July 2011
9 posts
June 2011
33 posts
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Classroom Pictures 11 - Pictures from Students
I’m not really sure what most of these are. I know there’s a cat and an apple person, but everything else I’m not-so-sure about. These are some cute pictures courtesy of two of my students.
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A Writing Exercise + A Poem
Take the first stanza of a poem (or just the first full thought, if you prefer) and rewrite it—not all of it, at first, just the verbs.
After you have rewritten the verbs, rewrite it again with new nouns.
Then, once more, with new adjectives.
You can continue on, if you wish, changing adverbs and prepositions. You should stop when the beginning of the poem is recognizably your own.
Here...
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Haiku Wars - "Sangyohka": A Simple Solution
I’ve been in a lot of discussions lately, and in the past, about what makes a haiku.
I am of the stance that a poem being 3 lines doesn’t necessarily make it a haiku. I know a lot of people feel strongly about this (on the other side), but hear me out.
I am not against people writing 3 line poems in the essence of how haiku are written. in fact, I love much of the poetry I read that...
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2 More Haiku for 27 June (Make that 3, and one a...
Loqwacious word: Languish
HaikuChallenge word: Turmoil
____
alone, she watches,
languishing in summer heat,
dragonflies mating
— —
the greatest turmoils
man shall ever face are his
insecurities
EDIT: I decided to rewrite my Loqwacious poem. Here is my second version, you can let me know what you think.
— —
eggs long-since hatched
the black widow
watches...
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3 Poetry Challenges - 3 New Poems
Definitions at the bottom!
Loqwacious word: Misprision (gogyohka)
__
Taken away for misprision.
He didn’t rat out
his wife,
when she opened
the neighbor’s mail.
— —
HaikuChallenge word: Scrap (haiku)
__
a piece of scrap paper
magnetized onto the fridge
“I never loved you”
— —
Artwiculate word: Proselyte (haiku)
__
A...
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Faces Everywhere 8? - Stephen Hawking in Shizuoka...
Okay, I know that this isn’t a REAL faces everywhere, but I thought this would be the best place to put it. There is a music school in my neighborhood. Apparently, Mr. Stephen Hawking is the ultimate symbol of music’s positive effect on the human brain. Here he is jammin’ out with a fly Bach sweater.
I think the Bach sweater is the real secret to his success.
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Tweeting Poems - My First Attempts
It took almost 2 hours, but I went through my entire twitter feed and found every poem I have written for posting on twitter. Twitter has a terrible archiving feature, so from now on, every poem posted there, will also be posted here.
I think some of these are quite good. Let me know what you think! Most of these were written for #haikuchallenge a daily twitter poetry challenge I used to...
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Classroom Pictures 10! - Jellyfish
Jellyfish are mean!
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Artwiculate Poem - "Holp" (past tense of "help")
PickMyBran Brandon McLeod :
seeing his chance / he holp the woman to her feet / grasping her hand / he made sure / their eyes did meet #artwiculate #poetry #gogyohka
seeing his chance
he holp the woman to her feet
grasping her hand
he made sure
their eyes did meet
- -
Brandon
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Loqwacious Poem of the Day a Haiku
Fueled by Loqwacious
PickMyBran Brandon McLeod :
her eyes told me all / that her aphoristic words / forgot to mention #lqw #haiku #poetry
her eyes told me all
that her aphoristic words
forgot to mention
_ _
Brandon
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Bye, Bye, Blogger, I'm Gonna Miss You So
If you read that title with the tune of “Bye, Bye, Birdie” in your head, then I consider this post an early success.
This post isn’t about musicals, Elvis, or Vietnam—though I enjoy musicals, am marrying a Presley, and love Vietnamese food. No, it’s about switching to Tumblr from Blogger.
As some of you know, I celebrated my 1 year blogiversary about 2 weeks ago....
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"Loqwacious" and Poetry
No, I didn’t spell “loquacious” incorrectly. It’s the title of the blog Loqwacious. I don”t know why the author chooses to spell it incorrectly, but none of that really matters.
