So often when we're yearning to learn something new, we look to books about the topic or check into taking a course, or the ultra-motivated consider earning a degree. Then our next hurdle is to select a resource or plan that is best for our personal needs. This task can seem daunting. Where can you turn for help?
Naturally, you can ask those who have been down the same path for advice. However, know we each perceive differently and something that bores a friend to tears might keep you hopping with excitement.
Last year, when I began researching PhD programs I might want to enter, I decided to rely upon general marketing information from a university system expert: Princeton review. I joined the e-mail newsletter notification system from Princeton Review Recruiter Service. I've pasted one of their messages below so you can have an idea of what to expect from this resource. I honestly do not know anything about the program listed, nor do I endorse it over any other program. I simply want you to know what might be of interest to you as you move forward in your creative path.
If you like what appears below, sign up for a e-notifications from the Princeton Review and receive similar notifications personalized to your criterion! In the end, the decision on what step you're ready to take next is solely up to you.
Until next time!
- Mel. (p.s. Just three more days until I'm free to follow my creative path full-time! Sure hope you'll join the journey.)
********
Maine College of Art (MECA) delivers a demanding and enlivening education in visual art and design within an intimate learning community. Each student learns how to transform aspirations and values into a creative practice that serves as the foundation for a lifelong pursuit of personal and professional goals. Founded in 1882 and fully accredited, MECA offers both the Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts degrees as well as a Post-Baccalaureate certificate in Art Education. The College gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, has been hailed as one of the finest art spaces in the Northeast for the exhibition of leading edge contemporary art
Request a brochure from Maine College of Art
MFA Program Overview
The Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts program at Maine College of Art (MECA) is a two-year low-residency program designed for emerging artists. The MFA in Studio Arts is based upon an open interdisciplinary approach that encourages students to think across boundaries and integrate studio practice with conceptual and interdisciplinary theory. With an intimate class size of 30 students, each MFA student pursues an individualized studio curriculum in their chosen area of concentration.
The MFA low-residency program is based around two eight-week summer intensives in Portland, two ten-day winter residencies in Portland and New York, a five-day May intensive in Portland for graduating students, and the 14-week fall and spring semesters in a home studio setting with supervised instruction from non-resident as well as resident faculty. An extensive roster of internationally recognized visiting artists and scholars supports the curriculum.
The summer intensives allow students to work on-site in state-of-the-art studios, (many students have multiple studios), attend seminars, discussions, and lectures by artists, critics, curators, historians, and theorists, participate in individual and group critiques, and help to develop a community through dinners, dialogues planned and unplanned, and various excursions.
Off-site during the non-residency fall and spring semesters, students in their home studios are partnered with a renowned faculty of Non-Resident Studio Instructors (NRSI) for one-on-one meetings that allow for a flexible, individualized, student-centered learning and year-round resident faculty contact.
The program travels to New York City during the winter intensives to visit artists' studios and important cultural sites. Graduating students return to Portland in the spring of the second year to hang their studio thesis exhibition and defend their written and studio theses.
The MECA Community and Campus is located in the center of Portland's Arts District, MECA's campus is comprised of five buildings all located within a four-square-block. The main studio building is a 150,000 square foot renovated department store. Cosmopolitan and comfortable, Portland offers all the advantages of a small city with close proximity to nature and recreation. It has an urban sensibility and energy that draw an eclectic population from artists to entrepreneurs.
The College gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, has been hailed as one of the finest art spaces in the Northeast for the exhibition of leading edge contemporary art.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Memoir ~ Not Solely an End of Life Inventory
Are you at point in your life path where something has to change? Are you taking mental inventory and deciding what to do next? If so, CONGRATULATIONS!
Now, you might be a bit frustrated with what to do next, but don't fret. I have recently acquired a book by a favorite writing teacher of mine, Natalie Goldberg, that just may have the tools you need. Now, I have never met Ms. Goldberg (or her friend and another writing teacher I often turn to, Julia Cameron) but because her author's voice is so personal and she shares so many of her life experiences, I believe I know her. I am also pleased that her work can help a writer unblock herself, write through her mental processes and emerge with perspective and positive energy for her next steps forward. Goldberg's Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir is just that: practice, practice, practice.
I learned long ago that there is no way around my mental processes and the only method I have found to get past anything that continually infiltrates my thoughts it to work through it via writing. This book will help any reader do just that, and perhaps, in the end you'll have a memoir you'd hope to publish. If that is not your intention, with each of these exercises you've at least worked through your blocks and have more mental and emotional energy to spend on what is dearest and most significant for you.
Best wishes and good luck!
Now, you might be a bit frustrated with what to do next, but don't fret. I have recently acquired a book by a favorite writing teacher of mine, Natalie Goldberg, that just may have the tools you need. Now, I have never met Ms. Goldberg (or her friend and another writing teacher I often turn to, Julia Cameron) but because her author's voice is so personal and she shares so many of her life experiences, I believe I know her. I am also pleased that her work can help a writer unblock herself, write through her mental processes and emerge with perspective and positive energy for her next steps forward. Goldberg's Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir is just that: practice, practice, practice.
I learned long ago that there is no way around my mental processes and the only method I have found to get past anything that continually infiltrates my thoughts it to work through it via writing. This book will help any reader do just that, and perhaps, in the end you'll have a memoir you'd hope to publish. If that is not your intention, with each of these exercises you've at least worked through your blocks and have more mental and emotional energy to spend on what is dearest and most significant for you.
Best wishes and good luck!
Invigorate Your Muse!
Perhaps it is because my mother taught me to treat books like sacred objects, or maybe because I have been and English teacher, I turn to books for ideas and ways to enliven my creative process. Today I visited the main branch of the Greenville County public library and I found two books that might be of interest to you.
The first is a new title on 14 day loan:
The New Writer's Handbook: A practical Anthology of the Best Advice for Your Craft and Career, edited by Philip Martin, published by Scarletta Press, and forward by Erika Jong. I like this book because of the way the contents are laid out. I can easily navigate the parts that interest me and skip the rest. From reading this title today I have created four pages of notes about one of my latest project and discovered several new resources that I was previously unaware of. This book certainly inspired me; It is nearly 11 p.m. and I'm up blogging about it! For an early-to-bed-early-to-rise girl like me, that's saying something!
The second title is exciting because the author found a dozen women to profile who are following their artistic dreams. The hook is that all of these women are senior citizens! Aging Artfully by Amy Gorman, profiles visual and performing women artists ages 85-105! If that doesn't get you to stop moaning that you're too old to follow your dreams, nothing will nudge you into action.
If you live in the area and want to check these books out, the first one will be returned in a few days, but both will be back in circulation before their due dates. Don't forget, you can reserve the books through your local library branch as well!
The first is a new title on 14 day loan:
The New Writer's Handbook: A practical Anthology of the Best Advice for Your Craft and Career, edited by Philip Martin, published by Scarletta Press, and forward by Erika Jong. I like this book because of the way the contents are laid out. I can easily navigate the parts that interest me and skip the rest. From reading this title today I have created four pages of notes about one of my latest project and discovered several new resources that I was previously unaware of. This book certainly inspired me; It is nearly 11 p.m. and I'm up blogging about it! For an early-to-bed-early-to-rise girl like me, that's saying something!
The second title is exciting because the author found a dozen women to profile who are following their artistic dreams. The hook is that all of these women are senior citizens! Aging Artfully by Amy Gorman, profiles visual and performing women artists ages 85-105! If that doesn't get you to stop moaning that you're too old to follow your dreams, nothing will nudge you into action.
If you live in the area and want to check these books out, the first one will be returned in a few days, but both will be back in circulation before their due dates. Don't forget, you can reserve the books through your local library branch as well!
Friday, May 30, 2008
What do you do to ensure your personal success in all areas of life?
This week, I have introduced Rhonda Byrne's The Secret to my students. I hoped to give them ideas about what choices they have in attracting a life they want instead of wandering around moaning about the life they have been "given." Most of the students are interested in the idea of attracting money, but others were excited to know the Law of Attraction can bring positive relationships, good grades, happiness, and all manner of emotional, mental and spiritual health and wealth. Before they leave today they will each draw and image of their life vision using the concepts shared in The Secret.
I invite you to follow along and draw your own vision for your creative future. If that doesn't appeal to you, try The Artist's Way author Julia Cameron's directive to write a creative resume -- that is a resume listing all the creative endeavors you've been a part of. Mine begins with me standing on a hassock in the middle of the living room as a toddler and belting out nonsense words at the top of my lungs as I "sung" for my mother, being in school choirs and plays, writing poetry and stories, and so on. You may be amazed about the number and variety of items you've made or endeavored to create in your lifetime. You also might be a bit shocked about how little space you've given creation in your daily get up-take a shower (with soap)- go to work existance.
If you've not happy with what you see, change it!
What will you create today that will add a little spring to your step?
I invite you to follow along and draw your own vision for your creative future. If that doesn't appeal to you, try The Artist's Way author Julia Cameron's directive to write a creative resume -- that is a resume listing all the creative endeavors you've been a part of. Mine begins with me standing on a hassock in the middle of the living room as a toddler and belting out nonsense words at the top of my lungs as I "sung" for my mother, being in school choirs and plays, writing poetry and stories, and so on. You may be amazed about the number and variety of items you've made or endeavored to create in your lifetime. You also might be a bit shocked about how little space you've given creation in your daily get up-take a shower (with soap)- go to work existance.
If you've not happy with what you see, change it!
What will you create today that will add a little spring to your step?
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
On the 8th day 'til Freedom, My True Love Said to Me....
Okay, so maybe my true love didn't say anything special about freedom from my day job, but I am just so darned happy that I can barely contain myself. Granted, I'm also so exhausted it was a fight to stay awake past 6 p.m. tonight, but I'm hoping that's due to allergies and a rainy evening. It certainly isn't due to my age!
Today my students performed their end-of-the year puppet plays and I was amazed how many gifted me with their puppets when they were done. I just mentioned that if they didn't want the puppets any longer they could either toss them out (as they were created from "junk" items anyway) or I'd be happy to take them. I now have nearly two dozen new puppets to share my life with. Some are humanoid, some are odd creatures from boxes, I've got a handful of paper sack pals and sock sweeties to speak to. No, not crazy, but I can't help but talk to puppets. Having grown up with a myriad of Jim Henson (and company's) characters in my daily life via Sesame St. and The Muppet Show, accompanied by Shari's Lamb Chop, and I see puppets as living breathing friends. In fact, one of my dozens of future business ideas has to do with puppets because I'm so drawn to them. That's what being passionate about your art is all about: finding excitement and fun where others are willing to say, "Here, I don't want it, but if it makes you happy, it is all yours!"
Anyway, I'm delighted to know one week from today my students will be starting summer vacation and I'll be gearing up for my last day of school administrivia. My sincerest respect goes to those who are thrilled to be part of education in the public sector for a career. I've done it off and on for nine years now (seven of those teaching in middle grades and high schools) and I just keep re-learning that I love to teach, but hate all the rest of the work that goes with it: grades, upset people due to grades, meetings because of grades, paperwork about those grades. Life doesn't come with a grade book, folks, and some day we'll be smart and capable enough to figure out an easier, more authentic system of discovering if we learned what we should. Until then, I'll be in the private sector, cheering on creativity at every turn!
Today my students performed their end-of-the year puppet plays and I was amazed how many gifted me with their puppets when they were done. I just mentioned that if they didn't want the puppets any longer they could either toss them out (as they were created from "junk" items anyway) or I'd be happy to take them. I now have nearly two dozen new puppets to share my life with. Some are humanoid, some are odd creatures from boxes, I've got a handful of paper sack pals and sock sweeties to speak to. No, not crazy, but I can't help but talk to puppets. Having grown up with a myriad of Jim Henson (and company's) characters in my daily life via Sesame St. and The Muppet Show, accompanied by Shari's Lamb Chop, and I see puppets as living breathing friends. In fact, one of my dozens of future business ideas has to do with puppets because I'm so drawn to them. That's what being passionate about your art is all about: finding excitement and fun where others are willing to say, "Here, I don't want it, but if it makes you happy, it is all yours!"
Anyway, I'm delighted to know one week from today my students will be starting summer vacation and I'll be gearing up for my last day of school administrivia. My sincerest respect goes to those who are thrilled to be part of education in the public sector for a career. I've done it off and on for nine years now (seven of those teaching in middle grades and high schools) and I just keep re-learning that I love to teach, but hate all the rest of the work that goes with it: grades, upset people due to grades, meetings because of grades, paperwork about those grades. Life doesn't come with a grade book, folks, and some day we'll be smart and capable enough to figure out an easier, more authentic system of discovering if we learned what we should. Until then, I'll be in the private sector, cheering on creativity at every turn!
Inspiration and Personal Questions
It continually inspires me to see the work of other female artists, no matter the medium or message,
because I tell myself, "If she can find her true path and calling in life, so can I,"
....and furthermore, so can you!
Below are links to the work of five women who have all been Guggenheim fellows
(just as Erika Blumenfeld, the light photographer featured yesterday).
Visit their sites, look at what incredible contributions women are making in the arts, then ask yourself,
"What am I passionate about? If there were no obstacles, what would I create?"
Then, begin believing in your dreams.
- Meena Alexander <http://www.meenaalexander.com/%3E , Poet, New York City. Distinguished Professor of English, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center: Poetry.
- Phoebe Gloeckner <http://www.ravenblond.com/pgloeckner/index.html%3E , Artist, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Assistant Professor, University of Michigan School of Art and Design <http://www.art-design.umich.edu/faculty.php?aud=e&menucat=pe&id=phoebeg%3E : A graphic narrative.
- Anne Makepeace <http://www.makepeaceproductions.com/%3E , Filmmaker, Lakeville, Connecticut; Director, Writer, and Producer, Anne Makepeace Productions, Inc: Filmmaking.
- Myrna Packer/Art Bridgman <http://www.bridgmanpacker.org/%3E , Choreographers, Valley Cottage, New York; Codirectors, Bridgman/Packer Dance: Choreography.
- Pamela Yates <http://www.skylightpictures.com/%3E , Filmmaker, New York City; President and Cofounder, Skylight Pictures, Inc: Filmmaking.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Votre Vray Awaits ~ Nine days 'til launch!
That's correct! In just over a week I'll be able to dedicate myself fully to gathering all the information I can share via interviews from women in a variety of artistic professions. If you are a creative woman, please, don't hesitate to share your story! You may be featured in the Votre Vray book or play.
Until then, to keep your creative juices flowing, here are some sites and a contest you might be interested in:
1. Do you love the sun? Are you amazed by the power of natural light? Is photography your niche? If so, check out Erika Blumenfeld at: http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/
2. Looking for motivation to write a first person narrative? Go to: http://www.narrativemagazine.com/shared/contest.php and be mindful that the deadline for submissions is July 31st! (Still plenty of time to knock their socks off!)
3. Are you a wife? A mother? A poet? Finding it hard to live three lives in one? If so, you're not alone. Meet a woman who is all three incarnations in one. Visit Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, commercial poetry author, wife and mother, at: www.jaynejaudonferrer.com
Until tomorrow, keep creating dreams so your realities will slide into place as you always imagined.
