ISABEL POULSON

PILOT NARRATIVE
QUARTER 4/SEMESTER 2
EXHIBITION DATE: 6.14.17
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Table of Contents

Themes from Quarter/Semester - Page 2

Projects - Page 4

Subject Areas - Page 7

Transferable Skills - Page 11

Independent Learning Skills - Page 13

Bibliography - Page 15
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Pilot this semester has been...a journey to say the least, pilot is a place where self
discipline is important and if you don't have that your entire pilot structure falls apart.

This semester I have started chipping away at the outer shell of education I have
been living in for so long, I am starting to see that education is not just books and having
information thrown at you but it is about having experience and making education
personalized so it actually matters to you.

Discovery

I have noticed a theme when it comes to my work this semester and how it
compares to the work I have done in the first semester. In the first semester most of my
studies were based academically, reading, writing and studying, that isn’t always a bad
thing, but I noticed I was really stressed out last semester. Another thing about last
semester is that I was only happy with something if there was a quantitative amount of that
thing, like a long paper, an extremely detailed painting, or just a very good final product.

This semester I have noticed a change in the way I perceive education, instead of the
quality of the final product as the sole factor in determining the quality of the project, I have
focused more on what I did working up to the final product.

Through the course of this semester I have found out who I am as a learner, what
environments I work best in, how I handle things if I fall behind, what I actually love to do
and what I am extremely passionate about. I have found that you don’t have to just be a
producer making products all the time, but an explorer and a thinker.

Passion

I have found it, what I love to do, I love the world, art, and finding meaning behind
things. I can’t tell you how much I love existing, but I hate it at the same time, the physical
world around me is amazing, with all the shapes that are naturally created.

I love painting
it is an unintentional meditation
I lose track of
Space
Time
And being
I make these webs of meaning from the string of my soul
they are beautiful
They are a part of who I am
As I am a part of them

I love explaining things, I love exploring words to find out a meaning behind them
and finding out the reason for why I like them. If you have the same words and the same
theme of your phrase and you arrange them differently they will give off different meanings
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and how that happens amazes me. How based off of your life and your experiences words
will have different connotations than another person with different experiences than I.

Missing Effort

In the third quarter I don’t know what triggered it but I just didn’t care about
anything, I would go home do nothing come to school and do a minimal amount of work,
now that I look back on it it is pretty disappointing, but what I learned from it was if you
don't have a reason for what you do then you won't enjoy doing it so every second of you
doing that work will be painful. The solution to this is to get passionate about what you do,
but if you don't like what you do then change it. In my Social studies/ English project I went
through three changes until I got it to the point where I actually enjoyed doing the work, so
I did more of it, I am now less stressed out and happier.

I guess the moral of this is that, for me as a learner, I need a reason and a passion in order
to actually do work and enjoy it.

A Final Thought

The pilot is the place for me, I live and breath the things I do in the pilot, it is a place
where I can truly express myself, and do what I love. Over this semester I have learned not
to take it for granted, it is something that takes concentration, patience and excitement and
if you don’t bring those to the table the structure of your projects will fall apart.

This year I have discovered what I love to do and what I am good at, I have create
amazing artwork, I have explored and answered questions I have had.
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PROJECTS

Portfolio: ​http://izzyspilot.weebly.com/
Prezi: ​https://prezi.com/ujwnzzvxjilq/black-holes/
Blog: ​http://izzyspilot.blogspot.com/search/label/PE
Song analysis:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18TMar6u2jvK-6gZtcwenMEtjM9FNU0UbtyVR8uVGFNg
/edit

