Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.

the end? May 21, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:58 pm
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When Harold Camping decided to announce that this evening at 6 p.m that the rapture would take believing Christians to heaven and usher in Armaggedon, he automatically ensured that today would not be the day. Matt. 24:36 states “No man knows the day or the hour” and I’m not really sure how Camping’s followers were able to set aside that simple admonishment.

More important though is the next verse, which points out that people were living their lives right to the moment of the flood.

That’s how we have to be.

The Doomsday Clock is set minutes before midnight, disasters happen unexpectedly, wars rage, but should we just give up, roll over and cower in our beds?

No. We need to live every moment that we are alive by reaching out to help those whom we can and sharing light, love and blessings. There were undoubtedly many people on the planet whose lives ended at 6 pm, but the rest of us need to take a note:

The essential message of Camping and others of his ilk should be, you’re going to die someday, so make sure you’re following the most important precept in all aspects of your life, “Treat others as you would like them to treat you.”

In other words, Be kind to one another.

 

what’s in a name? May 20, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:58 pm
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I’m taking page out of the blog of my old pal Ralph Hass today with a sport’s commentary… (tongue in cheek though it may be!)

The big sports news in Canada today is that negotiations are in progress to bring the Atlantic Thrashers to Winnipeg.  Manitobans are dancing in the streets over the idea of a return to NHL hockey in their province. The next question is, “What will they be called?” Some are determined that the team should harken back nostalgically and be called the Winnipeg Jets; others think the team should keep its name and become the Winnipeg Thrashers.

I vote for “None of the Above” and submit that the name should both be new and something meaningful for the province. Something powerful.  A name that conveys a real force of nature.

I vote for The Red River Flood.

The Manitoba Sandbaggers?

The Winnipeg Dikebreakers?

If you don’t like those, how about The Prairie Blizzard?  That might be the ideal choice, actually, since it includes 3 provinces, and prairie blizzards can strike ferociously any time during the extremely long  hockey season…

I mean really, what do Jets and Thrashers have to do with anything?  At least lets have a name that tells you something about the people who support the team. Manitoba Threshers fits with the agriculture of the region.  Maybe that would work?

 Good luck Winnipeg.  May the flood water recede and the NHL return.

 

Bird haiku May 19, 2011

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:04 am
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A violet bird sits
in her nest in the arbor,
filling sky with song
.

.

Congratulations Philip and Violet

just 10 more weeks ’til hatching!

 

pink May 18, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:19 am
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I was just reading this lovely piece on the blog called, “Pink is for Boys” : http://pinkisforboys.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/i-would-just-like-to-say-that-it-is-my-conviction

It made me think.

I have been battling this for years one way or another. I knew a young boy who loved Barbies. We watched him playing with dolls and clothes and figured that was probably an indication of his sexual orientation, but since we didn’t care about his sexual orientation, that was no big deal.

It was interesting that when he finally ‘came out’ in high school, everyone just shrugged their shoulders and said, “Yeah. We knew.” He was bullied before he came out, but not after. When he could acknowledge the truth of himself, others were more willing to accept it as well.  Perhaps the bullies realised that before it was assault, but after it’d be a hate crime?

So it is with many things. If we accept other ways of thinking or being, we acknowledge the truth in ourselves as well as the truth in others. Acceptance lets pink into our palette and adds beauty to our sunrises.

My Middle School students get angry when they are challenged for saying “That’s so gay!”   One is forever saying, “It means happy!” She doesn’t like the response that then she should say, “This is so happy!”  Not accepting the consequences of their words is part of their age, and teaching them to show empathy can be challenging.  Their brains are only beginning to learn abstraction, and some of them are still so concrete it will likely be years before they’re able to grasp what they’re really saying. They’re ostracizing 10% of the population with that kind of remark, and they have trouble seeing why that’s a problem. I’ll keep working on it. Hopefully we’ll get more boys willing to wear pink for anti-bullying days, and more kids  of both sexes willing to discuss why they are so angry if other people are different from them.  Acceptance is a powerful thing, but for some, their own acceptance is so precarious that they aren’t willing to risk accepting others.