Until then, to keep your creative juices flowing, here are some sites and a contest you might be interested in:
1. Do you love the sun? Are you amazed by the power of natural light? Is photography your niche? If so, check out Erika Blumenfeld at: http://www.erikablumenfeld.com/
2. Looking for motivation to write a first person narrative? Go to: http://www.narrativemagazine.com/shared/contest.php and be mindful that the deadline for submissions is July 31st! (Still plenty of time to knock their socks off!)
3. Are you a wife? A mother? A poet? Finding it hard to live three lives in one? If so, you're not alone. Meet a woman who is all three incarnations in one. Visit Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, commercial poetry author, wife and mother, at: www.jaynejaudonferrer.com
Until tomorrow, keep creating dreams so your realities will slide into place as you always imagined.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Countdown to end of school year -- and last day as public school teacher
Tuesday, tomorrow, is the first of the last four full school days left in the 2007-08 school year in South Carolina!!!!! Wooo hooo!!!!
The last day teachers must work is Thursday, June 5th...and silly me, I elected to take the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards exam on Friday the 6th. Anyway, I'll be a full-time freelance creativity coach and artist from that date forward. (Although one of my dearest colleagues has asked me to to some long-term subbing for her in the fall and so far I've agreed...)
Join me in our statewide countdown to freedom!
10 days 'til FREEDOM! (I can almost hear Mel Gibson yelling now.....)
The last day teachers must work is Thursday, June 5th...and silly me, I elected to take the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards exam on Friday the 6th. Anyway, I'll be a full-time freelance creativity coach and artist from that date forward. (Although one of my dearest colleagues has asked me to to some long-term subbing for her in the fall and so far I've agreed...)
Join me in our statewide countdown to freedom!
10 days 'til FREEDOM! (I can almost hear Mel Gibson yelling now.....)
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Poetry Society of Virginia: 2008 Contest Awards
Mel Edwards (C'es moi) is a WINNER!
POETRY SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA
2008 Annual Adult Contest
Awards Program
April 19, 2008
Category 14. Laura Day Boggs Bolling Memorial,, Marguerite Watkins, Judge. First Place: “My New Neighbor”, Dr. M. Lee Alexander, Williamsburg, VA. Second Place: “Hats”, James Garrett, Richmond, VA. Third Place: “Teachers”, Mel Edwards, Simpsonville, SC. 1st HM ”My Secret”, Laura Bobrow, Leesburg, VA. 2nd HM “Colder Light”, S. Nagarajan, Mason, OH. 3rd HM “Upon Visiting the National Zoo in Winter”, David Essex, Alexandria, VA. (55 entries)
Category 20. Come Out Swinging Prize, Henry Hart, Judge. First Place: “Breakfast at Sea”, Lynn Veach Sadler, Sanford, NC. Second Place: ” Song Written for Sophia”, David Essex, Alexandria, VA. Third Place: “Pro Se Blues”, Peter H. Desmond, Cambridge, MA. 1st HM “Apiary Act”, Mel Edwards, Simpsonville, SC. 2nd HM “Simple Simon’s Song”, Richard Raymond, Roanoke, VA. 3rd HM “o daddy long legs”, Trilla Ramage, Hampton, VA. (60 entries)
Mel's winning entries follow:
"Teachers"
by Mel Edwards
There are short ones,
tall ones,
skinny ones, too.
Watchin’ what you’re doin’.
Watchin’ what you do.
Some they crawl out in the night.
Others stand in broad day light.
Who are the easy ones?
Who be the bad?
Who are the worst ones that you’ve ever had?
Their paychecks may be nothin’ but I will tell you true.
Their benefits are somethin’ – maybe one of them was you.
There are round ones,
wide ones,
average ones too.
Showin’ how to do it.
Showin’ what to do.
Who were the great ones?
Who weren’t that bad?
Who was the best one you ever had?
**************************
"Apiary Act"
by Mel. Edwards
You flew right in and snubbed my worker bees
Saying, “Hey Queenie, mama, take a look at me.”
I spun around. I had no fear.
I knew Big Daddy, where you’d be in a year.
I said, “Yeah?”
You said, “Yeah.”
You walked right up and said with a smile,
“Come one Queenie, baby, let’s play for a while.”
I said, “A drone of mine will be put to the test.
If you know what you’re doin’ you’ll get no rest.”
You said, “Yeah?”
I said, “Yeah.”
I should have known then that you knew your scam
You claimed, “I was made for dancin’ the old wham-bam.”
You looked into my eyes, then lightnin’ struck.
In a heartbeat you were my broncin’ buck.
I said, “Yeah!”
You said, “Yeah.”
Well, months have passed. The hive is full.
Your life is done. Honey, that’s not bull.
“Mother Nature said it’s time for me to fly.
It’s been fun, Daddy, and that’s no lie.”
You said, “Yeah?”
I said, “Yeah.”
You took a step back and tripped on the rug.
Lying on the floor you sighed and shrugged.
“If that’s how it goes, I’m not sorry, ma’am.
There are worse ways of livin’, like the ol’ flim flam.”
I said, “Yeah.”
You said, “Yeah.”
POETRY SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA
2008 Annual Adult Contest
Awards Program
April 19, 2008
Category 14. Laura Day Boggs Bolling Memorial,, Marguerite Watkins, Judge. First Place: “My New Neighbor”, Dr. M. Lee Alexander, Williamsburg, VA. Second Place: “Hats”, James Garrett, Richmond, VA. Third Place: “Teachers”, Mel Edwards, Simpsonville, SC. 1st HM ”My Secret”, Laura Bobrow, Leesburg, VA. 2nd HM “Colder Light”, S. Nagarajan, Mason, OH. 3rd HM “Upon Visiting the National Zoo in Winter”, David Essex, Alexandria, VA. (55 entries)
Category 20. Come Out Swinging Prize, Henry Hart, Judge. First Place: “Breakfast at Sea”, Lynn Veach Sadler, Sanford, NC. Second Place: ” Song Written for Sophia”, David Essex, Alexandria, VA. Third Place: “Pro Se Blues”, Peter H. Desmond, Cambridge, MA. 1st HM “Apiary Act”, Mel Edwards, Simpsonville, SC. 2nd HM “Simple Simon’s Song”, Richard Raymond, Roanoke, VA. 3rd HM “o daddy long legs”, Trilla Ramage, Hampton, VA. (60 entries)
Mel's winning entries follow:
"Teachers"
by Mel Edwards
There are short ones,
tall ones,
skinny ones, too.
Watchin’ what you’re doin’.
Watchin’ what you do.
Some they crawl out in the night.
Others stand in broad day light.
Who are the easy ones?
Who be the bad?
Who are the worst ones that you’ve ever had?
Their paychecks may be nothin’ but I will tell you true.
Their benefits are somethin’ – maybe one of them was you.
There are round ones,
wide ones,
average ones too.
Showin’ how to do it.
Showin’ what to do.
Who were the great ones?
Who weren’t that bad?
Who was the best one you ever had?
**************************
"Apiary Act"
by Mel. Edwards
You flew right in and snubbed my worker bees
Saying, “Hey Queenie, mama, take a look at me.”
I spun around. I had no fear.
I knew Big Daddy, where you’d be in a year.
I said, “Yeah?”
You said, “Yeah.”
You walked right up and said with a smile,
“Come one Queenie, baby, let’s play for a while.”
I said, “A drone of mine will be put to the test.
If you know what you’re doin’ you’ll get no rest.”
You said, “Yeah?”
I said, “Yeah.”
I should have known then that you knew your scam
You claimed, “I was made for dancin’ the old wham-bam.”
You looked into my eyes, then lightnin’ struck.
In a heartbeat you were my broncin’ buck.
I said, “Yeah!”
You said, “Yeah.”
Well, months have passed. The hive is full.
Your life is done. Honey, that’s not bull.
“Mother Nature said it’s time for me to fly.
It’s been fun, Daddy, and that’s no lie.”
You said, “Yeah?”
I said, “Yeah.”
You took a step back and tripped on the rug.
Lying on the floor you sighed and shrugged.
“If that’s how it goes, I’m not sorry, ma’am.
There are worse ways of livin’, like the ol’ flim flam.”
I said, “Yeah.”
You said, “Yeah.”
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Evernow
It began with a seashell
so delicate...
The words flowed
with adolsecent angst.
They continue through
life's surprises and goals
I never hoped to realize.
It will continue:
as long as my fingers move
even if the letters wobble
like Anna's did...
All the while my eyes see
even if those visions
exist only in my head...
As my ears receive waves
even if no one else hears
the voice within....
Beyond the everlasting day my spirit
enters eternal rest
past the hours that will flow
evermore in the distance...
Evernow,
I am
and
I will be
a poet.
so delicate...
The words flowed
with adolsecent angst.
They continue through
life's surprises and goals
I never hoped to realize.
It will continue:
as long as my fingers move
even if the letters wobble
like Anna's did...
All the while my eyes see
even if those visions
exist only in my head...
As my ears receive waves
even if no one else hears
the voice within....
Beyond the everlasting day my spirit
enters eternal rest
past the hours that will flow
evermore in the distance...
Evernow,
I am
and
I will be
a poet.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Hub City Writing Conference
Hi, folks! If you are looking for an intimate writing conference to attend this summer, check out Hub City's 2008 Writing in Place conference, which will be held Aug. 1-3 at Wofford College. They only allow 72 people to register and I'll be there focusing upon poetry.
I signed up after I found out Hub City published Marjory Wentworth's first book, and one of the presenters is the ever-intelligent poet Vera Gomez, who I met at TRAM last Saturday.
I love that when I follow my passions (storytelling, writing, teaching) I meet more and more fabulous people. Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is rumored to be attending this conference as well...so if you're looking for more fantastic folks to share your love of word wrangling with, Hub City is the place to be in August!
For more details visit:
http://www.hubcity.org/
(And, no, I do not benefit financially or otherwise from speaking about this conference or any of the women mentioned above. I'm just so excited that I wanted to invite you to join us!)
Hope to see you at Wofford!
-Mel.
I signed up after I found out Hub City published Marjory Wentworth's first book, and one of the presenters is the ever-intelligent poet Vera Gomez, who I met at TRAM last Saturday.
I love that when I follow my passions (storytelling, writing, teaching) I meet more and more fabulous people. Jayne Jaudon Ferrer is rumored to be attending this conference as well...so if you're looking for more fantastic folks to share your love of word wrangling with, Hub City is the place to be in August!
For more details visit:
http://www.hubcity.org/
(And, no, I do not benefit financially or otherwise from speaking about this conference or any of the women mentioned above. I'm just so excited that I wanted to invite you to join us!)
Hope to see you at Wofford!
-Mel.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
TRAM: Marjory Wentworth workshop
Call it luck, synergy or Divine Intervention, but on Friday night I attended a poetry reading at a cafe in Traveler's Rest given by Marjory Wentworth, our state poet laureate. While I was there, it was announced she was giving a FREE workshop on Saturday for two hours. So, I cancelled my plans for Saturday and signed up. What a gas!
The main thrust of the workshop was writing about stories you find in magazines, newspapers, etc. that just catch your mind in a spin. Marjory brought her file and we looked. I found in the pile our local library's ad for a teen event -- not related to reading or libraries at all, but toward environmentally-related crafts: making floor mats out of plastic shopping sacks. It struck me funny that no reading was promoted in the advertisement. I then brainstormed and thought of all the times people have been hushed in the library. I combined that silence with all the things we as adults don't talk to teens about even when all the information is right there under our noses. Below is the poem I came up with:
Trash Bag Floor Mats
by Mel. Edwards
Conformityville Library:Calling All Teens!
Create kitschy quirky foundation
to combat global strangulation!
Sssshhh!
Shop on
and drop
crunchy carpet for
park pavers and
football field.
Fashionable obfuscation found.
Poohie.
So sad.
Sam Walton’s shop
switched those sea-tone sacks.
Cement County seeks coastal view.
Free use with author credit given. MelEdwardsConnect@yahoo.com
© 2008. Mel Edwards
The main thrust of the workshop was writing about stories you find in magazines, newspapers, etc. that just catch your mind in a spin. Marjory brought her file and we looked. I found in the pile our local library's ad for a teen event -- not related to reading or libraries at all, but toward environmentally-related crafts: making floor mats out of plastic shopping sacks. It struck me funny that no reading was promoted in the advertisement. I then brainstormed and thought of all the times people have been hushed in the library. I combined that silence with all the things we as adults don't talk to teens about even when all the information is right there under our noses. Below is the poem I came up with:
Trash Bag Floor Mats
by Mel. Edwards
Conformityville Library:Calling All Teens!
Create kitschy quirky foundation
to combat global strangulation!
Sssshhh!
Shop on
and drop
crunchy carpet for
park pavers and
football field.
Fashionable obfuscation found.
Poohie.
So sad.
Sam Walton’s shop
switched those sea-tone sacks.
Cement County seeks coastal view.
Free use with author credit given. MelEdwardsConnect@yahoo.com
© 2008. Mel Edwards
Farewell Teaching
Well, this week I turned in my resignation effective the end of the school year. What does that mean to the rest of the world? Ready or not, here I come!!!!
I have a list of 18 things I want to be working on this year. I won't post the entire list here, but some of the basics include:
I have a list of 18 things I want to be working on this year. I won't post the entire list here, but some of the basics include:
- Votre Vray - Finding Your Truth workshops
- Storytelling, poetry crafting and other literary support and entertaining in schools
- Writing boatloads more poetry
- Writing a book with a colleague
- Many, many poetry readings and other related festival events
Somewhere along the line I hope to see more of my husband and bunnies and meet YOU!
I'm OPEN FOR BOOKINGS most days and nights beginning June 14th. (Before that I have a summer camp, National Boards of Professional Teaching Standards assessment test, and, naturally, the end of the school year.
I look foward to meeting you soon!
-Mel.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Poem wins contest
I just heard the inside scoop that one of my poems for young people has won third place in a nationally advertised contest. I'm thrilled. Once the information goes public I'll publish it here and give a link to the contest website. Until then, keep on writing!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Story Quarterly Sponsors Love Story Contest
StoryQuarterly Contest Guidelines:
The StoryQuarterly Love Story Contest is open to all writers. We’re looking for the heart of the story presented in fiction or nonfiction in the following categories: short stories, short short stories, novel excerpts, essays, memoirs, and excerpts from book-length nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 8,000 words, and must not have previously been chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.
TOPIC: The subject is love in any and all of its varieties and incarnations — familial, filial, romantic, platonic, the love of place, nature, animals, possessions, beauty, or truth, love that is intellectual, erotic, patriotic, real or imagined, fulfilled or denied, tragic or comedic.
Tell us the truth about love!
Awards: First Prize is $2,500, Second Prize is $1,500, and Third Prize is $750. The prize winners will be announced in SQ online and will be eligible for inclusion in the 2008 StoryQuarterly Annual. Additionally, ten finalists will receive $100 each. We’ll announce finalists in the magazine as well.
