The Panther Prints

Hey 6th graders who turned or are turning 12 past February 8th, this is your year. The last time it was the Year of the Monkey was in 2004. People born in this year are represented as clever, intelligent, quick witted and versatile. They are enthusiastic, confident and honest. It is the ninth year in the twelve year cycle of Chinese zodiacs. The Chinese New Year occurred on February 8th. The Year of the Monkey will end on January 27, 2017. The date of the Chinese New Year changes because it is based off of the Chinese lunar calendar. There are several legends involving why the Chinese New Year or Guo Nian (过年) is celebrated. The one I heard in my Chinese class begins with monster called Nian or 年. This was a vicious monster that showed up every year on New Year’s Eve to eat the people and the livestock in the villages. All the people would flee and hide in the mountains, but one year an old woman, who had lost her son to the monster the year before, decided to stay in village. An e...

Second trimester ends in : March 2016 Winter Break : 12/19/15 - 1/4/15 Concerts:    At Throckmorton Theatre: When:  Class runs WED & FRI  4pm to 6pm from January 6 – February 12th. Performance:   Friday, February 12 at 7pm Instructors:  Steven Hess and Grace Renaud Class Fee:  $450  To register please print and return our 2016 WINTER Enrollment

Plop, plop, plop, Students eat lunch with umbrellas over their heads but it is not raining. Plop, plop, plop people duck under awnings, weary of airborne assailants. Plop, plop, plop You know when you’ve been hit, a thud, then the walk, everyone evades your step, Plop, plop, plop Settled by the white sink with a damp paper towel Cursing those smug, soaring birds, overhead.

The powder topped trees The icy mountains with sliding snow The frozen water trapping the little pebbles buried in the the sand

One of this month's reviews is the Little Prince, which was put on by the Marin Theatre Company. They were kind enough to invite the sixth grade to come and see the play. For those who do not yet know it is about a prince who came down to earth from another planet and tells a stranded Aviator about his adventure through space and his home that he had left.The story was originally a book by Antoine de saint-Exupery, who like the aviator in the production was also a pilot. The little prince was  acted by Elissa Beth Stebbins, the pilot was played by Geno Monteiro, the Snake and rose were by Isabelle Ellingson and the fox and the men on the other planets were by Lizzie Calogero. I personally enjoyed watching the performance but the ending might bring tears to your eyes. I thought that it was very well acted and that it was cleverly written. Even though it only played in the theatre from december twelfth to the twentieth. I think that anyone who would watch it would love the produc...

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard This month I read Rick Riordan's new book, Magnus Chase And the Gods Of Asgard: The Sword of Summer.  The story is about a 15 year old boy, Magnus Chase. He lives on the streets of Boston. His mother is dead, and he has never met his father. The only family that he has left in Boston are his uncle, Randolph. Magnus has his reasons not to go to him. Throughout the story, his memory of Norse Mythology and its part in his life begin to come back to him. The stories of the gods of Asgard, wolves and Doomsday all lead to what he needs to find. His birthright- a sword? Magnus finds his birthright soon enough, and almost immediately has to use it. Oh well. Magnus has a hard life. He wants to start again.        And sometimes, The only way to start over is to die.

At MVMS I know we have people who love seafood and people who absolutely hate it. I know that I love crab with melted butter on a brisk day. It's delicate yumminess is so worth prying through the tough shell, it makes it even more enticing. I was disappointed when I heard rumors of bad crab this season. So I decided to do some more research and break it down in friendlier terms. The El Niño has plagued our minds for a while, our savior for this thirsty drought. Unfortunately a mammoth algae bloom is a consequence. And for the people like me who don’t exactly know what an ‘algae bloom or algal bloom’ is, I’ll explain. It is a rapid increase of a population of algae which are usually microscopic in water. They grow out of control, while producing toxic and destructive effects on us and shellfish etc. The one of the toxins in the crabs is called domoic acid and this bloom is of unheard of size. The Public Health Department is already declaring certain kinds of seafood unsafe. D...

Can you imagine Mill Valley without the memorable Throckmorton Theatre? What if it wasn’t bought by Lucy Mercer in the early 2000s? Would is still remain in disrepair? What would happen to the Mill Valley Film Festival and all the art and acting programs? This life sounds quite dreary in our opinion. Whoever has done something or participated in something within the Throckmorton Theatre knows how instantaneously you become enamored with the intricately painted walls, the nostalgic wood furnishing and the welcoming foyer, but it’s not just that, there is this magical feeling in the air that seems almost tangible around you. The laughter, joy and tears that sprinkle out on warm summer nights, or windy fall evenings. The Throckmorton Theater The Throckmorton Theatre as we know it now used to be The Hub, which was famed for hosting Charlie Chaplin and regular vaudeville programming in 1914. Which was when the also darling Sequoia Theater opened in the 1920s, the Hub faded away and c...