Shawn L. Bird

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

A poem by Wendy Phillips January 20, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Grace Awakening,Literature,Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:40 pm
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From Fishtailing by Wendy Phillips. This novel by UBC Creative Writing alumnus Wendy Philips is crafted in a series of poems in persona of several characters. There are students, teachers and administrators represented.

.

Kyle
Teacher staples my motorcycle dream
to the display board
Tricia wanders over
reads it
I watch
She turns
stares
raises an eyebrow
drifts to my table
Told you Farr would like it she says
Not bad.

I swallow a lump
Wanna ride sometime?
She lifts her chin
narrows her eyes
I look away from the glare
Yeah she says, today
walks away.

So
poems are good
for something.

I like this poem because it captures something that I see often.  Suddenly the communication options open when people master a new medium.  Finding new media opens up an audience they would not have reached otherwise.  I often set up a “Poet-tree” in my class.  It fills a wall.  A trunk and branches are on the wall.  Students can take green leaves and leave a poem on a wall.  It’s a non-credit thing, and some years it gets very little interest, but other years it is a hot-bed of creative communication.  Students from other classes will come in to read the poems, because hearts are bare on the wall, and voyeurs watch developments with avid interest.

A young man who has poetry in his arsenal has a powerful tool to capture the hearts of the ladies he admires!  If he can set his poetry to music, he has even more power.  The ladies will be virtually powerless from his charm!

Yes Kyle, poetry is good for something.  In Grace Awakening Ben takes full advantage of the fact!  😉

 

The theory of invocation January 12, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Rotary,Rotary invocations — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:14 am

Some people suggest that because Rotary is an organization that does not discriminate by sex, race, business or faith, that invocations are not appropriate. I support the idea that an invocation to a particular deity is inappropriate, but that the concept of invoking thankfulness or thoughtfulness is always appropriate.

As such, within my blog you will find a wide variety of short prose pieces or poems that are meant to provoke a tone of contemplation in the members. Because my particular club is mainly Christian, I chose to completely avoid what is the norm for us, and therefore I provide options that are completely secular.  Eventually I may be adding quotes from a variety of faiths as well.

I hope Rotarians find these neutral invocations useful and I make them freely available for use within Rotary.  I know that they are one of the most popular reasons people come to my site.  When you use one of my invocations, please acknowledge my authorship when you present it to your club.  I’d also be delighted if you’d log into the comment beneath the invocation you share to tell me the name and location of your club and when you used it (or plan to).  i.e. “Rotary Club of Salmon Arm (Shuswap) District 5060 BC Canada.  January 5, 2011.”

With thanks.

 

wealth & dreams invocation January 10, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Rotary invocations — Shawn L. Bird @ 12:20 am
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For the wealth of abundant food to fuel our dreams
For the wealth of prosperity to empower our dreams
For the wealth of good friends to shoulder our dreams
For the wealth of joy when we bring our dreams to pass.
Let us be thankful today.

© Shawn Bird 2011.  Free use within Rotary.

Available for free use within Rotary; however, please indicate in the comment section below that you have used it at your club (date and name).
 

subject -> kids January 8, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:56 am
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Over the Christmas break I was pondering my new life in Planet Middle School.  I thought about the amazing staff at the Elementary Middle School where I’m working and how their practice is different from what I’m used to from years in the high school.  Suddenly, I had an epiphany.

In high school, we teach subjects. We know our subject, we love our subject, and we seek to inspire that love to the adolescents on the cusp of claiming their world.  We work hard.  In our off hours, we study and explore to be genuine experts.  We spend hours connecting with our students and endeavouring to engage them and encourage them.  In the English department, we spend hours marking, evaluating and finessing fine points of language.  We model reading and writing in our real world.

Teaching subjects is necessary.  It’s profound work. It changes lives.  It lights passions.  It creates worlds.  We endeavour to share our passion for our subject and to inspire students to take our subject with them into their adult lives in some way.

In Elementary and Middle School they don’t teach subjects. They teach students. Moreover, they are amazing at it.  They juggle a million balls in the air, notice everything, understand behaviour, see long range consequences, and can plan and implement strategies to transform recalcitrant pubescent kids into functional members of society.   Pubescent kids are not particularly acquiescent about the process!  Yet in the hands of these experts, they are molded into improved versions of themselves and armed with the skills to face adolescence.  It is a higher calling, and I stand in awe.

I have so much to learn.

 

chicken soup- proven medicine January 7, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:03 am
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Just read this in Curves Diane magazine (Winter 2011, p.19)

“…chicken soup contains the amino acid cysteine, which chemically resembles the bronchitis drug acetylcyteine, and the soup broth helps keep mucus thin, just as cough syrups do.”

I knew it wasn’t my imagination that chicken soup really works!  I remember visiting my friend Julia when I was a teenager.  She had made chicken soup from scratch.  I leaned over to inhale the amazing aroma and my sinuses completely drained!  (It may have helped that she surely had some amazing recipe from her Jewish grandmother).