There is a $20 fee for each entry. And with your entry, you’ll receive six months complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.
Entries will be accepted between between January 1 and March 31, 2008. The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine.
Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by by April 30, 2008.
All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions.
We accept online entries only. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but if your entry is accepted elsewhere, please let us know as soon as possible (and accept our congratulations!). Entries should be formatted as follows: Double-spaced, with 12-point type, at least one-inch margins, and sequentially numbered pages. Please give the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address at the top of the first page.
https://narrativemagazine.com/SQ/shared/contest.php
The StoryQuarterly Love Story Contest is open to all writers. We’re looking for the heart of the story presented in fiction or nonfiction in the following categories: short stories, short short stories, novel excerpts, essays, memoirs, and excerpts from book-length nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 8,000 words, and must not have previously been chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.
TOPIC: The subject is love in any and all of its varieties and incarnations — familial, filial, romantic, platonic, the love of place, nature, animals, possessions, beauty, or truth, love that is intellectual, erotic, patriotic, real or imagined, fulfilled or denied, tragic or comedic.
Tell us the truth about love!
Awards: First Prize is $2,500, Second Prize is $1,500, and Third Prize is $750. The prize winners will be announced in SQ online and will be eligible for inclusion in the 2008 StoryQuarterly Annual. Additionally, ten finalists will receive $100 each. We’ll announce finalists in the magazine as well.
There is a $20 fee for each entry. And with your entry, you’ll receive six months complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.
Entries will be accepted between between January 1 and March 31, 2008. The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine.
Winners and finalists will be announced to the public by by April 30, 2008.
All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions.
We accept online entries only. We do accept simultaneous submissions, but if your entry is accepted elsewhere, please let us know as soon as possible (and accept our congratulations!). Entries should be formatted as follows: Double-spaced, with 12-point type, at least one-inch margins, and sequentially numbered pages. Please give the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address at the top of the first page.
https://narrativemagazine.com/SQ/shared/contest.php
Friday, December 28, 2007
Call for Letters
Votre Vray – Living Your Truth, Your Way.
Call for Letters
Tell Votre Vray about your experiences in finding your “place” in the world.
- Was it easy and natural to follow your life path?
- Did someone dictate who you were to be?
- Did you make several choices before you settled on where you are now?
- How does who you are link to what you surround yourself with and your roles – such as your choice of living quarters, geographic location, job, race, faith, relationships with friends and family, sexual orientation, decisions about parenthood, etc.
- If you could change anything about your past, would you? Why or why not?
- Have your found your true self or are you still searching?
All letters must include: - Author’s legal name, mailing address, e-mail (if available) and phone number for verification purposes.
- Author’s signature and date written.
- Acknowledgement form (attached below).
- NOTE: All Letters MUST be received by February 28, 2008 via snail mail (no e-mailed letters will be read or accepted for consideration) to: 404 Capewood Rd., Simpsonville, SC, 29680
Author Acknowledgement
________ (initial) I have not received, nor shall I receive, any remuneration (pay, favors, gifts, etc.) for my decision to write a letter for Votre Vray or its publication A Year to Save My Life (working title, which may be changed by publisher).
________ (initial) I understand my name, city and state, and letter (in part or whole) may appear in print in Votre Vray publications, including http://www.votrevray.blogspot.com/, or in A Year to Save My Life (working title, which may be changed by publisher).
________ (initial) I also certify that everything that appears in my letter is true and my own original thoughts, ideas and writing.
Author’s Name (print) ___________________________________
Street Address: _________________________________________
City _________________ State _____ Zip/Postal Code ____________
Daytime Phone ( ) _____ - __________
E-mail: _______________________
Author’s Signature: ____________________________
Date: ___________________
A Year to Save My Life
Votre Vray – Your Truth, Your Way.
A Year to Save My Life
A Year to Save My Life is the working title for a memoir-in-progress by Mel. Edwards
The Good News:
Mel. Edwards, to the best of her knowledge, is not dying anytime soon.
The Reality:
She is, however, at a crossroads where she is trying to take back control of her physical and fiscal health, her mental and emotional strength and to allow her spiritual side to guide her life choices over her temperament.
About Mel:
Mel was born in Glens Falls, NY and has lived and worked in
A Year to Save My Life
A Year to Save My Life is the working title for a memoir-in-progress by Mel. Edwards
The Good News:
Mel. Edwards, to the best of her knowledge, is not dying anytime soon.
The Reality:
She is, however, at a crossroads where she is trying to take back control of her physical and fiscal health, her mental and emotional strength and to allow her spiritual side to guide her life choices over her temperament.
About Mel:
Mel was born in Glens Falls, NY and has lived and worked in
New York, Arizona, Montana, Tennessee, and, currently, in Greenville County, SC.
She is a happily married bunny mama (to Poppet and Foofer)
She is a happily married bunny mama (to Poppet and Foofer)
and is also a writer, professional storyteller, educator and has several creative hobbies.
PLEASE HELP !!!
Tell Votre Vray about your experiences in finding your “place” in the world!
Why you?
PLEASE HELP !!!
Tell Votre Vray about your experiences in finding your “place” in the world!
Why you?
Why not!?!
Mel. is an average, everyday American. She is the first person in her family history to go to college and to hold a professional certification. She owes a mortgage, credit card debt and student loans like many Americans. Although she’s a trained yoga teacher and has a strong personal spiritual faith, she’s still overweight, out of shape, unmotivated to exercise when she’s already worked a ten hour day (or more) and the girl just needs a hand up! Mel. knows for certain that she is not alone and she wants this memoir to be available to women who are in the same emotional, mental, spiritual and physical place.
Please see the Call for Letters for details and submit your 2¢ today! Who knows, you may get to see your name in print! Remember, every opinion counts and Mel can’t do it alone.
Thank you!
-Ms. Mel. Edwards
Mel. is an average, everyday American. She is the first person in her family history to go to college and to hold a professional certification. She owes a mortgage, credit card debt and student loans like many Americans. Although she’s a trained yoga teacher and has a strong personal spiritual faith, she’s still overweight, out of shape, unmotivated to exercise when she’s already worked a ten hour day (or more) and the girl just needs a hand up! Mel. knows for certain that she is not alone and she wants this memoir to be available to women who are in the same emotional, mental, spiritual and physical place.
Please see the Call for Letters for details and submit your 2¢ today! Who knows, you may get to see your name in print! Remember, every opinion counts and Mel can’t do it alone.
Thank you!
-Ms. Mel. Edwards
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Mel Enters Contest
Well, I just put together my envelope for another poetry contest. These entries will go to the Poetry Society of Virginia's Annual Adult Contest. ( No...not adult material, just written by adults, ladies and gentlemen.)
I won't know until April if any of my entries have won, but I'm excited to say I specifically created four new poems because of this contest, and revised/reworked three others. I have one other entry I didn't tinker with at all, but it is one of my favorites and I'm too love-struck to see any wrong in a work I love. Ah, the parenthood of poetry!
Unfortunately, contest rules prevent me from publishing any of the entries until the contest is over. I did sneak in one stanza from my villanelle, and hope that my choice to do so doesn't disqualify my entry.
Wish me luck --
and to all my readers, I hope you've have had a safe, healthy and happy holiday today.
-Ms. Mel.
I won't know until April if any of my entries have won, but I'm excited to say I specifically created four new poems because of this contest, and revised/reworked three others. I have one other entry I didn't tinker with at all, but it is one of my favorites and I'm too love-struck to see any wrong in a work I love. Ah, the parenthood of poetry!
Unfortunately, contest rules prevent me from publishing any of the entries until the contest is over. I did sneak in one stanza from my villanelle, and hope that my choice to do so doesn't disqualify my entry.
Wish me luck --
and to all my readers, I hope you've have had a safe, healthy and happy holiday today.
-Ms. Mel.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Poetry Villanelle
Students often do not know the forms and rules of poetry. This villanelle keeps to the rules of the form while also offering some instruction, a look into the life of a poet, and a heaping dose of fun.
A villanelle is nineteen lines long, 5 stanzas of three lines and the final with four lines. The rhyme is aba throughout and the first line of the first stanza and third line of the same stanza are repeated in set locations, as appears here.
I began this one last night and got up at 5 a.m. today to complete it. Believe it or not, for those of us who love to write, it is delightful to stay up late and then get up early to do our craft. (I'm sure my students would cry out that I'm a nut job for getting out of bed so early on our first day of holiday break just to write!)
I hope you enjoy the first stanza.
Poetry Villanelle
Upside down, dangling – me – hanging from the poet tree.
Hands do flit, grasp at sound. Toes? They tap the beat around.
I live cadence, lyric, free. Verse has meter? Joyous be.
[Remainder of Villanelle will appear after April, 2008, because it is in a contest and cannot be published until winners have been announced.]
A villanelle is nineteen lines long, 5 stanzas of three lines and the final with four lines. The rhyme is aba throughout and the first line of the first stanza and third line of the same stanza are repeated in set locations, as appears here.
I began this one last night and got up at 5 a.m. today to complete it. Believe it or not, for those of us who love to write, it is delightful to stay up late and then get up early to do our craft. (I'm sure my students would cry out that I'm a nut job for getting out of bed so early on our first day of holiday break just to write!)
I hope you enjoy the first stanza.
Poetry Villanelle
Upside down, dangling – me – hanging from the poet tree.
Hands do flit, grasp at sound. Toes? They tap the beat around.
I live cadence, lyric, free. Verse has meter? Joyous be.
[Remainder of Villanelle will appear after April, 2008, because it is in a contest and cannot be published until winners have been announced.]
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!
Today is the last day of classes before students and teachers get a two week break from each other. All I can see in that unending little filmstrim in my head is the office supply commercial when the father is happily filling a large cart with back-to-school supplies and his son and daughter are standing there dumbfounded and disgusted. In the background is the song "Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!" as dad whizzes by riding the back of the cart with a grin on his face. That is the way all teachers and students feel today...and I bet there are more than a few parents feel like the kids in that commercial.
I wish all my students and colleagues a safe, peaceful and blessed holiday season. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year with renewed virve to get the job we must do, done.
I wish all my students and colleagues a safe, peaceful and blessed holiday season. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year with renewed virve to get the job we must do, done.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The Changeling
I often get my students to write their journal entries based upon pictures I've taped all over the walls of my classroom. One picture was of a cute baby but the florescent lighting of the room made her eyes look dark and sinister. As a result, I though we needed and "evil baby" story. So, I began this in class and shared it with my students. I promise I'll complete it one day and enter it in a short story contest. (When I get the time. Really.)
Kenzie, albeit with new teeth and the ability to walk and talk like a child way beyond her years, was normal as can be for the rest of the day and every day after that for a full week. The problem happened at night. Somehow, between the hours of ten p.m. and 5 a.m. she transformed or adapted to her surroundings in a way that any normal human child would not. The second day yielded another leg ringed like the a ‘coon’s tail. The third morning she woke with points to the top of her ears like an elf. On fourth she could jump up on the roof in a single bound. By the fifth, much to her parents’ dismay, she looked like a kindergarten aged child. On the sixth, she could run a three minute mile.
Her parents didn’t want the seventh day to come. But come it did, and on that day, miraculously, nothing changed.
“Even the Lord took the seventh day off,” Angelo joked.
Keisha didn’t bother to snap back. Tears welled up and she just shook her head. This was not the family they’d planned for.
Late on the seventh day, a stranger came to the door. She was a round little woman who spoke with a Celtic lilt. “Good day, dear ones. It has come to my attention that perhaps you may need my assistance.”
Angelo didn’t know what the woman was speaking of.
“You do have a changeling for a bairn, don’t you?” the lady inquired.
Angelo didn’t ask how she knew. At this point, he figured Jesus, Mary and Joseph were bound to knock on the door next. He just nodded and stepped back from the door letting the woman enter.
“Ms?”
“Slainte.”
“Ms. Slainte, we are at odds.”
“As any normal family would be. Donna fash yourself, lad. I will tell you how to catch the Good Fellows behind this mischief and all will be well.”
“Good Fellows?”
“Aye. The faeirefolk is what you’d be callin’ ‘em. They’ve snatched your wee one and put a changeling in her spot.”
Keisha had entered the room just in time to hear the visitor’s explanation for her daughter’s myseterious transformation. “What? Where is our baby? We must save her!”
“Aye. If you follow my instructions you will. Don’t get your knickers in a knot just yet, Missus. If you do as you must, your girlie will be jus’ fine. More likely than not, she’s sleeping peacefully in the hall of the Elfin king. When she wakes, she’ll be in her own bed, none the wiser.”
“We’ll do whatever you say,” answered Keisha.
Angelo nodded but remained mum.
“Good. Then let us be started.”
END OF CHAPTER ONE
Kenzie, albeit with new teeth and the ability to walk and talk like a child way beyond her years, was normal as can be for the rest of the day and every day after that for a full week. The problem happened at night. Somehow, between the hours of ten p.m. and 5 a.m. she transformed or adapted to her surroundings in a way that any normal human child would not. The second day yielded another leg ringed like the a ‘coon’s tail. The third morning she woke with points to the top of her ears like an elf. On fourth she could jump up on the roof in a single bound. By the fifth, much to her parents’ dismay, she looked like a kindergarten aged child. On the sixth, she could run a three minute mile.
Her parents didn’t want the seventh day to come. But come it did, and on that day, miraculously, nothing changed.
“Even the Lord took the seventh day off,” Angelo joked.
Keisha didn’t bother to snap back. Tears welled up and she just shook her head. This was not the family they’d planned for.
Late on the seventh day, a stranger came to the door. She was a round little woman who spoke with a Celtic lilt. “Good day, dear ones. It has come to my attention that perhaps you may need my assistance.”
Angelo didn’t know what the woman was speaking of.
“You do have a changeling for a bairn, don’t you?” the lady inquired.
Angelo didn’t ask how she knew. At this point, he figured Jesus, Mary and Joseph were bound to knock on the door next. He just nodded and stepped back from the door letting the woman enter.
“Ms?”
“Slainte.”
“Ms. Slainte, we are at odds.”
“As any normal family would be. Donna fash yourself, lad. I will tell you how to catch the Good Fellows behind this mischief and all will be well.”
“Good Fellows?”
“Aye. The faeirefolk is what you’d be callin’ ‘em. They’ve snatched your wee one and put a changeling in her spot.”
Keisha had entered the room just in time to hear the visitor’s explanation for her daughter’s myseterious transformation. “What? Where is our baby? We must save her!”
“Aye. If you follow my instructions you will. Don’t get your knickers in a knot just yet, Missus. If you do as you must, your girlie will be jus’ fine. More likely than not, she’s sleeping peacefully in the hall of the Elfin king. When she wakes, she’ll be in her own bed, none the wiser.”
“We’ll do whatever you say,” answered Keisha.
Angelo nodded but remained mum.
“Good. Then let us be started.”
