Limerick for my class

There once was a Writer's Craft
Whose students were certainly not daft
When the teacher said "Write it"
They became quite delighted
And everyone started to laugh!

Meta Program #2 Toward and Away From

I discussed the Meta Program Sameness and Difference in my 'Seeker' blog. We have another Meta Program within us (of course Meta Programs are just ways of looking at our humanity- a model to help us understand. We don't really have software in us) [do we?].

The Meta Program Away From and Toward is especially helpful in understanding ourselves and others in terms of goals and motivations.

Let me tell you a story.

I had a friend once who had not taken a holiday for a long time. She liked to work. She had a sameness about that. Finally her holidays were approaching and her boss was going to make her take them.

I tried to be positive with her and asked her if she was excited and what would she like to do for her holidays? She looked rather anxious and apprehensive and said:

"I don't know what I want to do. I know I don't want to drive a long way. That would be boring and the last thing I want is to spend my whole holiday stuck in a cramped car."

Well, maybe you should fly off somewhere. Wouldn't it be exciting to fly off to the Caribbean or South America where it's tropical and hot?"

"No", she replied. "I don't fly. The thought of being up thousands of feet in the air with nothing under me but a little steel doesn't appeal to me at all. And I don't want to be uncomfortably hot."

"Well, then, how about going down to the big city and taking in some shows, good food, and a classy hotel?"

"Are you kidding?", she responded disgustedly. Big cities are dirty and noisy and over priced."

"Hmmm", I thought to myself. Then I decided it was time to end our conversation and said, "Well, whatever you decide to do, I really hope you enjoy yourself."

As Friday came, she seemed to me to more and more cranky and stressed out. She left on her holiday and two weeks went by and when she returned to work, I asked her how it was.

"It was awful" she said. "I didn't know what to do so I stayed home."

Now I have great respect for someone who is devoted to their job, but I also appreciate someone who knows how to have fun, relax, enjoy the leisure time that so many of us have. My friend was so focused on what she didn't want, she failed to move toward a deeper, greater and more expansive joy in her life. She spent a lot of time focusing on and moving away from things she didn't want.

Be aware when you are in the 'away from' mode and when you are in the 'toward' mode. Some people are always running away. That's a good thing in some cases. And some people are moving towards: towards their goals, towards better relationships, towards making the world inside them and around them a little better place than it was yesterday.

Starting a New School Year

The Seeker

I have spent a lot of time in my life and especially in my career asking the question: What does it mean to learn? We spend so much time doing it (learning) but I have always been the kind of person who questions everything. All of my life I have been driven by asking the question: WHY?

If there is one thing that defines me as a human being and as a teacher, it is my drive to ask that question. I've learned over the years not to expect to arrive at a definitive answer to the question 'why?' but I have found that I have developed an insatiable curiosity about the world. My curiosity is quite broad; however, if I introspect, I realize that there are things that I have no interest in (cars, engines, doing handyman work etc.). But I have always been interested in people, and what makes them tick, why do they do the things they do, and what goes on in the inner world of their minds? Writers always have a strong curiosity about people. 

That's why they are able to build characters and plots that are intriguing and suspenseful- they know a lot about people and how and why they behave the way they do. 

I tend to be more interested in the philosophical aspect of writing and so I write more non-fiction than fiction.  Writing essays like this is where I'm most at home as a writer. I am curious about human nature, how we live our lives and what it means to live a rich and fulfilling life. I discovered a long time ago that these questions and issues don't 'get answered'; they just keep getting re-asked, with deeper and wiser interpretations. 

And one of the BIG questions is: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LEARN? OR, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'VE LEARNED SOMETHING?

I mean, think about it. Forget about school and the classroom for a minute. In your life, can you remember a time when you really know that you learned something significant- or even something insignificant? What was it? What makes you sure that you learned? What did it feel like? What did it look like? What did you do?

This is a challenging exercise because it requires the ability to INTROSPECT, to go inside and think about how you think. Thinking about your thinking is called META COGNITION. Whenever you reflect about relationships, or about your future, or about problems you may have, you are engaging in INTROSPECTION.

We are all SEEKERS in this world. Writers are seekers who want to understand. They are CURIOUS.

There are a few elements that I think are important for learning:

1. CURIOSITY- you can go anywhere you wnat in this world if you have an insatiable curiosity. You don't have to know anything about a subject or issue. If you are curious you can learn. Find the things that make you curious and pursue them. And of course, with the Internet and social media, you can find other people who are also curious about the same things you are.

2. GROWING-  In my research over the years I discovered an interesting idea- that we have these things called meta programs in us. One of them is: SAMENESS AND DIFFERENCE. Sometimes we want to be in our comfort zone and we want things to be the same- same habits, same routine. But, sometimes we want DIFFERENCE. We want CHANGE, GROWTH, something new. LEARNING most often is related to NEWNESS. Be aware when you are moving towards comfort and when you are moving towards change and growth. LEARNING usually requires us to leave our comfort zones.