ASTROPHYSICS

Astrophysics is something I find interesting, the mechanics of the universe and how
things up in outer space behave is super intriguing. This semester I was trying to
understand black holes, how they are made and the history of how they were discovered.
My goal for this was to make a presentation that teenagers would look at and be able to
understand what I was talking about.
I spent most of my time in the third quarter trying to understand concepts like
space-time, electron degeneracy, neutron degeneracy, and some of the crazy facts about
black holes. The book I was mostly reading was Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip S.
Thorne an astrophysicist, this book contains so much information on the subject that every
page is jam packed with stuff that is really complicated. Other books I have been reading
are The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind, The Grand Design and A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking. I would spend time on the whiteboard in the pilot room and at home
trying to understand these basic but very necessary concepts.
In quarter Four I was wrapping up gathering information on black holes. Near the
end about three or four weeks away from my exhibition I started to plan out my days very
strategically, what I would do at home and what I would do at school. These weeks were
hard because I had forgotten some of the concepts and my grasp on space-time was weak
and had been weak from the start. My Dad and I spend nights by the whiteboard while he
tried to explain to me that time isn't real, and it is only used to measure events. For some
reason I thought that is was real, like time had some physical form or something, that was
why I didn't get it. Another thing that was surprising to me is that we really don't know that
much about black holes, if you want to know more about black holes the link to my prezi is
under the link to my portfolio. In the four quarter I got in contact with an astrophysicist at
UVM named John Perry, we had email conversations where I would ask him clarifying
questions and he would answer them, here are a few:
If a wave does not have any mass is it just like an oscillation of particles?
What differs a light wave from a sound wave?
My dad is an optical physicist and he talks about the two slit experiment, I don't really
understand it that well, does it have anything to do with light? If so how?
What is photon pressure?
How do different light wavelengths happen?
I guess I have this question because I really don't understand waves?
Why do black holes spin?
I was planning on going to an astronomy course in the summer worth like three college
credits at UVM but the duration of the course is when I am going to be in El Paso so I can't
go.
The things that worked for me in this project was having a person to talk to besides
my dad, he is great and all but I liked talking to someone new. Also making prezi
presentations works really well for me because I don't think very linearly, having the
different setup helps a lot. Having freedom to explore what I wanted to worked very well for
me.
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What didn't work for me that well was just reading and writing and talking to people
over email, I think what would be better is if I had a mentor who knew a lot about this stuff
(besides my Dad).
For next year I am thinking of studying some of the equations in astrophysics, not
solving them because they are too high level for me, but I am second guessing it, I think I
just want to concentrate on art.

BOB DYLAN SONGS

This semester in the third quarter I started out by reading best selling books from
three points in time and compared how they relate to what was going on at the time, that
didn't work so I decided to only do best selling books from today, then that didn't work. The
reason that these projects didn't work was because I just didn't want to do them. So I
changed my project again this time analysing Bob Dylan songs, which I was genuinely
interested in because I love Bob Dylan’s music. My plan was to analyze the songs and relate
my interpretation to my views of the world today. The way I analysed them at first was
looking at the song line by line finding my meaning for each line. The second time around I
looked a little at the grammatical structure of each line, that was too hard because it is a
song and the phrases and sentences have to fit a certain pattern to go with the rhythm. I
wanted to incorporate my meaning into the analysis. The third time around Chris showed
me a chart to use first column was the line, the second column was the shared
interpretation and the last one one was my interpretation.
I started out by choosing a random but fairly straight forward song to start out with
something simple, the Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll. I did this song based off of only
my opinions it felt wrong so I did the next one based off of the grammar, which didn't work
either. Finally I found something that worked and I have used it to analyse 3 songs. I ended
up analysing 5 songs then re analysing 3 then connecting the 3 re analysed song’s
interpretations to how I view the world.
What worked for me this semester was Bob Dylan’s music, I love his music, how it
has so much imagery is in each line.
What didn't work for me was the book study, oh my god it was so boring I thought it
would be slightly interesting but whenever I sat down to do it, it was like pulling teeth.
Next year I am definitely going to continue this study, I can't wait to see how my
analysis will improve and how my views will change based off of what happens in my life.

