my name is Christmas,
and I don't care what people think
I know I am about love
my name is Christmas, and
I am alive and will always be
alive in this world
my name is Christmas,
and I am family;
new babies, and grandparents
and parents and brothers and sisters
my name is Christmas,
and I am not things,
but I am Dr. Seussian
thoughts, dreams, and hopes
my name is Christmas,
and I am icicle lights,
and color, and joy to the
world
and
peace on earth
my name is Christmas,
and I am forgiveness
and inclusion, not exclusion
my name is Christmas,
and I am Jesus
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
my name is lung
This is a fun writing exercise that I created from a student's cut-up poem. All you do is start out with "my name is," and add a tangible object into the blank. Go from there in whatever way you'd like. Here are some of mine:
My name is lung,
and I breathe all names in the
same way, hoping for a fresh fruit
to cut open with my lips.
My name is rain,
and I soak all parts of your body
with my newness
hoping for a chance
to come open like a cloud.
My name is metal, and I
resonate with your tap
(click click).
My name is paint,
and I saturate the canvas
with my watercolor sadness,
waiting for a cue from the brush
to find my way into the day.
My name is bean,
and I sprout for you in
the shallow soil when I
should be digging deep
for myself.
My name is lung,
and I breathe all names in the
same way, hoping for a fresh fruit
to cut open with my lips.
My name is rain,
and I soak all parts of your body
with my newness
hoping for a chance
to come open like a cloud.
My name is metal, and I
resonate with your tap
(click click).
My name is paint,
and I saturate the canvas
with my watercolor sadness,
waiting for a cue from the brush
to find my way into the day.
My name is bean,
and I sprout for you in
the shallow soil when I
should be digging deep
for myself.
new lit journals
I guess since I am publishing in two Issue I publications, I can give myself as well as them, a little plug. Wordletting is one publication. Its website is not yet ready, but you can find info about it under a google search for "Colorado Poetry Publications." The Lyre is the other one. It is a publication out of Wisconsin. It doesn't have a website yet either. I am excited to say I have been working hard submitting, and it is starting to pay off. I appreciate any literary endeavor, and am glad to be a part of two new ones. Appalachian love to you all! Holly
thebigboxofcolors
My wonderful friend, Mariam has created a website to benefit needy kids through art. You can send kids the big 64 box of Crayolas for the holidays, or any time of the year.
The website is called www.thebigboxofcolors.org
It is a really unique and beautiful idea.
I actually just got a poem published that was written for Mariam. Also, she recently married a poet. This makes me very happy. His website is www.ccapoet.com
They live in Seattle with Lydia, an amazing young lady who is also a creative genius.
an excerpt from the poem, Mariam,:
Heart suck
pull, mince into
tiny squares
thick Asian pears
for biting in the sun.
...
You dance with color inside your
winter coat.
The website is called www.thebigboxofcolors.org
It is a really unique and beautiful idea.
I actually just got a poem published that was written for Mariam. Also, she recently married a poet. This makes me very happy. His website is www.ccapoet.com
They live in Seattle with Lydia, an amazing young lady who is also a creative genius.
an excerpt from the poem, Mariam,:
Heart suck
pull, mince into
tiny squares
thick Asian pears
for biting in the sun.
...
You dance with color inside your
winter coat.
Monday, December 11, 2006
laryngitis
Well, seems time for a new blog, especially since I can't actually talk. I let a cold go on for 2 weeks, and now I have laryngitis. I am also in the last week of classes.
First of all, I go nuts in the last few weeks of classes because I feel that whatever I didn't get done, whatever my students didn't learn, whatever I wanted to teach them that they didn't get or I forgot or didn't stress enough or didn't have time to show them, is all my fault, and I have failed as a teacher. I know, I know, this seems extreme. You say, "How can you possibly be responsible for all of that?" Well, in a way, I am. That is my job. Yes, they have to want to learn, do their assignments, etc. What about the ones that do?
We are on the last paper, the persuasive paper. GOD help me.
