Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 22

20 Questions

(inspired by a conversation I had with the Ninja Girl)

Q: Is it alive?

A: Yes

Q: Does it extend mycelium fingers across the earth?

A: No

Q: Does it hail from the benthic depths of the sea?

A: No

Q: Does it live in the terrestrial wilds?

A: Yes

Q: Is it solitary?

A: No

Q: Is it ancient?

A: Can you clarify? Is that a life span question? Or are you asking a species question? Or something else?

Q: Is it knowing?

A: That seems like a whole different question, and I have no idea how to answer. Knowing compared ...

verdict on the pine-needle soda: buenísmo!

The concoction really came into its own a couple of days after my post (which was on February 2)! I drank the last of it yesterday--good and tingly, soda-rific with bubbles and all, and a good fragrance and flavor of pine. I definitely intend to make it again!

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Ice Merchants (dir. João Gonzalez) and Conservation of Caps

I stumbled across this short (14 minute) film on Twitter--it's apparently nominated for an Oscar. The first image was so arresting--a house held by bolts and ropes to the side of an icy cliff. A little boy swings over the abyss.

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The art is beautiful--I watched entranced. In the wordless story, a bereaved father and son have a set routine: every morning, they chip a brick of ice that the father has left out to freeze the night before. They put the pieces in a bag and parachute down to the town f...

Some thoughts on Nando's story: sitting quietly, listening

Before I talk about some of my own thoughts on "Mauko Meets a Monkey," I'd like to highlight some of the things other people have brought up:
cafenowhere talked about aspects of disability, what's considered a disability, and what needs healing (thread here );
sartorias saw parallels with Chinese storytelling (thread here );
wayfaringwordhack noticed common themes with the last story and mused on healing the land v. healing people (and then we got into talking about translation, storytelling, and...

Mauko Meets a Monkey: Short Story by Fernando da Costa Pires

I’m delighted to share with you a second story from Fernando da Costa Pires, this one dealing with the life of Mauko, who is born with a disability. Nando’s statement about why he wrote the story is below.

Ha’u kontente loos aprezenta ba imi istória ne’e, istória daruak husi Fernando da Costa Pires. Istória ne’e ko’alia kona-ba problema saúde defisiente. Imi bele lee kona-ba Sr. Nando nia intensaun iha “author statement" okos. (Ha’u husu deskulpa ba ha’u nia liafuan la loos iha Tetun.)

The story ...

pine needle soda

The Nando story is all ready to go, but I have one outstanding question for him, so while I wait for that, here's something fun: pine needle soda! The ninja girl saw a Youtube video about lightly fermenting pine needles to make a tangy soda, and I was intrigued. She said her video didn't give proportions, so I found this blog post , which does.

Supposedly white pine needles are the most delicious, and white pines grow everywhere around here. I took a few needles from bunches and bunches of weedy ...

Coming Soon: "Mauko Meets a Monkey"

I've finally finished translating the next story that my friend Nando (Fernando da Costa Pires) sent me back in July last year. From its title, this one might sound like the last one, only this time our protagonist is meeting a monkey instead of an eel. But it's actually very different: for one thing, the hero, Mauko, is disabled, and the story has a lot to say about how disabled people have been regarded in Timor-Leste. It has some magical elements like the last story, but every detail strikes ...

Jambato negro

"We thought that the jambato toad was gone forever until one morning in Angamarca, Ecuador, a boy found one in the grass by his house."

This beautiful song by the group (family, actually) Jacana Jacana is about Atelopus ignescens, a little black toad with a golden belly: he carries his own sunshine with him. It was believed that this frog went extinct in the 1980s, until 2016, when, as the quote says, a boy discovered one by his house.

Near the end of the song, the chorus is sung in Kichwa (Quechu...

Work Harder

Today was my weekly trip to my dad's in upstate NY, and I stopped at a small supermarket to pick up some things for lunch.

The guy ahead of me in the checkout line--tall, bearded, father of a young-teen daughter who was bagging for him--had a tattoo on his skull, curving around his left ear, that said "WORK HARDER."

What the--? Is it an admonition for the rest of us? A reminder or motivation for himself ... that he can only see if he looks in a mirror? In the alternate reality I conjured up to e...

Laundromat

I like laundromats; I always have. Even having my own washing machine, there are times when I've needed to use a laundromat. Last weekend my dad and I had to use the laundromat in his town because his ancient (dating to my childhood) washing machine had finally given up the ghost.

The laundromat in his town--well, one of them; a woman I talked to in it said there was at least one other--is very cute. Behold: device to help you get into bleach containers. (We didn't need this as we brought our ow...