MEDITATION AND PE

This semester I set a goal to explore meditation, to exercise more often and to
practice mindfulness, I also got my scuba diving license. I wanted to do the meditation
because of the anxiety I had, I thought that I could use my different view of life to my
advantage in order to see the world for how beautiful it is, and see people for how truly
beautiful they are.
Towards the beginning of the semester I worked out a lot mainly using my punching
bag, the meditation I would do in the third quarter was more strict, sitting with no
distractions and breathing in and out. When my mind would wander during these meditation
sessions I would try to violently jerk myself back into concentration, this would throw me off
sink and I would have to end the meditation session. In the fourth quarter I started
exploring different forms of meditation, walking in the woods, drinking tea, dancing,
breathing, and taking cold baths. If you want to look at more descriptive pieces of writing
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go to my blog (link is under link for my portfolio). I also go on 3 to 4 bike rides a week
ranging 2 miles to 12 miles. As for mindfulness I always try to be nice to people, though
sometimes it doesn't work.
What worked for me this semester was the freedom to explore what calms my mind,
using something that once was negative, my anxiety, and reforming it into something
positive. I admit anxiety still gets to me sometimes and at times when I am stressed out it
can be really easy to trigger a panic attack, but I haven't had one for this whole year. Biking
works for me, it’s not as hard as running, but it’s not too easy.
What didn't work for me was strict meditation, at the Buddhist meditation center I
went to with Amy we did 2 forty minute sections, towards the end of the second section I
could feel my mind was settling. I think strict meditation is an amazing thing but it takes
concentration that I don't have yet as a teenager.
I might do a study on buddhism and continue this meditation but get a health credit
next year.

PAINTING

Throughout this whole year I have been making paintings, in this semester I have
been looking at other artist's work and taking notes on technique and use of space, things
like that. My goal was to make artwork to sell to get funding for syrian refugees.
This semester I have finished four paintings and started three. I have met with my
painting mentor and have gone over the paintings that I have made, tweaking little things
on them. Something I have noticed that has happened in this semester is that I have made
more of my paintings based on positive meanings, which for some reason makes me feel
more attached to them, almost like a maternal instinct. I have a lot of love to give and right
now I am putting more of that love into my paintings. I don't know how to describe the
feeling, I made these amazing things and I love them.
What worked for me was all of it, I love painting it is what I was born to do, people
ask me how I do it and I never know what to say but now I do, it is just like walking to me.
What didn't work for me was, I don't know there aren't enough hours in the day, I
wish I could be painting all the time.
I am going to continue this study along with a new study of designing tattoos.
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SUBJECT AREAS

English

This year I am earning an english credit for analyzing the lyrics of Bob Dylan songs
and connecting my interpretation of the lyrics to how I view the world. English this semester
has been half really boring and half really enjoyable and interesting.

Writing
This semester I started out with a goal of 15 analysed songs, this was the stage of
me interpreting the lyrics of the songs solely based on my opinions of it. I changed this after
two songs because the way I interpret the songs was subjective, my interpretation could
change based on how I feel one day compared to another day. Then I changed my goal to
5, this was when I was looking into the grammatical structure of the songs and I realized it
would take too long to do 15 songs. As it was getting towards the end of the year I changed
it to 3 because I work from my other studies had to be finished and the only way I could get
everything done was if I did only 3. For the 3 final songs I sifted through each line of the
song to find the shared meaning (a close to literal meaning), and my interpretation of the
line. At the end I summarize what I thought the song was about and why, after that I
connect my interpretation to how I view the world today.

Listening
This semester I have listened to Bob Dylan’s songs, I listen to them a lot, on the bus,
in my room, wherever, in order to understand them more in depth.

Reading
This semester I have read Bob Dylan’s music, along with partially reading books on
astrophysics with really dense material. What I have also read are other people’s
interpretations of Bob Dylan’s lyrics. I read the interpretations because I wanted to see
what other people were thinking of his work, and how they went about analyzing them. At
the time when I was reading these interpretations I was trying to analyse Mr. Tambourine
Man, the imagery in that song is really intense lines later in the song connect to lines two
verses before them. In the first semester I was reading a lot, my entire study was based
around reading, I read The Moon Is Down, Girl On The Train and some books of artists lives
and how they paint.