END OF CHAPTER ONE
Soldier's Wife
Not to long ago, I had a beau who was into medieval reinactments and the SCA. He had a lovely hand-made suit of armor and was going to an event where he and his friends were going to spar in a tavern. He asked me to go along to take pictures for their SCA website. When his time came to spar he got hit hard in the shoulder, and it dislocated, unexpectedly and painfully. Now, imagine us -- he at 6'2" tall, and I'm only 5' tall. I drove a Geo Metro at and had to gingerly get him into my car and take him to the ER while his armor was still on. This is a song/poem that I created after the event. (If you're wondering, he and I had already broken up when this happened, but remained friends, and he does enjoy the song.)
Soldier’s Wife
I was a lonely maiden
sitting by a lily pad
hoping and a prayin’
that I’d find a lad.
Along came a fella
in a suit of green
saying, “I promise you if you kiss me dear,
I’ll treat you like the queen.”
I didn’t stop to ponder,
for I found it grand,
to be living as a wealthy lass,
ruling my own land.
But it didn’t take Culloden,
or the Foggy Dew
to have me trompin’ through the field
pickin’ up after you.
On the morn you met your foe
you raised your mighty sword
your shoulder jumped its faulty ship
and then you cursed, “Dear Lord!”
The surgeon pumped you full of juice
and popped that bugger in,
but to care for you for a month or two,
that would do me in.
Aye, to care for you for a month or two,
THAT would do me in.
As a lowly soldier’s wife,
things may turn out so.
I’ve packed me bags and to the hills
tomorrow I must go.
Advice to all young lassies,
before I hit the road:
Sometimes a man may be a prince
but a frog is still a toad.
Aye, sometimes a man may be a prince,
but a frog is still a toad.
Soldier’s Wife
I was a lonely maiden
sitting by a lily pad
hoping and a prayin’
that I’d find a lad.
Along came a fella
in a suit of green
saying, “I promise you if you kiss me dear,
I’ll treat you like the queen.”
I didn’t stop to ponder,
for I found it grand,
to be living as a wealthy lass,
ruling my own land.
But it didn’t take Culloden,
or the Foggy Dew
to have me trompin’ through the field
pickin’ up after you.
On the morn you met your foe
you raised your mighty sword
your shoulder jumped its faulty ship
and then you cursed, “Dear Lord!”
The surgeon pumped you full of juice
and popped that bugger in,
but to care for you for a month or two,
that would do me in.
Aye, to care for you for a month or two,
THAT would do me in.
As a lowly soldier’s wife,
things may turn out so.
I’ve packed me bags and to the hills
tomorrow I must go.
Advice to all young lassies,
before I hit the road:
Sometimes a man may be a prince
but a frog is still a toad.
Aye, sometimes a man may be a prince,
but a frog is still a toad.
Remember
One of my long-time friends was my Dine neighbor in Flagstaff, Arizona. I helped her with her three sons when I could as we were both single and I love children. Her middle child was always very bright and advanced in school. Unfortunately, he crossed over unexpectedly this year. This haiku was written in rememberance of this young man, who would have been eighteen this year.
Remember
Snow in the desert.
Unexpected enigma.
Gone from sight – not heart.
Remember
Snow in the desert.
Unexpected enigma.
Gone from sight – not heart.
Fortune Teller
I have a long-time friend who is able to see things that most of us cannot. For years I went to her for a reading -- mostly because I wanted to know if whomever I was dating was "the one" so this poem is actually a song I wrote for Peggy. I sing this in storytelling events and will have it for sale on iTales.com very soon.
Fortune Teller
“Peggy, oh Peggy, please take this ring.
Tell of my future and what it may bring,
For I am still searchin’ for one love so true;
He’s not come. What shall I do?”
Liam, my fair lad, with curls all in gold.
Will you be my son, before I am old?
Babe, I dreamed of you somehow.
Go fetch your father. Find him now.
Guardian angels and loved ones dear,
Whisper the answer so I may hear.
Come to me in dark of night.
Tell me the secret. Make it right.
Johnny – or Willy – whoever you are,
Wishin’ for me on this mornin’s star,
I’m spinning my wool, here in my home –
As a good wife I shall not roam.
Peggy, oh Peggy, please take this ring
Tell of my future and what it may bring.
I am beggin’ ye Peggy and G-d above,
Fortune be mine with blessings of love.
Fortune Teller
“Peggy, oh Peggy, please take this ring.
Tell of my future and what it may bring,
For I am still searchin’ for one love so true;
He’s not come. What shall I do?”
Liam, my fair lad, with curls all in gold.
Will you be my son, before I am old?
Babe, I dreamed of you somehow.
Go fetch your father. Find him now.
Guardian angels and loved ones dear,
Whisper the answer so I may hear.
Come to me in dark of night.
Tell me the secret. Make it right.
Johnny – or Willy – whoever you are,
Wishin’ for me on this mornin’s star,
I’m spinning my wool, here in my home –
As a good wife I shall not roam.
Peggy, oh Peggy, please take this ring
Tell of my future and what it may bring.
I am beggin’ ye Peggy and G-d above,
Fortune be mine with blessings of love.
Divine Light
This poem was truly written when I was going out for Sunday breakfast. I do a great deal of writing in my head as I drive. Luckily I've never been in a collision. I just say the words aloud to myself over and over until I have a rhythm and a few phrases I can remember. Then, whenever and wherever I stop, I write like made to get the basics down. I carry a journal in my purse that has a cover like an old pulp novel and have more notebooks and journals at home than I can count. A version of this poem is being entered in a sacred poetry contest this month. Wish me luck!
Divine Light
As I crested a hill
the morning sun filled my mirrors
and momentarily blinded me
from looking back
or even forward.
Awash in warm light
I felt
Divine
acknowledgement
and acceptance
for my journey.
My shadow
could not reach me.
Fear was
vanquished.
Oh, if all journeys were so blessed!
Too bad…
I was only driving
for Sunday morning
donuts.
Divine Light
As I crested a hill
the morning sun filled my mirrors
and momentarily blinded me
from looking back
or even forward.
Awash in warm light
I felt
Divine
acknowledgement
and acceptance
for my journey.
My shadow
could not reach me.
Fear was
vanquished.
Oh, if all journeys were so blessed!
Too bad…
I was only driving
for Sunday morning
donuts.
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Vow
Before you make those New Year's resolutions and promises...perhaps you might want to reflect upon how you did this year.
"The Vow"
gulls on december fifteenth
skim the opaque sky of
suburban shopping centers
and cry their banshee death knell:
this year…
this year…
this…
year.
another sacred vow broken
to yourself, by your self
of your
self.
three hundred fifty days
intentions failed to save.
on thanksgiving a tinge of
guilt visited
and overstayed its welcome.
next year.
next year…
next…
year.
"The Vow"
gulls on december fifteenth
skim the opaque sky of
suburban shopping centers
and cry their banshee death knell:
this year…
this year…
this…
year.
another sacred vow broken
to yourself, by your self
of your
self.
three hundred fifty days
intentions failed to save.
on thanksgiving a tinge of
guilt visited
and overstayed its welcome.
next year.
next year…
next…
year.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
To Do List
Ariel Gore says that a woman never finishes her to-do list. Therefore, I've decided to rearrange my list a bit. The last item will always be the same: to die. That way, I'll live forever, or at least as long as I want to and rearrange my list. Here's hoping the Master of the Universe agrees!
To Do in the Next 6 months:
1. Survive the last three days of school before winter break with finesse.
2. Over break I will: a. Finish knitting at least one item in my UFO cradle (yes, my knitting is in a doll cradle that I've had since I was a kid); b. Type of my dozen or so poems I've written this month; c. Work on finishing the half bath in the basement.
3. Take a bubble bath
4. Watch a movie or read a book for the fun of it -- not for what it will teach me.
5. Send off a poem to a contest.
6. Do at least one other thing on my home-improvement list on my fridge.
7. Record some of my stories and songs.
8. Put our house on the market (Approx. 1100 sq ft, 3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, bonus room, new paint, new carpet, new fridge, new stove, used washer/new dryer and tons of little remodeling extras, .33 acres in quiet neighborhood close to I-385 and shopping, little ones can walk to elementary school all for $104,700).
9. Pay off our credit card debit
10. Finish (and pass with flying colors) my National Board certification portfolio and test.
11. Take the Principals of Learning test for middle grades (because some government yahoo says this test will prove I know the same stuff I needed to know to be certified to teach grades 7-12 but that certification will be obsolete very soon)
12. Get a body like Angelina Jolie
13. Write a best seller and get a big fat advance.
14. Write my will -- just in case.
15. Die.
See? It is that simple, I am very UNlikely to do #12 mostly due to lack of effort, and partially linked to genetics. #13 isn't very likely either since I teach all day and #10 and #11 will consume most of my non-teaching hours through the end of the school year. #14, if I get that done, I certainly can live for a very long time because the Reaper only visits those who are sick, old, and not prepared. Ha! I've got it sussed! I am immortal!!! (At least for the next six months...)
To Do in the Next 6 months:
1. Survive the last three days of school before winter break with finesse.
2. Over break I will: a. Finish knitting at least one item in my UFO cradle (yes, my knitting is in a doll cradle that I've had since I was a kid); b. Type of my dozen or so poems I've written this month; c. Work on finishing the half bath in the basement.
3. Take a bubble bath
4. Watch a movie or read a book for the fun of it -- not for what it will teach me.
5. Send off a poem to a contest.
6. Do at least one other thing on my home-improvement list on my fridge.
7. Record some of my stories and songs.
8. Put our house on the market (Approx. 1100 sq ft, 3 BR, 1 1/2 BA, bonus room, new paint, new carpet, new fridge, new stove, used washer/new dryer and tons of little remodeling extras, .33 acres in quiet neighborhood close to I-385 and shopping, little ones can walk to elementary school all for $104,700).
9. Pay off our credit card debit
10. Finish (and pass with flying colors) my National Board certification portfolio and test.
11. Take the Principals of Learning test for middle grades (because some government yahoo says this test will prove I know the same stuff I needed to know to be certified to teach grades 7-12 but that certification will be obsolete very soon)
12. Get a body like Angelina Jolie
13. Write a best seller and get a big fat advance.
14. Write my will -- just in case.
15. Die.
See? It is that simple, I am very UNlikely to do #12 mostly due to lack of effort, and partially linked to genetics. #13 isn't very likely either since I teach all day and #10 and #11 will consume most of my non-teaching hours through the end of the school year. #14, if I get that done, I certainly can live for a very long time because the Reaper only visits those who are sick, old, and not prepared. Ha! I've got it sussed! I am immortal!!! (At least for the next six months...)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Our World and Balance
Alliteration, consonance and assonance are often new concepts to writers. Here are two pieces from 20+ years ago that I share to get students thinking about telling their opinion about an event or object using some of these literary devices. (Yes, I was a typical teen who thought the world would go to hell in a handbasket before I ever reached 21 if the adults kept running things as they had been...so this work shows that sentiment.)
Our World
Ticking Time, Changing Children;
People are purposefully paranoid through
Wild war. Stealing Secrets.
Painfully persecuted people
clicking clocks. Terrified Teens
spinning in Circular Synchronicity.
Looking lifeless, Feeling Frightened –
searching for a silent sanity.
Prostitutes prosecuting possible
plagiaristic paralegals!
And SUDDENLY a scream is
Squealing through their simple minds,
then….
THEN….
nothing.
********************
Balance
Tossing, turning, twisting, twirling –
My mind spins a bit more each day.
Problems, people politics ---
Never go away.
Singing, dancing, smiling --
Learning to play.
Ability to do so is a gift,
Some they say.
Being able to cope is a feat
of present and past.
No matter,
In this world,
If you are first ---
Or last.
(Written as Melissa A. Bentley, 1986.)
Our World
Ticking Time, Changing Children;
People are purposefully paranoid through
Wild war. Stealing Secrets.
Painfully persecuted people
clicking clocks. Terrified Teens
spinning in Circular Synchronicity.
Looking lifeless, Feeling Frightened –
searching for a silent sanity.
Prostitutes prosecuting possible
plagiaristic paralegals!
And SUDDENLY a scream is
Squealing through their simple minds,
then….
THEN….
nothing.
********************
Balance
Tossing, turning, twisting, twirling –
My mind spins a bit more each day.
Problems, people politics ---
Never go away.
Singing, dancing, smiling --
Learning to play.
Ability to do so is a gift,
Some they say.
Being able to cope is a feat
of present and past.
No matter,
In this world,
If you are first ---
Or last.
(Written as Melissa A. Bentley, 1986.)
Nursery Rhyme
Students often do not know where to begin when writing. I show them this piece, written over 20 years ago, that began with a nursery rhyme. Then, encourage students to begin with a song or phrase from somewhere else as their jumping off point for whatever comment they're focusing upon that day.
Nursery Rhyme
Sing a song of no pence.
Pocket full of lint.
Nine-to-five on weekdays.
Glasses? Rosey tint.
When the lenses were broken,
the weens began to cry,
feeling they were born to
Earth,
only to slowly die.
(Written by Melissa A. Bentley 1986)
Nursery Rhyme
Sing a song of no pence.
Pocket full of lint.
Nine-to-five on weekdays.
Glasses? Rosey tint.
When the lenses were broken,
the weens began to cry,
feeling they were born to
Earth,
only to slowly die.
(Written by Melissa A. Bentley 1986)
Allow Me to Introduce Myself...
When I first appear on stage, in front of a new class, at a workshop or anywhere people don't know me very well, I begin with my no-nonsense introduction. It usually makes a few people laugh and then the joyous adventure begins! Ta-da!
I’m sassy, classy,
smart and free.
I see you and you see me.
I’m here
and now
I state my fact:
Story girl’s
been there,
done that!
I’m sassy, classy,
smart and free.
I see you and you see me.
I’m here
and now
I state my fact:
Story girl’s
been there,
done that!
Mantras
I often wonder why I never get anything new posted on my blog and why my rhetoric seems so repetitive and tired after a day of teaching. So, one day I decided to write a list of all the things I say or think at least six times per day (and often more than that per hour). See if anything here sounds familiar to you.
Good morning.
Good day.
You’re late.
Where’s your pencil? Your paper?
Mind your own business.
Hands to yourself.
Get to work.
Be nice- even I fit hurts.
Make wise choices.
Open your notebooks (and your minds, please).
Shhh…
I’m waiting.
Focus.
This is how it is done.
See?
Believe.
Try it.
You CAN do it.
Line up silently.
Quiet in the hall…or we’re going back.
Do something productive (related to this class).
Eyes on your own paper, and good luck!
Breathe. Don’t stop now.
Happy Friday.
Don’t make your other teachers crazy.
Good-bye.
(G-d help us all.)
Good morning.
Good day.
You’re late.
Where’s your pencil? Your paper?
Mind your own business.
Hands to yourself.
Get to work.
Be nice- even I fit hurts.
Make wise choices.
Open your notebooks (and your minds, please).
Shhh…
I’m waiting.
Focus.
This is how it is done.
See?
Believe.
Try it.
You CAN do it.
Line up silently.
Quiet in the hall…or we’re going back.
Do something productive (related to this class).
Eyes on your own paper, and good luck!
Breathe. Don’t stop now.
Happy Friday.
Don’t make your other teachers crazy.
Good-bye.
(G-d help us all.)
