5+4=9. If your answer is still greater than 9 continue to reduce until you have a single digit answer. 9 is Adelaide’s character number.
The next number is the heart number. The heart number uses all the vowel’s corresponding numbers added up and reduced.
The third number is the social number. It uses all the consonant’s corresponding numbers added up and reduced. With all these numbers in mind we go to our number personality chart.
The meaning of numbers:
ONE: This is the number of the individual. Ones are independent, focused, single minded, and determined.
TWO:Represents interaction, two-way communication, communication, cooperation, and balance. Twos are imaginative, creative, and sweet natured.
THREE: Represent the idea of completeness or wholeness. Three indicates talent and energy.
FOUR: Like a table with four legs, fours are stable and balanced. Fours enjoy hard work. They are practical, reliable, and prefer logic over flights of fancy.
FIVE: Five is the number of adventure and love of travel. They never stay in the same place for long.
SIX: Represent harmony, friendship, and family life. Sixes are reliable and loving, they adapt easily.
SEVEN: Perceptive, understanding, and bright. Sevens enjoy hard work and challenges. They are often serious and scholarly advanced.
EIGHT: Indicates great success in business, fiance, and politics. Eights are practical, ambitious , committed, and hard working.
NINE: Represents completion and achievement to the fullest degree as it is the complete number. Nines dedicate them selves to the service of others. Strongly determined, they work tirelessly to reach there goals.
Information found in The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter by Allan Zola Kronzck and Elizabeth Kronzck
My Sleepover at Oma’s By Natalie Morphis
I packed my toothbrush and toothpaste. And, I brought Spotgot and I packed my pj’s, and my cute outfit for the tomorrow for my sleepover. I packed it all into my Dora backpack that has Map.
It was really fun and I got to cut out a book. And I got to make a story. I need to write words on the boat story.
Oma got some chocolatey cookies at a store. She got them just for me and her. They were really giant and they looked bubbly.
I got to sleep in Oma’s bed a little while and she got to sleep in my room a little bit. I got to sleep in a new bed and cuddle with Oma's dog, Pink Ears.
Oma did my hair crumbled up in a half ponytail that's clear.
I loved it a lot. It made me feel happy and excited.
A Most Magical Word By Minerva Bronte
As the charms professor at Quercus Alba, I strive to teach the students all the most wonderful, magical words in existence. Words can be so powerful. They can be used to conjure up terrible images and ideas, crushing the spirit and poisoning the mind, or they can be used to inspire and lift us to the highest pinnacles of joy and accomplishment. Even simple words can bring forth a whole host of beautiful memories, feelings and ideas. One such powerful, beautiful, simple word is home.
Charles Dickens wrote, "Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration." Why is home such a magnificent word? It gains its strength from the memories and associations it brings to our minds and hearts. In our homes, we gather our families together. We feel love and peace there. We welcome friends into our homes and offer our best hospitality. Home can be our sanctuary from the world.
Home is so important it deserves our attention and devotion. President Hinckley taught, "If we fail in our homes, we fail in our lives. No man is truly successful who has failed in his home." What can each of us do to practice this magic and create the wonderful home charm? Show love to everyone in our home. Work together to make our homes lovely and pleasant. Make sure our home is a refuge from the harshness of the world. Invite only worthy music, movies and books into our home. Spend time in our homes with our families.
Home is a most amazing charm. If we practice properly, it can be carried with us throughout our lives wherever we go. The home charm can be used to soften hearts and heal wounded souls. It can comfort us in the most difficult times and make a happy day even more splendid. I hope you will be very careful with this charm, always remember it and guard it well.
How to Make an Egyptian
Pyramid Using Clay
By Robert Petersen
1. Use fresh clay.
2. Take a big chunk of clay.
This entire moment before the door must have lasted no more than 15 seconds by any regular standard of measurement, 20 if your watch is running really fast. Just as the pressed suit's courtesy was about to spawn action, my companion stated, "This isn't the right building, we need to be next door."