Speaking
Last month Amy told me that her boyfriend Nate wanted to talk to me about Bob
Dylan’s songs once he heard about my project. That friday I went into town and met him at
the record store and we talked for two hours about Bob Dylan’s work, he recommended
songs to listen to for the way they sound, the lyrics, and songs that he thought would be
good for my project. He also let me borrow the Bootleg Series 1-3 and No Direction Home
the documentary about Bob Dylan’s life. He was very fun to talk to, and I appreciate that he
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reached out to me, if he didn't I wouldn't have some of the knowledge I have today. I also
have had meetings with Chris is which he helped me understand the grammar and sentence
structure of the lyrics.

Art

For art I am getting 1 credit for making paintings, this year has been great, art is
what I do, what I breath, who I am, I love it with everything inside of me.
What I have done:
● Made 7 paintings (not all finished)
● Mentored a middle schooler (meet every thursday)
● Meet with my painting mentor on multiple occasions
● Researched many different artists
● Sketch constantly
● Designed 9 more paintings
● Designed a tattoo
● Gone to MFA (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

My goal was to improve my skills in proportions, shading, foreshortening, and use of color

Developing Craft
To develope my craft this semester I have gone to live drawing classes to improve
my skills when it comes to proportions and shading, in the class the models do various
poses some for the entire two hours and some models pose for 5 minutes, ten minutes then
20 minutes. Also to improve my craft I have met with my painting mentor, Meg, she is
great, every time we meet we go over things I can do to practice, what I can do to improve
my work and tiny tweaks I can do, it is nice to have another artist with a lot of experience
help you with improving your work. Meg has helped me with human anatomy, showing me
how the human body is actually shaped.
When I make a painting I don't know where the picture comes from but I sketch it
out on paper first, then sketching it on a gessoed MDF board. Once it is sketched I tweak it
to get everything right before I start painting, once I start painting, there is no strict pattern
I follow, yes I do the general shapes first then details but I don't really start anywhere
specific. After that I spend most of the time making tweaks, I turn the MDF Board on its
sides and upside down to see the painting from a new perspective, it helps me fix the little
things. Once I am done I put a final clear coat on.

Performing, Presenting, Producing

I presented these paintings at both of the art shows, my exhibitions and mentor
appreciation night. I have produced 7 paintings 5 of which are finished.

Connecting
Within my work there has been one really big connection between art and PE that I
didn’t even notice my painting mentor pointed it out to me. The whole anxiety thing about
being scared of the body you exist in connects to the artwork I make.
Last year in the summer going into last year first semester I made a painting of this
lady who surrounded by outer space and she was pretty much normal but she has a rib
cage on the outside of her body. This was when I was going to counseling, my anxiety was
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still bad but it wasn't the worst it could be. On the same canvas i changed the structure, I
completely painted over the woman and repainted a skeleton in the same position. This was
when my anxiety was at its worst, I hadn't gone to counseling in three months and I had a
very strong negative energy around me. When school started I made the black and white
painting most of the woman was covered in skin but her face had bones exposed. At this
time it had been getting better, going to counseling every other wednesday and haven't had
a panic attack in like two months at times I could still feel myself getting close to having a
panic attack but I pulled it together. At the end the first semester I designed disconnect, a
person with sadness in their eyes, and exploding black splotch on their forehead, on the
chest the rib cage was exposed, and so was the heart, the bones were not bloody, they
were aged but the cuts on the skin were fresh. At this time I was going to counseling but I
was stressed out and when i am stressed out it is easy to trigger a panic attack. The final
example is this painting of a lady in a bubble, she was surrounded by four light figures
trying to get into the bubble to help her, she was crying and in a small portion of her arm
bone was exposed, she held that portion of her arm away from her. I designed this one
around the time I designed disconnect, I worked on the bubble painting into the third
quarter until I realized it had an extremely negative energy around it so I gessoed over it.
On the gessoed over painting I made the pomegranate painting of a mother and her child
smiling at one another inside a pomegranate seed, outside of the seed there is an ocean,
and as it got closer to the pomegranate seed it gets lighter. At this time I was unstressed,
and I was starting to view my body as something positive rather than something negative, I
was concentrating more on love and enjoying life rather than wanting to escape my body.
While I was painting I didn't notice these connections I just painted, I think I
subconsciously incorporated these themes into my paintings, that was the big connection of
my projects and life.