Maiden’s Choice
This is a poem one of my colleagues really likes that I wrote several years ago. I keep telling her I want to toss it away and she implores me to keep it. I doubt I'll ever publish it elsewhere, so for Maisie...here is "Maiden's Choice"
Eye- yigh, yigh, yigh, y- yigh, yigh
Eye- yigh, yigh, yigh
Eye, yigh, yigh, yi- igh, yigh
Eye, yigh, yigh yigh
Michael stands unto my right;
a darker one - the left.
As shapes form in this holy night
My heart, it gets no rest.
Me mother says that in each life
some rain is bound to fall.
But to walk this world, as Lot’s wife
can make a young girl crawl.
Where are you my lovely man?
Do you have another fair?
How I ache for your gentle hand
as I wait upon the stair.
Are you ill or gone from here
to meet our Savior, Lord?
Have you gone, out drinking, dear,
because you were so bored?
My mind, it is within a trance.
I think of what ma-ay be.
This once I took an awful chance
What has it now brought me?
“It brought to you, one man’s love.
It gave you cause to care.
But you cannot cage a wild dove
and keep it from the air.”
“Turn, pale faced, up toward the sun
and let the moon be-e past.”
Michael said, “My little one,
This first will be your last.”
The demon left my other side.
He fled into the deep.
“I vow to live,” my soul, it cried.
“Run my doubt, and sleep.”
“That was many years ago,
My man, I tell thee true.
An angel helped my heart to grow
And kept me here with you.”
Eye- yigh, yigh, yigh, y- yigh, yigh
Eye- yigh, yigh, yigh
Eye, yigh, yigh, yi- igh, yigh
Eye, yigh, yigh yigh
Michael stands unto my right;
a darker one - the left.
As shapes form in this holy night
My heart, it gets no rest.
Me mother says that in each life
some rain is bound to fall.
But to walk this world, as Lot’s wife
can make a young girl crawl.
Where are you my lovely man?
Do you have another fair?
How I ache for your gentle hand
as I wait upon the stair.
Are you ill or gone from here
to meet our Savior, Lord?
Have you gone, out drinking, dear,
because you were so bored?
My mind, it is within a trance.
I think of what ma-ay be.
This once I took an awful chance
What has it now brought me?
“It brought to you, one man’s love.
It gave you cause to care.
But you cannot cage a wild dove
and keep it from the air.”
“Turn, pale faced, up toward the sun
and let the moon be-e past.”
Michael said, “My little one,
This first will be your last.”
The demon left my other side.
He fled into the deep.
“I vow to live,” my soul, it cried.
“Run my doubt, and sleep.”
“That was many years ago,
My man, I tell thee true.
An angel helped my heart to grow
And kept me here with you.”
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Mel Edwards Wins National Storytelling Network Scholarship!!
PRESS RELEASE
Mel Edwards, educator, consultant and storyteller, is one of the selected scholarship recipients for the National Storytelling Network 2007 Conference. The conference will be held in St. Louis, July 12- 15 at Sheraton Hotels Westport and is entitled Reflecting Our Past, Creating Your Future.
Mel earned her master's degree in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University in 2006 and plans to become a full-time professional storyteller in the future. Attending this conference is a logical next step for her to learn more about the business end of storytelling and make new connections with others in the field.
Mel has been a member of National Storytelling Network for several years and in 2005 won a grant through the organization that allowed her to complete her master's thesis, entitled Laughing in the Shadow: The Role of Humor in Ghost Storytelling. The thesis has been published through the electronic database at ETSU and is available online in pdf format for the general public.
Mel currently lives in Simpsonville, SC with her husband, Brandon, and their pet rabbits, Poppet and Foofer. Mel is also a teacher for Greenville County School District and ITT Technical Institute of Greenville.
Mel Edwards, educator, consultant and storyteller, is one of the selected scholarship recipients for the National Storytelling Network 2007 Conference. The conference will be held in St. Louis, July 12- 15 at Sheraton Hotels Westport and is entitled Reflecting Our Past, Creating Your Future.
Mel earned her master's degree in Storytelling from East Tennessee State University in 2006 and plans to become a full-time professional storyteller in the future. Attending this conference is a logical next step for her to learn more about the business end of storytelling and make new connections with others in the field.
Mel has been a member of National Storytelling Network for several years and in 2005 won a grant through the organization that allowed her to complete her master's thesis, entitled Laughing in the Shadow: The Role of Humor in Ghost Storytelling. The thesis has been published through the electronic database at ETSU and is available online in pdf format for the general public.
Mel currently lives in Simpsonville, SC with her husband, Brandon, and their pet rabbits, Poppet and Foofer. Mel is also a teacher for Greenville County School District and ITT Technical Institute of Greenville.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Role of Humor in Story Telling
Laughing in the Shadow: The Role of Humor in Ghost Story Telling -
A Master's Thesis partially funded by National Storytelling Network, is now available online and to electronic thesis search engines world-wide.
Completed at East Tennessee State Unversity, the thesis is available as a .pdf ETSU's Sherrod library via their website.
Readers who go to the Sherrod website can search electronic thesis for the keyword: Shadow and will receive the following brief listing of the work:
Database: EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Main Author: Bentley-Edwards, Melissa Ann.
Title: Laughing in the Shadow: The Role of Humor in Ghost Story Telling [electronic resource] /
Publisher: [Johnson City, Tenn. : East Tennessee State University], 2006.
Description: Electronic data (1 file).
Includes: Computer File
This listing includes a direct Link to Resource: Adobe Acrobat .pdf file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
A Master's Thesis partially funded by National Storytelling Network, is now available online and to electronic thesis search engines world-wide.
Completed at East Tennessee State Unversity, the thesis is available as a .pdf ETSU's Sherrod library via their website.
Readers who go to the Sherrod website can search electronic thesis for the keyword: Shadow and will receive the following brief listing of the work:
Database: EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Main Author: Bentley-Edwards, Melissa Ann.
Title: Laughing in the Shadow: The Role of Humor in Ghost Story Telling [electronic resource] /
Publisher: [Johnson City, Tenn. : East Tennessee State University], 2006.
Description: Electronic data (1 file).
Includes: Computer File
This listing includes a direct Link to Resource: Adobe Acrobat .pdf file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
Votre Vray Workshops Set
Votre Vray: Your Truth Through Story
Directed by Mel Edwards, Educational Consultant and Storyteller.
For more details visit www.VotreVray.com
Workshop Dates and Areas:
Monday, November 6th from 6-9 p.m., Greenville, SC
Saturday, January 20th from 9 a.m.-noon, Greenville, SC
3 Day Event: March 30, 31, and April 1st, Greenville, SC
Workshop Fees:
3-Hour Workshop Prices: $25 per person, 20 person maximum.
3 Day Event Price TBA October 1st, 2006.
Directed by Mel Edwards, Educational Consultant and Storyteller.
For more details visit www.VotreVray.com
Workshop Dates and Areas:
Monday, November 6th from 6-9 p.m., Greenville, SC
Saturday, January 20th from 9 a.m.-noon, Greenville, SC
3 Day Event: March 30, 31, and April 1st, Greenville, SC
Workshop Fees:
3-Hour Workshop Prices: $25 per person, 20 person maximum.
3 Day Event Price TBA October 1st, 2006.
Votre Vray
WWW. VotreVray.COM LAUNCHED!
In French, votre is used for “your” and vrai means “true” or “truth.” The focus of Votre Vray is to promote the personal and professional success of the "underdogs" who have found thier life path. Votre Vray shares their stories in their own words -- their truth.
How does one discover her or his truth? By paying attention to her or his life path, messages, interests...and more. Once discovered, life becomes much easier, even if a person cannot make immediate changes to follow her life path. Therefore, we use the tag line:
Perception is Everything.
Until then, if you hear of someone’s triumphs to become successful while following their own truth, please do not hesitate to give them this web address. We'd love to assist them in telling their tales.
In French, votre is used for “your” and vrai means “true” or “truth.” The focus of Votre Vray is to promote the personal and professional success of the "underdogs" who have found thier life path. Votre Vray shares their stories in their own words -- their truth.
How does one discover her or his truth? By paying attention to her or his life path, messages, interests...and more. Once discovered, life becomes much easier, even if a person cannot make immediate changes to follow her life path. Therefore, we use the tag line:
Perception is Everything.
Until then, if you hear of someone’s triumphs to become successful while following their own truth, please do not hesitate to give them this web address. We'd love to assist them in telling their tales.
Monday, June 12, 2006
How true some of this is!
| You Are a Newborn Soul |
 You are tolerant, accepting, and willing to give anyone a chance. On the flip side, you're easy to read and easily influenced by others. You have a fresh perspective on life, and you can be very creative. Noconformist and nontraditional, you've never met anyone who's like you. Inventive and artistic, you like to be a trendsetter. You have an upbeat spirit and you like almost everything. You make friends easily and often have long standing friendships. Implusive and trusting, you fall in love a little too easily. Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul |
Is my M.A. in Storytelling close enough?
| You Should Get a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) |
 You're a blooming artistic talent, even if you aren't quite convinced. You'd make an incredible artist, photographer, or film maker. |
Career Confirmation for Storytellers!
| Your Career Type: Artistic |
 You are expressive, original, and independent. Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary. |
If I had just known Jim Henson...
| You Are Kermit |
 Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies! |
I am Sunrise
| You Are Sunrise |
 You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be. |
Monday, April 24, 2006
This Day in My Life - June 29, 2004 - dairy contributor
Spring of 2004 I received a once-in-a-lifetime invitation from a book editor to be one of about 500 women in America to keep a diary for one day. That day was to be June 29th - a Tuesday - because apparently Tuesday are as dull as our days tend to ever get. Seriously though, Tuesdays rarely have out-of-the-ordinary events occur on them. So it was set.
Below is my diary from that day. I had to wait until after the book arrived on shelves to print what I wrote. I have, I believe, two whole sentences in the actual book. Nevertheless, if you want to know how we girlies think the book is a great place to start. My day diary is just full of my normal silliness, and is sure to convince the President that I am full of attitude but not smart enough, or organized enough, to be a threat to anyone save myself. (Rest assured W, the world is safe from me!)
Oh! Forgot to tell you the book title: This Day in the Life: Diaries from Women Across America. Details can be found at: www.thisdayinthelife.com and is in stores now. Pick up a copy and welcome to our world!
-Mel. Edwards
*************************************************
June 29th 2004 – TADAAAA! The Big Day has arrived.
**************************************************
1:30 a.m. Woke up to pee. I wonder if I went to bed too early (8: 30 p.m.) and hope I will sleep until the alarm goes off.
5 a.m. Alarm off. Hubby getting up. I’m a slug. After a month of sleeping in with no alarms, it’s time to get on track. By WHY today? Can’t we do this tomorrow? No. Didn’t think so.
5:05 a.m. I’m up. Bed is made. Bunny (yes, a real rabbit – a German angora cross) is up. (Her name is Poppet.) Morning bun-bun! Boy, are you ready to run around or what? Glad one of us is awake. Let mama pee and I’m all yours.
5:20 a.m. The bunny has run around the bathroom while I cleaned her 3’ long cage. As far as bunnies go, I suppose the cage is palatial, but she deserves it. She brings so much joy to our lives. I discovered she didn’t pee where I laid out shredded newspaper for nesting. Wish I learned that weeks ago when we got her. It would have saved a lot of work. Oh well. I’m learning, bun-bun. Mama is learning. Give me time.
5:35 a.m. Driving with hubby to work. He’s driving there and then I have my truck for the day. I look like such a redneck this morning. I just put my hair in a messy ponytail pulled jeans and hiking boots on with my nightshirt, which is actually a men’s gray undershirt. I haven’t even put on my wedding band yet. (Can’t sleep with it on because my fingers swell at night and when I wake it feels like a tourniquet.) Oh well. Kissed hubby good-bye, handed him his lunch bag and drove off. Today I’m being wild and going to buy some mammoth muffins. Gotta go to the ATM first, though.
6:25 a.m. Home again. Bought three muffins, one for this morning and one for hubby and me for tomorrow morning. Yummy! Tried to stop at the local bakery but they don’t open until 7 a.m. Rats. I love bakeries. Not just for eating their wares. I love to bake. I’m a frustrated pastry chef in-the-making, I guess.
6:45 a.m. Just checked e-mail. Got a note back from King Arthur Flour. I’d e-mailed and told them how much I loved their cookbook and what I had already made from it. One of the owner-operators wrote back and said thanks and that their goal was to educate cooks in the home (as opposed to chefs). She also said she’d share it with the rest of the company. That made my day. The Internet is so cool! I can write to company exec’s and get a note back within 24 hours! How neat is that?!
Got an e-mail from a storytelling pal who is compiling a list of love stories. I wrote up summaries of Little Mermaid (the Hans Christian Anderson version), Tam Lin, Psyche and Eros, Pygmalion, plus Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell and sent them her way yesterday. Now she needs my sources. Ooops. As an English teacher, and storyteller, I should have known to get them to her immediately. I have to do that next.
But right now I’ll read the rest of the storytelling list serve messages, enjoy my English toffee flavored coffee and the rest of my banana nut muffin. I’ve been up nearly 2 hours already and accomplished so little. It’s no wonder my master’s thesis isn’t done yet.
7:24 a.m. I just finished 50 messages from Socknitters (a list serve for people who knit socks). Found a handful of answers to a question I posted yesterday about making socks out of cotton yarn (as I usually knit with wool and prefer wool I’ve spun to commercially spun yarn). I knit because I like it and spin yarn on a spinning wheel, like in the fairy tales, but I can’t spin gold (darn it all) and no little strange men are asking for my firstborn. (Which is good since I’m sterile.) Anyway, I still must shower! Time to go!
8:16 a.m. Whew! I’ve been up three hours now and still haven’t started on my thesis. It’s not looking promising, either. Anyway, the shower is done and my hair is set. Yes, in rollers. The ugly foam kind. Most women won’t admit it, but it’s a heck of a lot of work trying to look nice. If anyone thinks looking good isn’t work, they’re wrong. So many movie stars are butt ugly without make-up and their hair done up but still, countless women and men think they should just look great when they roll out of bed. Bullplucky! It ain’t gonna happen. Ever. I know, my head shots for storytelling are gorgeous. That photographer is a magician. Each year I show them to my students and each time one of the little angels blurts out, “That’s you?! You look like a model,” and then they look at my face, then the picture, then my face, until I finally say, “It’s just good make-up, honey. With good make-up and a great photographer we can all look like that.”
The secretary at school just called to ask a few questions. It seems the boss (principal) is gone until Thursday. I just may run up there and check things out. (No, not with the rollers in, and probably not today.) I’d like to see Cheryl, the boss, but it doesn’t seem like it will happen too soon. The secretary is a gem. I love her already. I can’t wait to start there, though I haven’t planned a thing yet. I guess I have a month, but the Virgo in me hates being unprepared. I just hope I love it there as much as I think I will. Starting a new school is just as stressful for teachers as it is for kids. Maybe even more so.