Loqwacious is a word game played by users on twitter. Each day, the blog offers a new, correctly-spelled, word. The challenge is to write a beautiful sentence or short poem utilizing the...
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Faces Everywhere 7 - Frog Face
Ribbit!
I have been asked several times. This is a connection on the railing alongside the river.
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Photoboard Theme Has Gone the Way of Drive-in...
Well, when I first created this Tumblr a few days ago, I fell in love with the photobard theme. Truly, it is a beautiful theme with many great features.
I loved that multiple posts could easily be seen without scrolling. It was also great to be able to “flip” the post around to view the information. I also really liked the ability of any user to remove posts from their view or...
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Classroom Pictures 9 - All Aboard!
A simple classroom picture for today. We’re riding the rails!
In Japan, “chu, chu” is the noise a mouse makes (which is, of course, adorable). I was explaining that in America, a “Choo-choo” is a train.
I added whiskers to the cattle guard and a tail to the back.
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Le Dormeur du Val
C’est un trou de verdure où chante une rivière, Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons D’argent ; où le soleil, de la montagne fière, Luit : c’est un petit val qui mousse de rayons. Un soldat jeune, bouche ouverte, tête nue, Et la nuque baignant dans le frais cresson bleu, Dort ; il est étendu dans l’herbe, sous la nue, Pâle dans son lit vert où la...
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Homemade Gnocchi is so so so delicious
Homemade gnocchi sauteed in butter with cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, onion, spinach, garlic, and fresh from the garden parsley and basil. Yum.
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Faces Everywhere 6! - Mujin Smile
“Mujin” is literally, “no person”. These are unmanned food stands that are scattered all throughout Japan. The food is sitting out, unattended, and payment is on an honor system. Japan is a nice, safe place. This mujin, however, was being guarded my this guy!
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Oh Hello One Year Blog Anniversary!
Today marks the exact date of my first post. It really doesn’t seem like I’ve been blogging that long (probably because I neglected the blog for the first 9 months). However, I’ve become much better about posting. Since I have begun regular posting, my views per month have steadily increased. In January I had 48 views total. Wow! What a terrible number! But, what could I expect?...
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Yogalicious!
With more and more scientific studies showing the health benefits of yoga and meditation, it becomes rather encouraging to the avid or even occasional practitioner. Personally, I don’t have enough money for a class. If you do, take advantage of it and find a school in your area that is both comfortable, friendly, and pushes your physically. So, because I cannot afford a class, I use a...
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Rice Planting Season and the Frogs are Singing
With the advent of “Tsuyu” (Rainy Season), you also get rice planting season! Being in Shizuoka, where green tea is “Daimyo” (Lord), and having arrived in Autumn, I haven’t really witnessed rice growing yet. The rice was harvested soon after I arrived and then went on hiatus for winter. Well, here it is. Rice needs a hot, wet environment in order to thrive. Farmers...
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Classroom Pictures 8 - Bless You!
In America, when someone sneezes, we say, “Bless you!”
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Looking For a Happier Life? Where Should You Live?
OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) has made a great interactive chart with 34 countries. Here it is: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/ The Index includes 11 categories and 34 countries. From the FAQ: ”Why choose 11 topics of well-being? Since it was founded in 1961, the OECD has helped governments design better policies for better lives for their citizens....
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Graduation Madness!
Or, “How Graduation Can Ruin Your Life!” Okay, so that’s a half-joke. Graduating from university is a huge deal and an amazing accomplishment. If you’re finishing a second degree or and advanced degree, you deserve twice the applause because you survived while leading a (we’re assuming) a productive life outside of school. So, before I go on, “Bravo!” ...
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Sakura, Ohanami, and Rodin?
These are my very late pictures from the Sakura season, our Ohanami party, and viewing the Rodin permanent exhibit in the museum at the park where we had our party. View the full album here: Sakura/ Ohanami Album highlights! Le Penseur
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Classroom Pictures 7 - Zetsubo, Emo
One of my students said she was “zetsubo”, which means “despairing”. I decided to explain that in America, people would say she’s being emo. Here is my emo Honoka.