Responding
In the third quarter I spent most of my time in the library looking at other artists, I
would look at different paintings and note what the artist did well what would make it look
better in my opinion and note the techniques they used. I also went to the Boston Museum
Of Fine Arts and looked at most of the paintings, which is a lot. Most of the really good
paintings are on canvases 12 feet by 10 feet which is incredible.

Science

For science I am earning a half credit for researching black holes,

What I have done:
● Partially read Black holes and Time Warps, the Grand Design, a Brief History of Time,
and The Black Hole War
● Communicated with an Astrophysicist John Perry at UVM
● Spent a lot of time at the whiteboard at school and at home trying to understand
concepts
● Lessons with my Dad
My goal was to create a presentation about black holes that people my age can understand.

Matter and Energy

I have learned about what happens when a star collapses, what stages of
degeneracy pressure the core goes through before it collapses.

Change, Cause and Effect

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I have learned about the change of physics that have been used in history, how
opinions of what the universe should be gets in the way of use finding out how it might
actually be. I have learned about how the mass of a star can affect what its end state will
be.

Global Citizenship

For social studies I have been looking at Bob Dylan songs and comparing my
interpretation of them to the world today. Under the history standard I am earning 1 credit
for this whole year. (link to analysis under link for portfolio), go to page 5 for more detail.

PE

For PE I am earning half an elective credit for this I am exploring meditation, practicing
mindfulness and working out. (Go to page 5 for more detail).
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TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Creative Thinking and Problem Solving

● Paintings: creativity
● English and social studies project changes
● Bob Dylan song analysis: going through many changes so that I could find something
that worked for me
● Working with the middle schooler, sometimes our lessons wouldn't work so I planned
the next one to be more structured

Effective and Expressive Communication

● Paintings: expressing myself through art

● Bob Dylan song analysis: I express my interpretation of the lyrics
● Prezi for black holes: trying to make a presentation so people my age can
understand
● Pilot: meetings with Amy, expressing how I am doing in my studies, also coming to
Chris for help in my Bob Dylan study

Engaged Citizenship

● The painting project: getting money for syrian refugees

● Pilot: communicating with mentors and people in the community
● Pilot: helped design mentor appreciation mug
● Painting: I mentored a middle schooler

Working Independently and Collaboratively

● Pilot: Helped Lola with her project

● Pilot: am designing an album cover for Zak
● Art show: Helped set up Noah’s installation
● Working and communicating with mentors and people in the community
● My friends come into the pilot room and I talk with them about the meanings of my
paintings, we have very interesting and sometimes in depth conversations about
what they mean.

Informed, Integrated, and Critical Thinking

● Editing black hole presentation so it is simple enough to understand

● Tweaking paintings
● Responding to other painters both in the many times in the library and while I was in
the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts
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Self Awareness and Self Direction

● Meditation: concentrate on breathing

● Exercising: keeping it constant
● Literally everything in The Pilot
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INDEPENDENT LEARNING SKILLS

Perseverance
There have been a decent amount of obstacles this semester, with my english/social
studies changes, and some of the paintings. I have noticed that when something stands in
my way I hesitate before I try to fix it, I have to step back and look at the whole situation
before I start coming up with new ideas.
This happened with the best selling books study and the Bob Dylan study. This also
happened with the bubble painting, I would work on it a little bit but because I started to
resent it I just gave up it felt like such a drag to paint and that's not how painting should
feel to me, so I painted over it.
I think I am not at the level where I can jump through obstacles extremely fast, I am
still learning how to deal with things blocking my path.