The dishwasher is running. Had to change the paper in the rabbit cage. It seems I didn’t secure her water bottle well enough and about 4 oz soaked the paper. Drats! [I’m trying not to swear. If I do it at home it might inadvertently slip out at school. Though my big laugh for last week was the news report that Cheney said the F-word at Patrick Leahy. Leahy is a distant, shirttail relation of my father’s. If my father’s family’s temperament is any indication as to Leahy’s, I can see why someone might sling the F-word in the direction. They’re all bull-headed but funny! Listening to my grandmother and her son, my uncle, go at it as I grew up was like the lines from “Grumpy Old Men.” They’d fuss and grumble but in the end, they all really love each other. I so miss my grandma. She was a knitter. I should have learned from her but never got around to it when I was home. I taught myself from a book. Still, I have the last pair of mittens she ever made me in my trunk and dad gave me her knitting needles. I looked at the needles two weeks ago and noticed two pair came from the same county I’ll be teaching in. Some people think objects can make you change your direction in life. For example, one friend wanted red dirt from Arizona when I lived there. She said she’d always wanted to go and heard if you had dirt from a place that your life would take you there. So, perhaps the needles brought me here. Of course, it all could be a bunch of hooey.]
Okay, did I get off track or what? Time to do my citations for Jackie before the copyright police hunt us down. LOL!
9:30 a.m. Just got the citations done and took time to check e-mail. A woman on Socknitters wants to learn how to spin yarn with a hand spindle but has no one to teach her. I wrote what I could and told her I’d look for a website. I really don’t think I’ll get a darned thing done on my thesis today. If my body were as busy as my head I’d weigh 70 lbs soaking wet. No wonder I get mentally drained!
Dinner…I know it’s not even 10 a.m. but Brandon will be ready for dinner when he comes home around 3 p.m. Ooops. I forgot, I have to pick him up today. I’ve got the truck. It’s my truck but it has a/c and his car doesn’t, so he takes it to work when I’m home working on my thesis – or whatever it is I manage to waste the hours doing each day. Maybe I can talk him into taking me out to eat tonight. If I get my hair and make-up done and dress like a real girl (dress, hose, shoes) instead of a redneck (T-shirt, jeans, hiking boots), he might even be extra glad to come home. He loves me no matter how I look but we both smile more when I take the time to go the extra mile, and since it is summer vacation for me, I certainly can afford the effort.
10 a.m. Okay, I at least e-mail my thesis advisors. That’s a start. I also had to take time to respond to a list member on how to unsubscribe. I think it’s funny out of all the members out there that she wrote to me. I don’t know her and I know she doesn’t know me. Hmmmm. There must be something psychological about whom we feel safe asking those kinds of questions.
The alarm clock just went off. I set it so I could turn on the local oldies station. Each day they have an hour where they’ll play a certain song. If you’re the 6th caller you get $500! No, I’ve never gotten it to ring even once, but I remain optimistic. If I win I suppose I’ll have to split it with Brandon since he does the calling when I’m busy. Too bad, because my dream mixer is about $500. Yes, I said mixer. It’s a stand mixer, with a 7-qt bowl and 1000 watts of power! Vrooom! I know, you’re rolling your eyes, aren’t you? I’m excited by power tools too. I’m the only gal I know that loves hardware stores more than her husband does and is silly enough to set her hair in rollers and give herself pedicures all in the same day.
11:02 a.m. I didn’t get through this time either. In fact, as soon as the song comes on I turn off the radio as I’m dialing. If their goal is to get more listeners I can tell them it only works for that one hour per day. I’m not real fond of the oldies. Of course, when I’m nursing home age there’ll be someone who’ll look as a shiny faced teenager saying, “Son, now Tool and Tori Amos, that’s music!” and minutes later that same senior will be pushing his or her walker down the hallway singing, “Crucify myself, every day. I crucify myself…”
I did, however, just paint another coat of red and a coat of yellow on my shelf that will be on the wall above my computer. Think Mexican artwork, you’ll get the picture.
I’ve got to sit under my drier now. I refuse to go around all day with these ugly rollers in. Besides, I can knit while my hair dries. (All great women multi-task.) I’m working on a baby blanket for my cousin’s little girl, due in October. Baby Sophia is her name. It’s nice to have a little girl come into the family. Right now there are 4 boys. Poor girl is doomed when it comes to family outings: grandmas pinching her cheeks and cousins ready to pummel her. Ah, the joys of childhood.
12:10 p.m. I have to get Brandon in two hours.
He’ll say, “So, what did you do today, honey?”
“Gee, dear, after I did my hair and put enough hair spray on to shellac a ship, I didn’t have much time left. Sorry. I didn’t cook dinner either. We have lots of leftovers, though, ” she smiled innocently.
So much for June Cleaver!
I finally forced myself to look at today’s headlines. I don’t get the paper nor do I have TV - on purpose. I get nothing done as it is, besides, I have no control over anyone else’s lives and the news is always depressing. Looks like the Marine that was held hostage has been executed. Like this is a surprise. Yesterday they had an appeal from his father on the news. It made me want to choke a reporter. What kind of insensitive jerk asks a parent to do an appeal when everyone knows you can’t negotiate with a kidnapper, especially one labeled a “terrorist” who is angry at our governmental policies? I guess some thought because sovereignty was handed over two days early that the kid had a chance. No such luck. I can’t wait until Election Day. Maybe we can make some changes that will get these folks back home. No one but the government heads win anything in war.
12:31 p.m. Jackie just wrote and didn’t see my citations. I panicked. Then she wrote right back and said she’d missed the message they were in. Whew! Cyberspace is such a weird thing. I depend on it far too much. My thesis advisor also e-mailed and said he is sending me edits via e-mail as well. It is easier and more productive than meeting him to tell me what he’s already written down anyway.
1:22 p.m. Still haven’t had lunch. For the last hour I’ve been doing my make-up and getting dressed. I went from black tights (yeah, I know it’s June), black skirt, black heeled sandals and a red top through multiple variations down to a loden green lacy top, jeans and silver heeled sandals. With my dark, curly hair, it looks a bit like Betty Boop crossed with Sally Fields in “Smokey and the Bandit” but it’ll work. I was trying to hide the little belly I seem to have developed overnight. Turns out it’s that time of the month again. (So, I have an excuse for the bloated feeling.) I wouldn’t have issues with this but it just ended on Saturday! For the last year I’ve gotten repeat performances of the hormones and all my doctor said was, “Well, you are getting older.” I just stared at her. I was born in 1968 not, ’58, and besides, mom didn’t go through her change until she was older than that! Whoever said female doctors understand women more was not entirely correct. Trust me.
3:27 p.m. Brandon is home. We just ate cheeseburgers, tater tots and drank soda. I at least had diet soda. That ought to help the blood sugar a wee bit. Besides, it’s lunch AND dinner. Oh, who am I kidding? Not a good nutritional move, but I don’t care.
Talked to Mom on the cell while I waited for Brandon to leave work. She wanted to know if I’d seen the Cheney/Leahy exchange. I told her I had and even e-mailed it to her. She never saw it. I’m telling you, e-mail is an odd thing. Sometimes people get what you send. Sometimes they don’t.
Okay, just re-sent those e-mails to mom and got a call from my best friend. She’s making sure I’m journaling. That’s sweet. I can’t believe she’s put up with me for 32 years, and we’ll only be 36 this summer! Nothing can replace a friend who’s been there, done that, knows it all, and loves you anyway.
4:31 p.m. Just finished painting again. This time it was a key “rack” – a wooden key with 4 hooks on it, in the same colors as the shelf: red, yellow, white, deep blue. I also did another coat of paint on the shelf. Painting one shelf takes forEVER! Dry wood just sucks up that paint like crazy.
Speaking of crazy, my friend just called again. She’s on her way over. For once she got out of work on time and can visit. Brandon just laid down for a nap. Wish him luck! We laugh too much and too loud when we get together. Dad used to call us Laverne and Squirrelly. Yup, I’m Squirrelly. Thanks, Dad.
6:51 p.m. My best friend just came for a visit. She cracks me up. The not funny part of what she was telling me, was how she has people who work for her that can’t write a sentence in long hand due to Instant Messaging. They also never use proper punctuation or capitalization. What a surprise! I have the same problem with the kids I teach. Everyone is in such a hurry to do everything that no one will even bother with the traditional forms of communication anymore. Okay, I’m sounding like an old lady. Guess I’m a child of my times, that’s all – as are the ones I teach.
Balanced the checkbook. Had a minor panic but all is well that ends well.
Hubby and I are headed out for a walk. We mall walk – like the old people, but it’s air conditioned and quiet, unlike the rest of the city. We are wimps. I admit it.
8:20 p.m. Brandon is in the shower and I’m getting ready to do my yoga. I’m terrible about keeping up with my daily practice when on school vacation. At least this school year I’ll get to head a yoga club. Last year they had about 30 kids in it, which is great for a school that houses only freshman. I’m sure my lack of practice is exactly why I am getting a belly. (Turns out I don’t have my cycle. Just spotting. Good on one level, not so good for the belly excuse.) Choices, choices. We make ‘em, we live with ‘em.
Anyway, after this I think it’s our nightly game of Scrabble, a good night to Poppet (bunny) and my llamas, and then bedtime. My llamas are not here with us, but I say good night to their picture each night. They’re in Colorado being boarded with a dear friend until we can bring them south. I miss them. They’re so gentle and playful. Halle Bopp, whom I call Hallie, might be preggers. I can’t wait to see her cria (baby). Llama babies are up, dry, nursing and scooting around the field in a matter of hours. Bet a lot fewer humans would be born if we were that fast in being fully mobile!
9:45 p.m. Well, it’s time for bed. 5 a.m. comes quickly. For all the kids of the world who wonder what their teachers actually do in the summertime, this day might be typical for some. Nothing fancy.
I beat Brandon at Scrabble. I hate it when I win - not that I ever try to lose, either. Poppet is already asleep. Last night Brandon said when she arranges the newspaper in the nesting area of her cage she is fixing her Fung Shui. He’s so funny. He also makes me smile. I would have never dated him if we hadn’t become friends first. We met via the Internet through a personals service. When we finally met in person I immediately came home and whined, “But he looks like Danny Bonaduche.” I was looking more for a Joe Penny, Robert Urich, or maybe even a Denzel-type. But I hit the jackpot. I say it was divine intervention. I laugh now when I say it because once I was interviewed for a storytelling event some half-wit reporter quoted me as saying “diving intervention.” Yeah. Like that makes sense to anyone in the world! Now it doesn’t matter what kind of intervention it was, or if he looks like Danny or not. He’s beautiful in my eyes and he’s all that is good in mankind. Thank you, G-d for this day, my husband and my life. Baruch ata Adonai eloheinu melach olam. (Blessed are you, Lord, Master of the Universe.)
Below is my diary from that day. I had to wait until after the book arrived on shelves to print what I wrote. I have, I believe, two whole sentences in the actual book. Nevertheless, if you want to know how we girlies think the book is a great place to start. My day diary is just full of my normal silliness, and is sure to convince the President that I am full of attitude but not smart enough, or organized enough, to be a threat to anyone save myself. (Rest assured W, the world is safe from me!)
Oh! Forgot to tell you the book title: This Day in the Life: Diaries from Women Across America. Details can be found at: www.thisdayinthelife.com and is in stores now. Pick up a copy and welcome to our world!
-Mel. Edwards
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June 29th 2004 – TADAAAA! The Big Day has arrived.
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1:30 a.m. Woke up to pee. I wonder if I went to bed too early (8: 30 p.m.) and hope I will sleep until the alarm goes off.
5 a.m. Alarm off. Hubby getting up. I’m a slug. After a month of sleeping in with no alarms, it’s time to get on track. By WHY today? Can’t we do this tomorrow? No. Didn’t think so.
5:05 a.m. I’m up. Bed is made. Bunny (yes, a real rabbit – a German angora cross) is up. (Her name is Poppet.) Morning bun-bun! Boy, are you ready to run around or what? Glad one of us is awake. Let mama pee and I’m all yours.
5:20 a.m. The bunny has run around the bathroom while I cleaned her 3’ long cage. As far as bunnies go, I suppose the cage is palatial, but she deserves it. She brings so much joy to our lives. I discovered she didn’t pee where I laid out shredded newspaper for nesting. Wish I learned that weeks ago when we got her. It would have saved a lot of work. Oh well. I’m learning, bun-bun. Mama is learning. Give me time.
5:35 a.m. Driving with hubby to work. He’s driving there and then I have my truck for the day. I look like such a redneck this morning. I just put my hair in a messy ponytail pulled jeans and hiking boots on with my nightshirt, which is actually a men’s gray undershirt. I haven’t even put on my wedding band yet. (Can’t sleep with it on because my fingers swell at night and when I wake it feels like a tourniquet.) Oh well. Kissed hubby good-bye, handed him his lunch bag and drove off. Today I’m being wild and going to buy some mammoth muffins. Gotta go to the ATM first, though.
6:25 a.m. Home again. Bought three muffins, one for this morning and one for hubby and me for tomorrow morning. Yummy! Tried to stop at the local bakery but they don’t open until 7 a.m. Rats. I love bakeries. Not just for eating their wares. I love to bake. I’m a frustrated pastry chef in-the-making, I guess.
6:45 a.m. Just checked e-mail. Got a note back from King Arthur Flour. I’d e-mailed and told them how much I loved their cookbook and what I had already made from it. One of the owner-operators wrote back and said thanks and that their goal was to educate cooks in the home (as opposed to chefs). She also said she’d share it with the rest of the company. That made my day. The Internet is so cool! I can write to company exec’s and get a note back within 24 hours! How neat is that?!
Got an e-mail from a storytelling pal who is compiling a list of love stories. I wrote up summaries of Little Mermaid (the Hans Christian Anderson version), Tam Lin, Psyche and Eros, Pygmalion, plus Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell and sent them her way yesterday. Now she needs my sources. Ooops. As an English teacher, and storyteller, I should have known to get them to her immediately. I have to do that next.
But right now I’ll read the rest of the storytelling list serve messages, enjoy my English toffee flavored coffee and the rest of my banana nut muffin. I’ve been up nearly 2 hours already and accomplished so little. It’s no wonder my master’s thesis isn’t done yet.
7:24 a.m. I just finished 50 messages from Socknitters (a list serve for people who knit socks). Found a handful of answers to a question I posted yesterday about making socks out of cotton yarn (as I usually knit with wool and prefer wool I’ve spun to commercially spun yarn). I knit because I like it and spin yarn on a spinning wheel, like in the fairy tales, but I can’t spin gold (darn it all) and no little strange men are asking for my firstborn. (Which is good since I’m sterile.) Anyway, I still must shower! Time to go!
8:16 a.m. Whew! I’ve been up three hours now and still haven’t started on my thesis. It’s not looking promising, either. Anyway, the shower is done and my hair is set. Yes, in rollers. The ugly foam kind. Most women won’t admit it, but it’s a heck of a lot of work trying to look nice. If anyone thinks looking good isn’t work, they’re wrong. So many movie stars are butt ugly without make-up and their hair done up but still, countless women and men think they should just look great when they roll out of bed. Bullplucky! It ain’t gonna happen. Ever. I know, my head shots for storytelling are gorgeous. That photographer is a magician. Each year I show them to my students and each time one of the little angels blurts out, “That’s you?! You look like a model,” and then they look at my face, then the picture, then my face, until I finally say, “It’s just good make-up, honey. With good make-up and a great photographer we can all look like that.”