I have a sudden craving for chicken soup.  Preferably Julia’s.  (Time to  book a flight to France, perhaps?)  😉

 

harping in Mexico January 6, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 3:38 am
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Guatalupe Torres

I had the privilege to listen to and to meet a talented Mexican harpist last week.  He is Guadalupe Torres and he performs regularly at XCaret in Riviera Maya.  XCaret is a destination park that offers all sorts of snap shots of Mexican history, flora, fauna, and music.  I think Sr Torres’ hour long concert in the Orchid Cafe was the highlight of my week in Mexico.  Because I didn’t want to sit in the cafe (I didn’t have any money to buy even a coffee) I stood near his playing platform and watched up close as he played.  (Nothing too intense, having someone stare at you from 2 feet away while you play!)  Torres was not amplified and the cafe was very loud, so I think I may have been the only one who could hear anything at all.

He has a repertoire of tunes that ranged from Latin to classsical to pop. His touch is light and sure.  He played what I would call a Paraguayan harp. but which his CD calls “arpa Latinoamericana.” There were full levers and a very interesting triple  harmonic curve (you can see two layers of it in the photo).  I wish my Spanish was strong enough to ask him how on Earth he changes strings with a basically solid backed harp!  After the concert Torres invited  me to try out his harp, which was a little embarrassing considering a) my lack of practice b) my long gel nails c) the narrow string spacing and d) key (I was trying to play a tune in C, but the harp was tuned in G).  Nonetheless, it was sweet of him, and I thoroughly enjoyed our stilted mixed language conversation.

I’ve found him on Youtube for you.  The sound quality isn’t great, but you can get an impression of the traditional Latin style and his skill.  I’m sure you can find MP3 tunes that are cleaner.  Take a listen and enjoy a sound of Mexico much more pleasant than the shrieks of an irritated jaguar or a hungry howler monkey! 

You can download MP3s from here:

http://music.napster.com/artist-music/tracks/12803175/?artist_id=12803175

 

writerly world January 3, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Pondering,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:35 pm
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Shawn at the computer

I’m just pondering how much of our identity is defined by what people know of us. For years I’ve been crafting  poetry and stories, but aside from the odd person who received a poetic gift or judged in a contest, no one ‘outside’ has known that part of my life. I have been “an English teacher” first and foremost. Of course, I’m an English teacher because I love words and love reading and love sharing that passion with young people. Occasionally I light a spark and some kid discovers that joy or I get to delight in encouraging some amazing talents in their infancy. It’s a great job.

Now I have a new identity. When I’m introduced, it’s more often as “writer” than “teacher.” It’s strange to have people redefine me so suddenly and so thoroughly.

I had dreams of being a writer someday, and now my dream is so recognised that others use the label. It’s kind of crazy when dreams come true.

May 2011 be the year that you see dreams coming true as well.  May you enjoy the fruits of your efforts and the satisfaction of reaching your goals.

 

Photo: me in my writer zone with my resources close and the computer in front of me.

 

2010 in review January 1, 2011

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:18 pm

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 7,500 times in 2010. That’s about 18 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 210 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 67 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 30mb. That’s about a picture per week.

The busiest day of the year was September 28th with 134 views. The most popular post that day was no no no.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, WordPress Dashboard, mail.live.com, mail.yahoo.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for rotary invocations, shawn bird, snow haiku, shawnbird.com, and invocations for rotary.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

no no no September 2010
4 comments

2

Welcome! May 2010

3

About Shawn May 2010
3 comments

4

Grace Awakening May 2010
2 comments

5

snow haiku November 2010
23 comments and 3 Likes on WordPress.com

 

going through the gate

Filed under: Commentary,Grace Awakening,Mythology — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:17 am
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Janus is the god of beginnings, endings, doorways, gateways, and time.  Here we are in January- the month that belongs to Janus, travelling through the gateway of a new year.

Janus is a two faced God.  One head faces forward to the future and one faces back to the past.  At this time of year many of us are prone to doing the same as we consider the events of the past year and consider improvements desired in the coming one.

2010 was a wonderful year for me, as personally we celebrated a quarter century of marriage with a wonderful trip to Italy and professionally we were thrilled with  the acceptance of Grace Awakening for publication next fall.  In 2011 I hope to see completion of another manuscript that has been in the works for awhile, and hopefully it will be picked up for publication this year.  As well, we are planning a research trip to France to work on a prequel to Grace Awakening (tentatively called Grace Beguiling).  It is a project that I think Janus would find amusing, Grace moving back in time.  I also look forward to improving health by remembering to take my vitamins and getting out for more walks.  The poodles will appreciate that effort.

How about you?  What are you planning in 2011?  What awaits you on the other side of the gate?

 

Ahhhh- so gorgeous! December 31, 2010

Filed under: Commentary — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:49 am

I love beautiful clothes and jewelry, and classic pieces always make me drool. My husband and I went to see The Tourist yesterday. The movie itself wasn’t as good as we’d have liked, however, we enjoyed re-visiting Venice (the grand-dame never disappoints).  The real star of this movie, to my mind, is costume designer Colleen Atwood who created absolutely stunning, classically inspired looks for Angelina’s character of Elise. The looks were reminiscent, apparently of Irene Lentz who was well known in mid-century Hollywood.

See a slideshow of looks here.

I have some sewing to do, updating my wardrobe to include some of these looks- great suits, bias cut skirts, and long gloves (Believe it or not, I’d already purchased a long opera length pair in black velvet, and an elbow length pair in purple leather, a month before I saw this movie). First piece to sew will be a grey cashmere coat with 3/4 bell sleeves.  It’ll look great with those purple gloves…

Ahhhhhh. Love those classics.  🙂