What do you think?

 

♪ kind, kind, kind vibrations ♪ May 17, 2011

Filed under: Literature,Pondering,Reading — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:01 am
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Here is a lovely thought from fantasy author Charles de Lint that fits with the kindness assignment my grade 7s are working on this week:

“It’s funny what a difference a positive attitude can have. When you go out of your way to be nice to people, or do something positive for those who can’t always help themselves…it comes back to you. I don’t mean you gain something personally. It’s just that the world becomes a little bit of a better place, the music becomes a little more upbeat, and how can you not gain something from that?

See, when you get down to the basics of it, everything’s just molecules vibrating. Which is what music is, what sound is, vibrations in the air. So we’re all part of that music and the worthier it is, the more voices we can add to it, the better we all are.”

~Charles de Lint in Moonlight and Vines. p. 33.

What more can I add to Mr. de Lint’s words?

(Well, I will add something eventually, but for now, let’s just absorb his brilliance).

 

smokey asparagus May 16, 2011

Filed under: Recipes — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:05 am
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We live in an area that gets great asparagus this time of year, so we’re regularly dropping in to the local produce places and stocking up five pounds at a time.  As a result, we tend to look for inventive ways to serve up this tasty treat.  This evening I came up with a winner, so I’m sharing it with you!  To serve two.

2 smokies (smoked sausages about 3 cm in diameter and 15 cm long)  I microwaved mine 2 mins to thaw them.

500 grams/1 lb of asparagus.  (snapped and washed).

1 tbsp fancy European mustard- I used a coarse Dutch mustard.

1 tbsp of granulated sugar.

In a large pan with a lid, steam asparagus with the lid on for 4 mins, while you slice the smokie into long strips (In half lengthways, then slicing each half into thirds lengthways).   When the asparagus is bright green, toss in the sliced smokie pieces and remove the lid to let any remaining moisture escape.  Mix a tbsp of mustard and the sugar with a tbsp of water, sprinkle over the asparagus and smokies, toss gently to cover.  Turn off the heat and top with a lid while you make a salad, cook other veggies, or whatever.  (2 or 3 mins).  Serve!

The juices and fat from the smokie and the mustard provide a really nice counterpoint to the asparagus and the colour contrast is also quite attractive.  Very yummy!

 

school lunch May 15, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 4:56 pm
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Topic #112: Should schools control what kids eat for lunch?

When I see the amount of garbage left after kids’ lunches with all the small packages of crackers, cheese, fruit rollups, cookies, etc. I am inclined to think there are a lot better ways to do this whole ‘school lunch’ thing. Ways that are healthier for kids, and better for the environment as well.

 When I was an exchange student in Finland, I was particularly impressed at how lunches were provided. We sat at a couple of different seatings depending on our schedule. One entré was provided with a variety of milks (skim, 2%, homogenized, and buttermilk) plus rye bread slices, fruits and vegetables. The meals were fine, made up traditional Finnish foods.  Potatoes, meats, soups, stews.  They weren’t horrible, they weren’t great. To be honest, I have very little memory of what the school lunches were, except that I know they occasionally served maksalaatiko (liver casserole) a dish I loathed, so when it was on the menu and Langinkoski Rotary met, I would go there for lunch! As well, I remember the day that they served blood pancakes, because the whole lunch room turned to watch me attempt to eat them… (I couldn’t do it. I only managed one bite). There was very little packaging waste involved in these meals, and the garbage was mostly compostable left overs.  It was companionable dining with friends in the bright lunch room. 

The word ‘control’ in this prompt is interesting. It has to do with the Chicago school district that is banning junk food. This is old news around here in BC. Already pop and fried foods have been removed from all our school cafeterias and vending machines. Healthy options replace them and no one seems to miss them. Many of our schools are on a healthy snack program that delivers fruits and vegetables to the schools every month. Kids get BC produce like pears, baby cukes, grape tomatoes, and apples. We distribute them in our classes, and kids munch away while they read or work.  The baked French fries taste just the same as the deep fried ones.  Who knew?  Canadians don’t tend to object to legislating lifestyle, which tends to make Americans bristle a bit.