The secretary at school just called to ask a few questions. It seems the boss (principal) is gone until Thursday. I just may run up there and check things out. (No, not with the rollers in, and probably not today.) I’d like to see Cheryl, the boss, but it doesn’t seem like it will happen too soon. The secretary is a gem. I love her already. I can’t wait to start there, though I haven’t planned a thing yet. I guess I have a month, but the Virgo in me hates being unprepared. I just hope I love it there as much as I think I will. Starting a new school is just as stressful for teachers as it is for kids. Maybe even more so.
The dishwasher is running. Had to change the paper in the rabbit cage. It seems I didn’t secure her water bottle well enough and about 4 oz soaked the paper. Drats! [I’m trying not to swear. If I do it at home it might inadvertently slip out at school. Though my big laugh for last week was the news report that Cheney said the F-word at Patrick Leahy. Leahy is a distant, shirttail relation of my father’s. If my father’s family’s temperament is any indication as to Leahy’s, I can see why someone might sling the F-word in the direction. They’re all bull-headed but funny! Listening to my grandmother and her son, my uncle, go at it as I grew up was like the lines from “Grumpy Old Men.” They’d fuss and grumble but in the end, they all really love each other. I so miss my grandma. She was a knitter. I should have learned from her but never got around to it when I was home. I taught myself from a book. Still, I have the last pair of mittens she ever made me in my trunk and dad gave me her knitting needles. I looked at the needles two weeks ago and noticed two pair came from the same county I’ll be teaching in. Some people think objects can make you change your direction in life. For example, one friend wanted red dirt from Arizona when I lived there. She said she’d always wanted to go and heard if you had dirt from a place that your life would take you there. So, perhaps the needles brought me here. Of course, it all could be a bunch of hooey.]
Okay, did I get off track or what? Time to do my citations for Jackie before the copyright police hunt us down. LOL!
9:30 a.m. Just got the citations done and took time to check e-mail. A woman on Socknitters wants to learn how to spin yarn with a hand spindle but has no one to teach her. I wrote what I could and told her I’d look for a website. I really don’t think I’ll get a darned thing done on my thesis today. If my body were as busy as my head I’d weigh 70 lbs soaking wet. No wonder I get mentally drained!
Dinner…I know it’s not even 10 a.m. but Brandon will be ready for dinner when he comes home around 3 p.m. Ooops. I forgot, I have to pick him up today. I’ve got the truck. It’s my truck but it has a/c and his car doesn’t, so he takes it to work when I’m home working on my thesis – or whatever it is I manage to waste the hours doing each day. Maybe I can talk him into taking me out to eat tonight. If I get my hair and make-up done and dress like a real girl (dress, hose, shoes) instead of a redneck (T-shirt, jeans, hiking boots), he might even be extra glad to come home. He loves me no matter how I look but we both smile more when I take the time to go the extra mile, and since it is summer vacation for me, I certainly can afford the effort.
10 a.m. Okay, I at least e-mail my thesis advisors. That’s a start. I also had to take time to respond to a list member on how to unsubscribe. I think it’s funny out of all the members out there that she wrote to me. I don’t know her and I know she doesn’t know me. Hmmmm. There must be something psychological about whom we feel safe asking those kinds of questions.
The alarm clock just went off. I set it so I could turn on the local oldies station. Each day they have an hour where they’ll play a certain song. If you’re the 6th caller you get $500! No, I’ve never gotten it to ring even once, but I remain optimistic. If I win I suppose I’ll have to split it with Brandon since he does the calling when I’m busy. Too bad, because my dream mixer is about $500. Yes, I said mixer. It’s a stand mixer, with a 7-qt bowl and 1000 watts of power! Vrooom! I know, you’re rolling your eyes, aren’t you? I’m excited by power tools too. I’m the only gal I know that loves hardware stores more than her husband does and is silly enough to set her hair in rollers and give herself pedicures all in the same day.
11:02 a.m. I didn’t get through this time either. In fact, as soon as the song comes on I turn off the radio as I’m dialing. If their goal is to get more listeners I can tell them it only works for that one hour per day. I’m not real fond of the oldies. Of course, when I’m nursing home age there’ll be someone who’ll look as a shiny faced teenager saying, “Son, now Tool and Tori Amos, that’s music!” and minutes later that same senior will be pushing his or her walker down the hallway singing, “Crucify myself, every day. I crucify myself…”
I did, however, just paint another coat of red and a coat of yellow on my shelf that will be on the wall above my computer. Think Mexican artwork, you’ll get the picture.
I’ve got to sit under my drier now. I refuse to go around all day with these ugly rollers in. Besides, I can knit while my hair dries. (All great women multi-task.) I’m working on a baby blanket for my cousin’s little girl, due in October. Baby Sophia is her name. It’s nice to have a little girl come into the family. Right now there are 4 boys. Poor girl is doomed when it comes to family outings: grandmas pinching her cheeks and cousins ready to pummel her. Ah, the joys of childhood.
12:10 p.m. I have to get Brandon in two hours.
He’ll say, “So, what did you do today, honey?”
“Gee, dear, after I did my hair and put enough hair spray on to shellac a ship, I didn’t have much time left. Sorry. I didn’t cook dinner either. We have lots of leftovers, though, ” she smiled innocently.
So much for June Cleaver!
I finally forced myself to look at today’s headlines. I don’t get the paper nor do I have TV - on purpose. I get nothing done as it is, besides, I have no control over anyone else’s lives and the news is always depressing. Looks like the Marine that was held hostage has been executed. Like this is a surprise. Yesterday they had an appeal from his father on the news. It made me want to choke a reporter. What kind of insensitive jerk asks a parent to do an appeal when everyone knows you can’t negotiate with a kidnapper, especially one labeled a “terrorist” who is angry at our governmental policies? I guess some thought because sovereignty was handed over two days early that the kid had a chance. No such luck. I can’t wait until Election Day. Maybe we can make some changes that will get these folks back home. No one but the government heads win anything in war.
12:31 p.m. Jackie just wrote and didn’t see my citations. I panicked. Then she wrote right back and said she’d missed the message they were in. Whew! Cyberspace is such a weird thing. I depend on it far too much. My thesis advisor also e-mailed and said he is sending me edits via e-mail as well. It is easier and more productive than meeting him to tell me what he’s already written down anyway.
1:22 p.m. Still haven’t had lunch. For the last hour I’ve been doing my make-up and getting dressed. I went from black tights (yeah, I know it’s June), black skirt, black heeled sandals and a red top through multiple variations down to a loden green lacy top, jeans and silver heeled sandals. With my dark, curly hair, it looks a bit like Betty Boop crossed with Sally Fields in “Smokey and the Bandit” but it’ll work. I was trying to hide the little belly I seem to have developed overnight. Turns out it’s that time of the month again. (So, I have an excuse for the bloated feeling.) I wouldn’t have issues with this but it just ended on Saturday! For the last year I’ve gotten repeat performances of the hormones and all my doctor said was, “Well, you are getting older.” I just stared at her. I was born in 1968 not, ’58, and besides, mom didn’t go through her change until she was older than that! Whoever said female doctors understand women more was not entirely correct. Trust me.
3:27 p.m. Brandon is home. We just ate cheeseburgers, tater tots and drank soda. I at least had diet soda. That ought to help the blood sugar a wee bit. Besides, it’s lunch AND dinner. Oh, who am I kidding? Not a good nutritional move, but I don’t care.
Talked to Mom on the cell while I waited for Brandon to leave work. She wanted to know if I’d seen the Cheney/Leahy exchange. I told her I had and even e-mailed it to her. She never saw it. I’m telling you, e-mail is an odd thing. Sometimes people get what you send. Sometimes they don’t.
Okay, just re-sent those e-mails to mom and got a call from my best friend. She’s making sure I’m journaling. That’s sweet. I can’t believe she’s put up with me for 32 years, and we’ll only be 36 this summer! Nothing can replace a friend who’s been there, done that, knows it all, and loves you anyway.
4:31 p.m. Just finished painting again. This time it was a key “rack” – a wooden key with 4 hooks on it, in the same colors as the shelf: red, yellow, white, deep blue. I also did another coat of paint on the shelf. Painting one shelf takes forEVER! Dry wood just sucks up that paint like crazy.
Speaking of crazy, my friend just called again. She’s on her way over. For once she got out of work on time and can visit. Brandon just laid down for a nap. Wish him luck! We laugh too much and too loud when we get together. Dad used to call us Laverne and Squirrelly. Yup, I’m Squirrelly. Thanks, Dad.
6:51 p.m. My best friend just came for a visit. She cracks me up. The not funny part of what she was telling me, was how she has people who work for her that can’t write a sentence in long hand due to Instant Messaging. They also never use proper punctuation or capitalization. What a surprise! I have the same problem with the kids I teach. Everyone is in such a hurry to do everything that no one will even bother with the traditional forms of communication anymore. Okay, I’m sounding like an old lady. Guess I’m a child of my times, that’s all – as are the ones I teach.
Balanced the checkbook. Had a minor panic but all is well that ends well.
Hubby and I are headed out for a walk. We mall walk – like the old people, but it’s air conditioned and quiet, unlike the rest of the city. We are wimps. I admit it.
8:20 p.m. Brandon is in the shower and I’m getting ready to do my yoga. I’m terrible about keeping up with my daily practice when on school vacation. At least this school year I’ll get to head a yoga club. Last year they had about 30 kids in it, which is great for a school that houses only freshman. I’m sure my lack of practice is exactly why I am getting a belly. (Turns out I don’t have my cycle. Just spotting. Good on one level, not so good for the belly excuse.) Choices, choices. We make ‘em, we live with ‘em.
Anyway, after this I think it’s our nightly game of Scrabble, a good night to Poppet (bunny) and my llamas, and then bedtime. My llamas are not here with us, but I say good night to their picture each night. They’re in Colorado being boarded with a dear friend until we can bring them south. I miss them. They’re so gentle and playful. Halle Bopp, whom I call Hallie, might be preggers. I can’t wait to see her cria (baby). Llama babies are up, dry, nursing and scooting around the field in a matter of hours. Bet a lot fewer humans would be born if we were that fast in being fully mobile!
9:45 p.m. Well, it’s time for bed. 5 a.m. comes quickly. For all the kids of the world who wonder what their teachers actually do in the summertime, this day might be typical for some. Nothing fancy.
I beat Brandon at Scrabble. I hate it when I win - not that I ever try to lose, either. Poppet is already asleep. Last night Brandon said when she arranges the newspaper in the nesting area of her cage she is fixing her Fung Shui. He’s so funny. He also makes me smile. I would have never dated him if we hadn’t become friends first. We met via the Internet through a personals service. When we finally met in person I immediately came home and whined, “But he looks like Danny Bonaduche.” I was looking more for a Joe Penny, Robert Urich, or maybe even a Denzel-type. But I hit the jackpot. I say it was divine intervention. I laugh now when I say it because once I was interviewed for a storytelling event some half-wit reporter quoted me as saying “diving intervention.” Yeah. Like that makes sense to anyone in the world! Now it doesn’t matter what kind of intervention it was, or if he looks like Danny or not. He’s beautiful in my eyes and he’s all that is good in mankind. Thank you, G-d for this day, my husband and my life. Baruch ata Adonai eloheinu melach olam. (Blessed are you, Lord, Master of the Universe.)
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Mighty Men
Mighty Men and Minotaurs are what this world doth need.
With awesome strength and confidence they'll overpower greed.
If anyone dare fight the beast,
they shall turn 'nto the feast.
Mighty Men and Minotaurs are what this world doth need.
Copyright 1986 Melissa A. Bentley
With awesome strength and confidence they'll overpower greed.
If anyone dare fight the beast,
they shall turn 'nto the feast.
Mighty Men and Minotaurs are what this world doth need.
Copyright 1986 Melissa A. Bentley
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Twinkle
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star.
Thank G-d you shine in space so far.
Or else they'd kill you.
They'd surely try.
Then your brightness would truly die.
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star
Thank G-d you shine in space so far.
Copyright 1986 Melissa A. Bentley
Little Star.
Thank G-d you shine in space so far.
Or else they'd kill you.
They'd surely try.
Then your brightness would truly die.
Twinkle, twinkle
Little Star
Thank G-d you shine in space so far.
Copyright 1986 Melissa A. Bentley
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Article: Will You Tell Me a Story?
Will You Tell Me a Story?
by Mel Edwards
Copyright April 13, 2005. All rights reserved.
Parents and baby-sitters are begged nightly for a bedtime story. The first time a child I was caring for looked up and made his plea, my heart and mind began to race. What kind of story? A good one? What will he like? I frowned and offered, “I don’t know any stories. I would be happy to read one to you. Do you have any books?” At the time, I was relieved to learn that he had a small library in his room. I had no idea how vast my options truly were.
It was not until six years ago that I, a high school English teacher, was even made aware of the world of oral storytelling as a medium to entertain, educate and reach anyone I desired. By divine grace, it seems, a workshop for using storytelling in the classroom was offered as in-service training for my district’s faculty. I thought the workshop would be a fun and easy way to rack up my required training hours, fairly certain that I’d never really use storytelling in my high school classroom. Instead of an easily-forgotten workshop, I was given an entirely new direction in life.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling has been around for centuries as a way for news to travel, friends to connect and keep in touch and to entertain. Remember, the Iliad and Odyssey were not books, but stories that bards learned and passed from listener to listener. Long before the postmodern communication age, those who knew each other well would gather in the evenings and entertain themselves with tales from lore, and whenever a stranger was in their midst, he was often asked to spin yarns from his travels and experiences.
According to Joseph Sobol, the modern storytelling revival emerged in the early 1970s in America. Many tellers of that movement had been politically active during the Vietnam era and were less than thrilled with mass media as a form of entertainment. Seeking new ways to connect with friends and strangers alike, some focused upon keeping the oral tradition alive by any means necessary, telling for impromptu audiences of in city parks or to friends over dinner. Others developed audiences in libraries, school and worked their craft in auditoriums filled with listeners. The folk tale tradition offered ample material without the constraints of copyright hurdles.
As American media has changed and the founders of the movement aged, storytelling has evolved to include rap, mime, American Sign Language and multi-lingual stories shared around the world using some of the same communications that the founders often shunned in their daily lives. Stories spring forth in ever increasingly disparate venues and are not the playroom or bedside companions some of us naively believe them to be.
Where can I hear stories?
Those curious about storytelling should begin their listener’s journey close to home. If no one in your inner circle is a gifted teller, you may want to begin with a trip to your local public library for audio recordings of stories. The Internet also is rife with streaming media and downloadable tales. Established storytellers have videos, cassette tapes and cds available for sale via personal websites.
