Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 59

spoken word

We'd looked at "quiet" poetry earlier--the sort you read to yourself in books--and so I brought in some recordings of poetry being performed for my students to react to and think about.

I played them Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner's "Tell Them," and felt a warm glow as they reacted visibly to her lines about Styrofoam cups and dusty rubber slippers, and my favorite line, about the children flinging like rubber bands across the street. And then when I asked them which lines stuck with them, they had so m...

la piragua de Guillermo Cubillos

I've been listening to a two-CD collection of some of Colombia's most famous cumbias, and the one that's my current favorite is "La Piragua," the tragic story of the sinking of an ambitiously large piragua (pirogue--like a long canoe) on its maiden voyage. This cumbia, written by Jose Barros, has been sung by bunches of different singers in bunches of different styles, but this is the version I heard, so it has pride of place in my heart. But for instance, there's this much more romantic vers...

balloon

This helium balloon came into our life on March 10. It hung around, puffed out and full of helium, in the living room, its head brushing the ceiling, for a long time. If you pulled on the string, it would come down and then bounce back up.



We could tie things to the end of the string and entertain the cat by bouncing the balloon down and up--the balloon positively swooped and danced. And the balloon watched attentively from the corner while the TV was on.

As it began to deflate, it began to wan...

Reiwa

Welcome to the new era in Japan: Reiwa.

During the modern period--that is, ever since the Meiji Restoration of 1868--the eras have corresponded to the reigns of the emperor. That is, the Meiji Period equated to the Meiji emperor's** reign, the Taisho period corresponded to the Taisho emperor's reign, the Shōwa period corresponded to the reign of the Shōwa emperor--better known to people outside Japan as Emperor Hirohito--and it has been the Heisei period ever since Akihito, Hirohito's son, bec...

the crow and the dove, music, Gender of the Day

(With this job I'm likely to be mainly a Friday-Saturday-Sunday poster, but I'll try to be reading and commenting on people's blogs on other days.)

The crow and the dove
This morning was *warm* and although the hills are still waiting to spring alive again, there are hints of life all around--pussy willows, birdsong. On a morning run saw a magnificent crow up so close, close enough to admire his bill and exchange glances and hear the wind whistling in his wings as he flew off.

Later I heard a di...

more on microseasons

I started mentioning what microseason we were in for my classes at the jail, and the students are really into it. On Tuesday we entered "First Cherry Blossoms" (... we're not quite in sync, here in New England), and on Thursday they wanted to know what the new one was. "We're still in 'First Cherry Blossoms,'" I had to tell them, "But we'll be in a new one on Monday." (I teach Mon-Thurs).

Students in class know bits of different languages, and it's fun to have them share--Spanish, of course, b...

a book and a magazine

Those of you who enjoyed Aster Glenn Gray's Briarley but would have liked to have it in print form... now it's available! Behold its beautiful cover:



And here is a link , for purchasing ease.

And, in more news of the physical rather than the digital, the latest issue of Not One of Us is out. It's a great size for carrying with you and reading, quietly, wherever--no batteries needed. lesser_celery has relevant information here , and if you're not a subscriber and want to purchase an issue, leaving...

attraction

Week two of teaching completed. I love the students; I love the actual in-classroom time. Actually being employed by the jail, though, is stressful and traumatic. I haven't felt so much free-floating anxiety in a long time. I keep telling myself to breath deeply. This story is unrelated.

The first time I lived in Japan was after college. I lived for a while in special housing for foreign exchange students, where my closest friends were two women my age--a French exchange student and an Italian...

hills this morning

I went running this morning, and the sunlight through the clouds was turning parts of the hills into pure gold, while around them the shadowed hills were still winter purple-gray. I didn't have a camera, and it would be time-consuming to try to draw, but I discovered that MS Word has a very rudimentary drawing function. And so I created a picture! This... doesn't really capture what it was like at all, except for the contrast, and not even that. The dark was darker, the bright was glowing.



co...

waving from afar

I got a message from a friend (thank you friend) checking to be sure I was okay, seeing as I hadn't posted in a while. That's prompted me to post this--I am okay! Just a bit overwhelmed at the moment with the new job. Last week was my multiple-day orientation, and that was Very Daunting--lots of rules and procedures and things that mainly won't apply to me but that I have to know.

And yesterday was my first day of teaching, and it was a positive experience--the students are great and seemed t...