3. Shape 1/2' by 1' bricks with the clay.
4. Stack bricks to make a pyramid.
5. Put an entrance on your pyramid.
6. You can make tunnels if you wants to.
7. You can put a statue on top or you can put a pointy brick on top.
Ruby Reads: Shakespeare's Secret By Ruby Read
Hello, my name is Ruby Read. I am fifty-six years old. I live in Boston, MA. I own a bakery and I like writing for newspapers. I love to read. I just read a book called Shakespeare’s Secret. I loved it and say that all you young people should read it. It is all about a girl named Hero. She is the hero of the story and is named after a character in a Shakespeare play. She and her family just moved into a house of mystery. Many people think the man who owned the house before, hid a diamond in the house. The police cannot find it anywhere, and they searched a billion times. The neighbor Mrs. Roth tells stories about the house. She knew the man who lived there before. Then a boy named Danny Cordova comes and helps look for the diamond. They uncover more secrets as they search. It is a terrific book. I love it!
Musings
A weekly column by Damarco Montoya
No, After You!
Isn't it funny when you're faced with a moment standing next to another person, each of you are expecting the other to take the next step and instead you both just stand and wait exchanging one awkward glance after another at the other? There we were, standing before a narrow doorway, the entrance to a tall business building in a business complex, two "macho" grown men faced with the all important decision of who would reach for the knob first.
It all started in the car on the way to the building. Conversations were boring, the radio made us feel like we were moving slowly up and down a stuffy elevator, and nothing was coming from the air vents, in spite of the triple digit temperature on the other side of a 1/4 inch of car window and the black exterior of our mode of transportation. Neither of us had taken any control, as if both of us were perfectly content in heading nowhere fast, as a matter of speaking.
There we were in front of the door. People walked casually by directly behind us. Part of me wished someone would require access to the very same building and just push passed us, relieving us of the very great burden of deciding who will be in command of our two-some. The people inside walked near the door, giving an ounce of relief and then replacing
relief with disappointment at the immediate change in direction taking them away from their exit.
One more pathetic "so whatcha gunna do" glance from my companion just about destroyed me. I felt my right hand start to leave my side on a journey to the knob. My right hand? Why would my right hand reach when my left hand was closer? Was this a ploy to prolong taking lead potentially long enough to give way to other options? Will I be the one to take action after all? I could feel the burning stare of my companion eat into my soul as if to say, "go for it, I dare you!"
My hand started motion, with fingers wiggling in preparation. Just then a fast-moving pressed suit moved passed us to the door. The building and surrounding objects all the sudden reappeared. He effortlessly reached for the knob, twisted it, and pulled the door to a wide open girth then waited. It was the waiting that surprised me. How can someone so busy
stand to wait for two so indecisive as we appeared to be? He looked at us as if to give us a chance to redeem ourselves of all the oddity he knew nothing about. His look seemed to be one of pity, as if to say "how old ARE you?"
Oma Comes to Nursery By Matthew Morphis
She helps me to write and to go to the apple store, to my mommy. The hungry store, it means you are hungry. Oma gives me snack and water. And, she gives me hugs, hugs, huggy hugs.
Highlight the Headmistress
An Interview with Edith Taber
By Jane Smith
Every wizard knows Edith Adelaide Force Taber and every QA student is even more familiar with our beloved headmistress. But, for everything we know about her, there are ten we don’t! So to even the score a little, here are ten things you didn’t know about Edith Taber:
What was your favorite food when you were a child? Spinach, because of Popeye the Sailorman
If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor? Nephi
If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? Fly an airplane
If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet? Nephi’s wife because I’m sure she has a similar character to Nephi and I’d relate to her better, being a woman.
If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Pollyanna Whittier, I’d like to be positive all the time
What would you name the autobiography of your life?
Sing While You Do the Dishes
What was the last experience that made you a stronger person? Yesterday at the Family History Center I realized that I was needed and I was able to help a lot of people. I really felt like I was a good leader.
What did you do growing up that got you into trouble? Sassed my mother, but, one time I said something so mean, that I knew I had really hurt her feelings, because she didn’t get mad at me, she just cried. I felt very sorry.
When was the last time you were nervous? Recently when I visited some QA students to teach a music lesson.
At what age did you become an adult? 36, both of my parents had died and I could no longer rely on them. I had taken care of my father during his last days of illness and I realized that I could do hard things.