Inquiry
This has been a common theme for me, there is no specific way that I try to get
ideas into my brain I just think a lot so new ideas come naturally. I do admit sometimes I
get stuck but then I talk to my advisors and talk to my friends to try and get some ideas.

Time Management
Time management has always been a struggle for me, I used to just play it by ear,
never write anything down, I didn't plan ahead very far in the future.
In the past few weeks I have been writing down what I should be doing at home and
at school on the calendar in my living room, it has been working pretty well but I still get
distracted by a lot of things.

Accountability
This semester I have not been extremely accountable and the only reason I say that
is because I always forgot about my art meeting with Kristen, other that that I have mostly
been accountable, gone to all my meetings pretty much on time.

Demonstration
I show my learning through pictures and mostly blog posts, I will reflect on whatever
I did and take a picture of it if it wasn't just in my head. I don't like documenting my bike
rides because I don't really like taking my phone with me, biking can be very meditative and
I feel like that is ruined when I bring my phone with me. Another way I show my work is
though my portfolio, though the work I create like the prezi for black holes, the document
for my lyrical analysis and the progress of my painting skills shown in the paintings I make
and the drawings I do.
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Self Advocacy
When I need help I don't hesitate to ask, I ask Amy, I will set up meetings with the
content advisors or my mentors. I don't feel as though I should not ask for help and I don't
feel like I can't ask anyone. The pilot people are very open and I appreciate that.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thorne, Kip S., and S. W. Hawking. ​Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous
Legacy.​ London: Papermac, 1995. Print.

Susskind, Leonard. ​Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World
Safe for Quantum Mechanics.​ New York, NY: Back Bay, 2009. Print.

Nave, R. "HyperPhysics." ​HyperPhysics​. University of Georgia, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

HAWKINS, PAULA. ​GIRL ON THE TRAIN​. S.l.: RIVERHEAD, 2017. Print.

Steinbeck, John. ​The Moon Is down.​ London: Penguin, 2014. Print.

"The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2016." ​Wikipedia.​ Wikimedia Foundation, 03
Mar. 2017. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

Grebe, Anje, and Ross King. ​The Vatican: All the Paintings​. New York: Black Dog &
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Michaelangelo. "Michelangelo: The Complete Sculpture, Painting, Architecture." ​Barnes &

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Barnitz, Jacqueline. ​Twentieth-century Art of Latin America​. Austin: U of Texas, 2006. Print.

Burke, Marcus B. ​Mexican Art Masterpieces.​ S.l.: Levin, 1998. Print.

Bondil, Nathalie. ​Cuba Art and History from 1868 to Today.​ Montreal: Montreal Museum of
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Black, Anna. ​The Little Pocket Book of Mindfulness: Don't Dwell on the past or Worry about
the Future: Simply Be in the Present with Mindfulness Meditations​. London: CICO, 2015.
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Weir, /. David. "Mr Tambourine Man." ​Bob Dylan Song Analysis.​ N.p., 21 Oct. 2016. Web. 13 June
2017.

"Mr. Tambourine Man by the Byrds." ​Symbolism in "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds​. N.p., n.d.
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Indhirani, Rifka. ""MR. TAMBOURINE MAN" ANALYSIS BY USING THEORY OF FICTIONAL

FINALISM | Rifka Indhirani."academia.edu N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2017.

Scherbatskoy, Meg. "Painting Mentor." Interview. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Perry, John. "Astrophysicist at UVM." Interview. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Poulson, Brandon. "Science Mentor." Interview. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Astronomy Crash Course​. Dir. PBS. Perf. Phil Plait. ​Crash Course Astronomy.​ PBS Digital Studios,
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