3. UNCERTAINTY- When we are absolutely certain about something, we are probably going to stop looking for new information and new ideas. Absolute certainty can be very comforting , but it can also stop us from growing and learning. Question your assumptions and you may find an opportunity to LEARN. Seek understanding but be willing to question it.

BE CURIOUS, BE READY TO GROW, AND ACCEPT UNCERTAINTY AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW.

Words Wonderful Words

Words wonderful words,
Wallowing in the wide spaces of my mind.
I Stumbled upon someone's blog
From somewhere in the world;
I read his poem and wept

With joy at the image
That the writer offered me
For free. No ads, no selling.
A gift
From the wonderful world
Of creative urges
And surges
Of the conscious and unconscious mind
Using only one little tool
With 26 parts:
Words.

Respect for Great Authors

I have great respect for writers from every part of the world and from every historical era. The idea that you can communicate your life thoughts, your stories, your opinions and your creativity through a complex display of 26 symbols has never ceased to amaze me. Books and authors have changed my life. I have been actually transformed from reading certain authors- Ayn Rand, Jack Kerouac, Eckhart Tolle, Walt Whitman, Margaret Laurence, J.R. Tolkien, J.K.Rowling, Tony Robbins, Hale Dwoskin, Wayne Dyer, etc.


I read fiction and non-fiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Self-Help, The Classics, Poetry, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook etc. etc. etc. Most authors will tell you if you want to be a good writer become a voracious reader- READ A LOT!!!


One of the authors I find particularly interesting is Walt Whitman (May31 1819- March 26, 1892- 72 years old) . I'm just beginning to read "Leaves of Grass" an epic poem by Whitman, about his life and experiences. It is a very famous book. Whitman is considered the father of American Free Verse (poems without rhyme/rhythm).  Students in the United States all study Walt Whitman in school.

He's considered to be an Essayist, a Poet and a Journalist. Many writers began as Journalists. Most writers have to do other kinds of work until their books make a living for them. All arts are like that, so if you want to ACT, WRITE, DRAW, DANCE, etc. expect to be a waiter or waitress or Tim Hortons' Drive Thru attendant before your rise to fame.






A CLEAR MIDNIGHT
THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou
lovest best.
Night, sleep, and the stars.   (Walt Whitman)

Walt Whitman had a vagabond lifestyle much like the Beat poets (Jack Kerouac (1950's). Whitman is claimed to be America's first "Poet of Democracy". "You can't really understand America wihtout Walt Whitman..." (Mary Costelloe)

Song of Myself
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. 


This is the first stanza of the first section "Song of Myself" from the poem "Leaves of Grass" 
What do these lines mean? Why begin his poem with them? Why do I use them in my subtitle?

The Limerick

To all who are naturally gifted
My hat I have enviably lifted
They have their own path
That I search for in wrath
Oh, how it seems I have been set adrifted.

Limericks are fun and challenging because you have to fit them into certain structure and meaning format.

There was a young rustic named Mallory,

who drew but a very small salary.

    When he went to the show,

    his purse made him go

to a seat in the uppermost gallery.

                                                            

There was a Young Person of Smyrna

Whose grandmother threatened to burn her*;

But she seized on the cat,

and said 'Granny, burn that!

You incongruous old woman of Smyrna!'  (Edward Lear)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_(poetry)

The standard form of a limerick is a stanza of five lines, with the first, second and fifth usually rhyming with one another and having three feetof three syllables each; and the shorter third and fourth lines also rhyming with each other, but having only two feet of three syllables. The defining "foot" of a limerick's meter is usually the anapaest, (ta-ta-TUM), but limericks can also be considered amphibrachic (ta-TUM-ta).  (from Wikipedia)


For your first attempts stay true to the structure even if the meaning is off, just so you can practive the actual structure. Without the structure your Limericks don't work.

The Haiku

I follow #Haiku on Twitter. People all over the world contribute their thoughts and experiences through short 3 line poems using syllable structure:  5-7-5. Haikus are originally Japanese and they are both easy and offer wonderful insights into our human experience. They can be about anything (traditionally they have a nature theme). Haikus often have a juxtaposition of two ideas or images (juxtaposition is the placing of two things close together for effect.
Here are two EXAMPLES: 


My lips long / For the wetness of your touch / My dreams run dry (from Sahrazad528- Twitter)


Notice the contrast between wet and dry and how the dryness implies loss. Also notice that she didn't follow the syllable structure. Here is another. What is the juxtaposition?


Bird song signals dawn /Crickets chirp, cicada's whirl / Nature is noisy! (from josepf Twitter)


Here are some links:


Wikipedia (3 qualities of a haiku)


A good resource on Hakius with some famous Japanese poet masters.


Keep a journal of your haikus. Post your best ones on your blog. You could add a picture for effect- or make a poster with the haiku on the image. Use creative commons for copyright safety.