I was absent one day with illness. I didn't get to go over logical fallacies, and MLA style citation as much as I wanted to, though we did cover it. Their papers leave much to be desired. Shall I tell them they can't write about certain topics, i.e., abortion, AIDs, and other very broad topics? I feel if I tell them to focus, and at this point they should have some understanding of how to focus a paper, that they can write on any topic that they'd like, as long as they give specific examples. Now don't forget, these are the students that do want to learn, do their assignments, etc. Now as far as sources, I have told them to leave it to one or two. It's only a 3 pager. So how hard can it be? I understand, especially when I was 19 or so, I had a hard time arguing a point because I didn't really know how I felt about many things, or I knew how I felt, but didn't have the ability to speak poignantly about what I felt without slathering it with useless emotion, no fact, no ethics. So, why do I expect my students to do this? Tell me, what am I doing wrong? Suggestions? Comments? Helpful quotes? Lesson Plans? I am truly at a loss here.
I want to write about exciting things, like how I lost fifteen pounds on the Atkins diet, and now I have twelve boyfriends!! I want to write about how I climbed onto my roof and hanglided (hanglid?:) down into town for some lunch today. I want to write about how I don't have high blood pressure, like my father, and I never will, nor will I need to worry about it. I want to write about how I changed the world with a flick of my wrist and a little bit of spittle from my cold...how I made a magic potion and now all of the world's hungry have been fed! And AIDs is cured! And Cancer!!! all from the wrist flicking and spittle...
I want to write about how I am traveling to the far East to visit my friends and have learned Chinese and am totally ready for my PhD, and have been accepted into 15 programs, though I only applied to 6. I want to write about death in a bathroom and life in the toilet. I don't care, just not about teaching and being sick. Oh well, too late.
First of all, I go nuts in the last few weeks of classes because I feel that whatever I didn't get done, whatever my students didn't learn, whatever I wanted to teach them that they didn't get or I forgot or didn't stress enough or didn't have time to show them, is all my fault, and I have failed as a teacher. I know, I know, this seems extreme. You say, "How can you possibly be responsible for all of that?" Well, in a way, I am. That is my job. Yes, they have to want to learn, do their assignments, etc. What about the ones that do?
We are on the last paper, the persuasive paper. GOD help me.
I was absent one day with illness. I didn't get to go over logical fallacies, and MLA style citation as much as I wanted to, though we did cover it. Their papers leave much to be desired. Shall I tell them they can't write about certain topics, i.e., abortion, AIDs, and other very broad topics? I feel if I tell them to focus, and at this point they should have some understanding of how to focus a paper, that they can write on any topic that they'd like, as long as they give specific examples. Now don't forget, these are the students that do want to learn, do their assignments, etc. Now as far as sources, I have told them to leave it to one or two. It's only a 3 pager. So how hard can it be? I understand, especially when I was 19 or so, I had a hard time arguing a point because I didn't really know how I felt about many things, or I knew how I felt, but didn't have the ability to speak poignantly about what I felt without slathering it with useless emotion, no fact, no ethics. So, why do I expect my students to do this? Tell me, what am I doing wrong? Suggestions? Comments? Helpful quotes? Lesson Plans? I am truly at a loss here.
I want to write about exciting things, like how I lost fifteen pounds on the Atkins diet, and now I have twelve boyfriends!! I want to write about how I climbed onto my roof and hanglided (hanglid?:) down into town for some lunch today. I want to write about how I don't have high blood pressure, like my father, and I never will, nor will I need to worry about it. I want to write about how I changed the world with a flick of my wrist and a little bit of spittle from my cold...how I made a magic potion and now all of the world's hungry have been fed! And AIDs is cured! And Cancer!!! all from the wrist flicking and spittle...
I want to write about how I am traveling to the far East to visit my friends and have learned Chinese and am totally ready for my PhD, and have been accepted into 15 programs, though I only applied to 6. I want to write about death in a bathroom and life in the toilet. I don't care, just not about teaching and being sick. Oh well, too late.
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