I don’t like to see that so few of my students actually bring lunch. The girls in particular are apt to go without, and when queried will say that ‘they’re not hungry.’ Most of them as 12 and 13 year old are already afraid of getting fat from eating too much. However, on days when we have hot lunch brought in, most of them eat eagerly, so I am inclined to think that if every school had a lunch room and served a healthy hot lunch each day, the kids would enjoy it.

I’m all for adopting the Finnish model, and training our kids for a lifetime of healthy eating.

 

spring haiku May 14, 2011

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:05 pm
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Trees are blossoming
with the glorious promise
of summertime fruit

 

(c) Shawn Bird

 

sheltering the world May 13, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Rotary — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:41 pm
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Last August, a pair of  British cyclists wheeled into town on a tandem bike to promote the Shelter Box program. We were the 400 mile mark on a tour that was to take Huw and Carolyn Thomas 10,000 miles around the world.

 

Shelter Box is an international humanitarian organization that stock piles green boxes about the size of a child’s school desk. Inside each box there are supplies for a family of ten to live following a disaster. The box is packed tight with items like a 10 person tent, blankets, school supplies, water purification and cooking utensils. The boxes are stored at strategic sites in the various continents so that they will be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice when a disaster strikes.

Since Huw and Carolyn left us, they have travelled through Western Canada and across the US. They flew home to England for Christmas and then flew to New Zealand for the next leg. They were there when Shelter Box was called upon to aid victims of the earthquake in Christchurch. Then they cycled through flood ravished Australia, seeing the boxes put to use there as well.  Currently ShelterBox is deployed in Japan following the earthquake and in Colombia following floods.

Now Huw and Carolyn are in Europe and have passed the 8000 mile mark as they entered Holland this week.  Their efforts to raise awareness of the ShelterBox organization has resulted in many individuals and organizations around the world sponsoring a $1000 box.  Three of those boxes come from Salmon Arm, so if you are looking at photos of some disaster and see a logo for Rotary Clubs of Salmon Arm on a tent, you’ll know where our contributions ended up.

Visit Huw and Carolyn’s blog about their adventure at http://tandem10.wordpress.com

 

Canzionere 36 May 12, 2011

Filed under: Grace Beguiling - Petrarch,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 8:54 pm
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How’s your Italian?

36

S’io credesse per morte essere scarco
del pensiero amoroso che m’atterra,
colle mie mani avrei già posto in terra
queste mie membra noiose, et quello incarco;

ma perch’io temo che sarrebbe un varco
di pianto in pianto, et d’una in altra guerra,
di qua dal passo anchor che mi si serra
mezzo rimango, lasso, et mezzo il varco.

Tempo ben fôra omai d’avere spinto
l’ultimo stral la dispietata corda
ne l’altrui sangue già bagnato et tinto;

et io ne prego Amore, et quella sorda
che mi lassò de’ suoi color’ depinto,
et di chiamarmi a sé non le ricorda

Poor Petrarch.  In this sonnet he is wishing he could free himself from the obsession of his love, but he thinks that death would just put him into another war, from one grief to another.  He begs Love, who has painted him with color, but doesn’t remember to come when he calls her. .. 

Poor desperately obsessed Petrarch.  Of course, even death was not an escape.  He still suffered for another thirty years after Laure died.  It wasn’t until the last decade of his life that his writings suggest he was released and could focus on worship of God and not his muse.

I played with a multi-colour pencil crayon and my calligraphy pens to transcribe this sonnet today.  Here is the result:

Canzionere 36 da Petrarca

I think that when I  take the time to set this up for a good copy, with copy lines and borders, it will be quite effective.  I particularly like my Italian pseudonym Giovanna Uccello.  😉  it’s fun having an easily transliterated name… Jeanne Oiseau.  I mean, Shawn Bird.