Honoring Heroes

As the clock strikes 12, Memorial Day begins. Parades, speeches, barbecues, and get togethers are planned for the event. They are the typical of the traditions celebrated at this time of year. Besides these, of utmost concern is the remembering of American heroes who served and sacrificed their lives. Joseph Campbell said, "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself." Let us stop to reflect on this for a brief moment while engaging in activities with family and friends.

The above five-line poem with a 5/7/5/7/7 syllable count poem is a tanka. It originated in Japan as a waka, a Japanese song or verse. 

Words convey a message of importance. At the turn of the 20th century holiday postcards were popular. You can see a few of the colorful antique Memorial Day postcards that I own. Thoughts expressed were sent out to family and friends. While postcard writing is not prevalent as in the Victorian days, blogging and tweeting have become ways to communicate with those far away. 

Enjoy the Memorial Day Holiday. Do you have a Memorial Day tradition other than those mentioned that you engage in with your family? I am starting a new one, writing a poem for each Memorial Day. Last year's poem can be accessed here.

Join my Poetry Parade as I salute

American heroes today.

Celebrating Heroes

This week was a week for celebrating heroes-from #eduheroes to fallen American heroes.  At the start of the week, I created a site, Hall of #EduHero Voices, for #NYEDChat's conversation that occurred last Monday night (and trended on Twitter). It is fitting to recognize teachers as eduheroes whose passion for educating youth is evident on a daily basis. I received a tweet while writing this post from My Town Tutors who recognized the Hall of #EduHero Voices in their paper, The New York Tutors Daily. You can access my post in the newsletter here.

http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2015/05/lift-voices-in-unison.html

This week I also celebrated the power of words through blogging, tweeting, and poetry writing. I even captured my thought just before popping in my biscotti dough into the oven. Words in recipes are essential in the baking process just as in poetry writing. In addition, I celebrated the ability to be a risk taker and create a new dough the way my grandmother taught me: a little of this and a little of that. Pop it in the oven and whisk it away to a barbecue for all to enjoy. (Just an aside, the anisette biscotti was tasty as stated by all. Thanks, Nonnie for teaching me the tricks of the trade.)

I extended my celebration this week with digital poetry-two more poems created for the following posts, Beginnings and Digital Journal. Amy VanDerwater featured my digital notebook, at  Sharing Our Notebooks, Try This! - Turn a Song into a Found Poem. 

I also celebrated the virtue of patience and created an electric image to signify my emotions. The post with the following image can be accessed here. Do you know heroes that have just one of those days?

Now, Memorial Day is upon us and I think of the fallen American heroes who served and sacrificed for this American nation. I recognize these men and women in a way I know best, words that carry a message. The poem and post will air at 12:00 midnight. 

I celebrate the week's events along with the writing community created by Ruth Ayres. Please visit Ruth's site, Celebrate This Week, to read how others enjoyed their week. 

Digital Journal

The odyssey of my writing life started with my first journal in elementary school that chronicled the adventures of a two children called the Merry Twins. Their antics were patterned after my favorite series, The Bobbsey Twins. Reflecting on life as a child, I am amused by two facts. At a young age, I was using a mentor text to inform my writing practice and my characters' names took on a positive persona decades before the term positivity became popular. Because I still have not organized all of my professional, pleasure, and picture books, along with other mounds of paper from my pre-retirement days as districtwide literacy director, I have not found my first journal that marked my attempt at authorship. 

Today, if you enter my home office you will find paper scraps of edited poems strewn around my desk, marking the traces of my thinking. No matter how many times I try to organize the space around my computer, I still linger in what I call cluttered chaos. But somehow within the disarray I am able to thrive.

Since I am fascinated with Cloud storage lately and time is a factor when blogging I have turned to a digital journal. I remind myself that it is fine to move from the printed page to the digital space to capture my thoughts. The process is messy and often leads me to throw out my scraps of paper after my thoughts are saved in the cloud. 

DIGITAL NOTEBOOK

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is collecting notebook ideas at The Poem Farm today. When she tweeted me about the idea, I thought of my messy writing process and tried to imagine how I would replicate what I do digitally to bring a poem from its initial seed of an idea to fruition. What you will see below is an example of how I took the lyrics to a song about positivity, crossed out certain words, and then reshaped the lyrics into a poem. Going paperless may be a way to save the earth but it is also a way for me to organize my writing portfolio.

You can see the remainder of the lyrics here.

 Blackout poem created from a song's lyrics

Final Version

Please visit Poetry Friday that is being hosted by Matt Forrest today at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. Matt has very good news to share with everyone and a poem that provides insight into what springtime looks like in New Hampshire. 

Additional Information regarding digital literacy:

An invitation to share one digital poem/photo combination for the newest online gallery that I am creating, Spring's Symphony, can be accessed here. I hope that Poetry Friday colleagues will be creative in their visual representations of springtime.  

Also, please peruse the Hall of #EduHeroVoices filled with digital images of #edusinspirations. If interested, create one and send it to me for the new site. 

Beginnings

When one door closes another opens is a common phrase that signifies endings and new beginnings on our journey of life.  As I researched songs that discuss this theme, I found one, Brand New Sun, that is termed "an ode to embracing a new chapter in life." Jason Lytle provides a breathy song that is uplifting and hopeful, as all new beginnings should be.

On the endless journey of life

endings bring closure

signifying: 

a fresh start

a new chapter
new beginnings

a journey of faith-filled forevers.

With a focused, positive frame of mind follow the path.

Meander through gardens and byways 

turning your gaze upward

listening for breathe's cues.

Then,

gently spread your wings.

With perseverance and patience,

fly to greater heights than you knew.

As each step leads you on,

read the road.

Still the chatter. 

Steady any restless steps.

Look for guideposts along the way.

Dive into refreshing pools waiting ahead.

Carefully stretch your limits. Find the challenge

that will shape your tomorrows and bring you rest.

Reach into the vast open spaces of possibilities. 

Your new journey awaits.

Carol Varsalona © 2015

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For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.   

Jeremiah 29:11

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Today the Spiritual Journey Thursday writers under the direction of Holly Mueller, explore the topic of Endings/Beginnings. The poem above incorporates the one little words of the original group of writers. 

What is your perspective on endings and beginnings?

Please visit #Spiritual Journey Thursday to read the postings.

Just One of Those Days

Everyday life can be a series of routines or a burst of unexpected happenings. It's the unexpected that throws the day off even if the news is a good surprise.

Today was one of those days. While preparing for a presentation and a #NYEDChat that I was co-moderating, a series of events interrupted my day. 

• An email arrived when I was in the flow of working. It stated that the notice I received from NCTE at the beginning of May was a mistake. The proposal I submitted for the 2015 conference was indeed accepted with positive reviews. Of course, the news was great but it interrupted the flow of my day.

• I rushed home from physical therapy (I have a torn rotator cuff-quite unexpected news) anticipating that the tech guru would be at my house well before I had to moderate the educational chat. Unfortunately, traffic was bad and he was detained. While trying to get the new computer set up and the old one transferred over to my son, the internet service kept dropping leaving me perplexed as to how I could connect with colleagues. The good news was that the system was operative by the end of night and the chat trended on Twitter. 

• At the very end of the night while trying to write this post, a bug joined me in my office and bit me several times on the neck. This interrupted my flow as well.

Sometimes work flow gets interrupted and you have to learn to deal with it. Tonight I learned that patience is a virtue. 

It was just one of those days!

It's Slice of Life Tuesday. Please visit Two Writing Teachers to read other slices of life.