However, if you want to know the true joy of tellers’ skills, you should seek out live performances. There are local storytelling events in every state, and a National Storytelling Festival each October in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Contact your state arts council for information on events in your vicinity. However, don’t limit yourself to the locals. You may miss out on some extraordinary artists. The National Storytelling Network (NSN), cosponsors the national festival and maintains a database of professional storytellers and links to publishers of tales.
Not all stories or storytellers are alike. Do not be disheartened if you do not find a teller whose style and choice of material fail to resonate with you. However, be forewarned, that after one live storytelling event, you may be transformed while on the listener’s journey. I never anticipated that after a single trip to Jonesborough, I would have the urge to learn to spin my own verbal yarns.
What storytelling training is available?
The type of training a student desires will depend on what type of storyteller she wants to become. If graduate school sounds exciting, East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City, offers one of the only master’s degrees available in Storytelling. Your aspirations may be more humble. Great. Many colleges offer single classes or concentrations in the genre as well.
Those with more modest stores of time, energy and money for their craft can learn more specific skills directly from the professional tellers. Find a local teller whose style and personality matches yours and contact him about workshops he offers. If you do your research, you’re bound to click with someone who can not only mesmerize you as a listener but ignite your burning desire to become a skilled teller in your own right. Even if your loftiest goal is to tell merely for the joy of enthralling a toddler just once, a seminar or class still will help your reach your destination.
If you live in a remote area or your lifestyle has less flexibility, there is still hope. You may find through your local arts organizations, or via NSN, that a storytelling guild meets in your community. Publishers, such as August House, focus upon the world of story by offering tales you may learn to share, tomes on technique and tips and tricks on establishing storytelling in your community and classrooms. Web-based publishers, including Story-Lovers.com, offer the bare outlines or bones of tales for storytellers to learn for far less than most seminars or workshops would cost. Texas Women’s University also hosts a storytelling list-serve where serious students of the craft may speak with active tellers and event organizers or learn about the profession while lurking in the shadows until ready to introduce step up and be recognized.
Children can be trained to become performing tellers. Many schools offer storytelling electives. Tellers such as Karen Chace, of Massachusetts, is a professional teller who coaches a youth storytelling club and does so with the blessing of the school board, parents and teachers alike. Young tellers with skill and no fear of crowds can even earn a coveted slot at the Jonesborough festival in the Youthful Voices concert.
Now, the next time someone looks to you and says, “Tell me a story,” smile, breathe and know you’ve got this request covered. Whether you pop in a recording, pick up a publication or recall a tale you have told a hundred times, remember, it is all storytelling, and there are stories are for everyone.
Resources:
Baldwin, J. Bare Bones. Volumes 1-4. www.Story-Lovers.com
Chace, K. Professional Storyteller. www.StoryBug.com
National Storytelling Network. www.storynet.org
Sobol, J. (1999.) The Storyteller’s Journey: An American Revival. University of Illinois Press: Urbana.
by Mel Edwards
Copyright April 13, 2005. All rights reserved.
Parents and baby-sitters are begged nightly for a bedtime story. The first time a child I was caring for looked up and made his plea, my heart and mind began to race. What kind of story? A good one? What will he like? I frowned and offered, “I don’t know any stories. I would be happy to read one to you. Do you have any books?” At the time, I was relieved to learn that he had a small library in his room. I had no idea how vast my options truly were.
It was not until six years ago that I, a high school English teacher, was even made aware of the world of oral storytelling as a medium to entertain, educate and reach anyone I desired. By divine grace, it seems, a workshop for using storytelling in the classroom was offered as in-service training for my district’s faculty. I thought the workshop would be a fun and easy way to rack up my required training hours, fairly certain that I’d never really use storytelling in my high school classroom. Instead of an easily-forgotten workshop, I was given an entirely new direction in life.
What is storytelling?
Storytelling has been around for centuries as a way for news to travel, friends to connect and keep in touch and to entertain. Remember, the Iliad and Odyssey were not books, but stories that bards learned and passed from listener to listener. Long before the postmodern communication age, those who knew each other well would gather in the evenings and entertain themselves with tales from lore, and whenever a stranger was in their midst, he was often asked to spin yarns from his travels and experiences.
According to Joseph Sobol, the modern storytelling revival emerged in the early 1970s in America. Many tellers of that movement had been politically active during the Vietnam era and were less than thrilled with mass media as a form of entertainment. Seeking new ways to connect with friends and strangers alike, some focused upon keeping the oral tradition alive by any means necessary, telling for impromptu audiences of in city parks or to friends over dinner. Others developed audiences in libraries, school and worked their craft in auditoriums filled with listeners. The folk tale tradition offered ample material without the constraints of copyright hurdles.
As American media has changed and the founders of the movement aged, storytelling has evolved to include rap, mime, American Sign Language and multi-lingual stories shared around the world using some of the same communications that the founders often shunned in their daily lives. Stories spring forth in ever increasingly disparate venues and are not the playroom or bedside companions some of us naively believe them to be.
Where can I hear stories?
Those curious about storytelling should begin their listener’s journey close to home. If no one in your inner circle is a gifted teller, you may want to begin with a trip to your local public library for audio recordings of stories. The Internet also is rife with streaming media and downloadable tales. Established storytellers have videos, cassette tapes and cds available for sale via personal websites.
However, if you want to know the true joy of tellers’ skills, you should seek out live performances. There are local storytelling events in every state, and a National Storytelling Festival each October in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Contact your state arts council for information on events in your vicinity. However, don’t limit yourself to the locals. You may miss out on some extraordinary artists. The National Storytelling Network (NSN), cosponsors the national festival and maintains a database of professional storytellers and links to publishers of tales.
Not all stories or storytellers are alike. Do not be disheartened if you do not find a teller whose style and choice of material fail to resonate with you. However, be forewarned, that after one live storytelling event, you may be transformed while on the listener’s journey. I never anticipated that after a single trip to Jonesborough, I would have the urge to learn to spin my own verbal yarns.
What storytelling training is available?
The type of training a student desires will depend on what type of storyteller she wants to become. If graduate school sounds exciting, East Tennessee State University, in Johnson City, offers one of the only master’s degrees available in Storytelling. Your aspirations may be more humble. Great. Many colleges offer single classes or concentrations in the genre as well.
Those with more modest stores of time, energy and money for their craft can learn more specific skills directly from the professional tellers. Find a local teller whose style and personality matches yours and contact him about workshops he offers. If you do your research, you’re bound to click with someone who can not only mesmerize you as a listener but ignite your burning desire to become a skilled teller in your own right. Even if your loftiest goal is to tell merely for the joy of enthralling a toddler just once, a seminar or class still will help your reach your destination.
If you live in a remote area or your lifestyle has less flexibility, there is still hope. You may find through your local arts organizations, or via NSN, that a storytelling guild meets in your community. Publishers, such as August House, focus upon the world of story by offering tales you may learn to share, tomes on technique and tips and tricks on establishing storytelling in your community and classrooms. Web-based publishers, including Story-Lovers.com, offer the bare outlines or bones of tales for storytellers to learn for far less than most seminars or workshops would cost. Texas Women’s University also hosts a storytelling list-serve where serious students of the craft may speak with active tellers and event organizers or learn about the profession while lurking in the shadows until ready to introduce step up and be recognized.
Children can be trained to become performing tellers. Many schools offer storytelling electives. Tellers such as Karen Chace, of Massachusetts, is a professional teller who coaches a youth storytelling club and does so with the blessing of the school board, parents and teachers alike. Young tellers with skill and no fear of crowds can even earn a coveted slot at the Jonesborough festival in the Youthful Voices concert.
Now, the next time someone looks to you and says, “Tell me a story,” smile, breathe and know you’ve got this request covered. Whether you pop in a recording, pick up a publication or recall a tale you have told a hundred times, remember, it is all storytelling, and there are stories are for everyone.
Resources:
Baldwin, J. Bare Bones. Volumes 1-4. www.Story-Lovers.com
Chace, K. Professional Storyteller. www.StoryBug.com
National Storytelling Network. www.storynet.org
Sobol, J. (1999.) The Storyteller’s Journey: An American Revival. University of Illinois Press: Urbana.
Article: How to Run Away -- Responsibly
Synopsis: Some days we wake up and want to run away from our lives. Most of us don’t, and live productive lives within the bounds of our discontent. Those of us with a sense of responsibility and a wild hare can still change our lives, but need to do so in a manner that fits our life goals. Though research, careful planning and execution, you can change your life, maintain your sanity and be the envy of those who are too chicken to take the plunge.
How to Run Away -- Responsibly
by Mel Edwards
Copyright April 14, 2005. All rights reserved.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda are three ugly terms that can drive a good person to the brink. If you are truly miserable or simply want something “more” out of life, you do not have to remain where you are, doing what you have been for the rest of your life - even if you have a family or a budget book packed with commitments.
Identify What You Want
Wise people know a good road map is essential to reaching your destination. With life planning, the same sentiment holds true. Don’t just pack a bag, walk out the door and hope for the best. If your irresponsibility doesn’t irk your landlord, friends and family, at some later point in life, your own conscience may turn on you.
If there is anyone else in your life who will be effected by the move, discuss it with them. If you want them to join you, ask but be prepared to find they are not mentally or emotionally willing to join in on your new adventure. If you are moving alone, make sure you have no legal ties to their well-being before you make your exit. Otherwise, your entire plan is doomed.
Why Move?
Answering this question with frankness is a must before doing something you may later regret. As the old saying goes, “Wherever you go, there you are.” If your source of discontent is your age, weight, social status, boredom etc., a move may not resolve the problem. You may be better off seeking assistance in familar surroundings. However, if you hate the weather, cannot find work in your field of expertise or want to live in a different social climate, hauling yourself out of town may be your wisest move.
Make Your Reasons List
Santa Claus wasn’t the only list keeper in history. The best way to delineate your thoughts is to write them down. Sure, by going through the first step of asking yourself mentally why you desire to move and what your want out of such a shift are ground level steps in the process, but if you haven’t written it down, you may still be in for a shock.
Grab a sheet of paper, or better yet, a small notebook, and write all the reasons you can think of for moving. Then write all the benefits you expect to reap as a result of leaving town. Don’t leave anything out. If your neighbor is a smoker and you despise the fact that you can smell it through the air vents between your apartments, write it down. If you have always lived in the same town but dream of the hustle and bustle of a metropolis, write that down too. Whatever is imporant enough to motivate your move is imporant enough to record on this list.
Before you make another move, read your list. Carefully. Cross out anything you made up in the heat of the moment that does not really matter to you. Add anything related to your personal ideals which you have forgotten when griping about your daily irksome details.
Make a Commitment
Now ask yourself, “Do I really and truly want to do this?” Let’s face it, none of us gets off this plane alive. On your death bed, will your last comment be, “I should have stayed at home?” This possiblity exists no matter what you decide, but your gut and your head should be in agreement on this point. Without agreement, you face a difficult time ahead. With it, the world can be a marvelous place.
If your resolution is to not make the move, I suggest you shred that list. It has served its purpose. Time to move on.
Yet, if your soul still cries, “Get me out of this place!” Hang on to it. You’ve got a long way to go, baby.
Decide What You Need to Know
Okay, you’ve listed your reasons, reviewed them and now is when the real fun starts. You will now create a new list. This one is for what you need to know before you can make a change that will effect every aspect of your life. Some basic questions are: Where will you live? Will you rent or buy a home? Do you need gainful employment? If so, doing what? How much do you need to make to keep up with your current bills that won’t be left in your wake?
If someone is going with you, please, have them make a list relevant to their needs. Otherwise, if only one of you has all your heart desires in your new home, realtionship struggles will surely lie ahead.
Research
Once you have finished your list, it is time to get some answers that are reliable. If you haven’t visited your public library in a while, you may be surprised to see how many resources are available for free. Consult newspapers, magazines and phone books from the geographic regions you are most interested in. Some of these are available electronically, while others may be in hard copy format in the reference section. Don’t waste an afternoon hunting around aimlessly for answers. Begin by asking the reference librarian. He/She can save time, energy and help keep your blood pressure in check by pointing out the best solutions to your research needs.
Book stores have entire sections dedicated to travel, subdivided by region and nation. Take your time looking at what is available and try not to buy the first book you see about a region you think you might want to live in. Discretion will save a bundle in the long run.
Finally, the Internet now allows friendships to be made with people you would not have ever gotten to know without it. Log on to the web and find groups with similar interests, values and goals. Yahoo!Groups alone hosts hundreds of such forums.
Once you make a few friends, start asking the little questions which mean a good deal to your quality of life. Sometimes you can get lucky and meet a person who lives in the exact local you plan to run to. Their insider’s view may be invaluable and you may have a house-warming party planned before you lift a single box. However, keep in mind that we all have different outlooks. One man’s prison is another man’s hallowed hall of delight.
Getting it All Together
So, you know where you are going, maybe even have a job lined up and have secured a place to live. Now, the hard part comes: Moving day. Before moving, you will decide what to take with you.
I know one single, young man who filled his hatchback and moved across country paying only for the fuel to get there. He moved into a hotel that rented long and short term. He didn’t need to bring any furniture, gained maid service and a kitchenette for less than $150 a week, and he reasoned, if he didn’t love the place, there were other hotels in town which would allow him the same conveniences without the commitment of a long-term lease.
Most Americans, however, are consumers first and foremost. That leaves us with stuff to move. Your research should have told you how far you are going, when you want to be there and what your budget for the trip and life, once re-established, will be. A little more investigation will also tell you if movers will do the hauling for you or if you will rent a truck and do it yourself.
Beware of movers who seem “too good to be true” and check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints about any moving company that has not been recommended by a close friend of family member who has personally used their service. Nationally televised news programs have profiled several companies who quote rock bottom rates for the move and then hold customer’s goods hostage for an unanticipated balloon “payment” once the destination has been reached. Such companies have cost unsuspecting folks between a rock and a hard place and some have lost thousands of dollars in the legal battle to get their belongings returned.
Be Patient
When the moving day finally arrives, whether you will be directly involved with the hauling or not, anticipate minor setbacks. Inclement weather, flat tires, construction on the roads and furniture that doesn’t move quite as easily as you imagined, all can delay the packing and transportation of your worldly goods.
You should also consider that fatigue and stress will alter your plans as well. My husband and I have moved four times in less than three years. We never, ever argue about anything - until one of us has an armload of junk and is depending upon the other to make a move to assist or get out of the way on moving day. A two hour delay at the truck rental agency the day of our last move left us hot and exhausted at the time we had planned to drive across the state.
Instead of moving that night, we dug back through the truck, found pillows and blankets and slept on the floor. We used our cell phone, because our landline had been disconnected that morning, to call our new rental agency and tell them we were unexpectedly delayed a day. Luckily, the complex we were leaving had a manager who was delightful and had no qualms about us spending another evening in our apartment free of charge.
As a result of the mental and emotional hurdles from that relocation event, we have sworn that NEXT time we will pay someone to load our belongings for us - even if it costs us double what self-moving tallies would. Why? Our relationship is worth far more than a movers bill could ever be.
Celebrate!
Whether you find yourself migrating to a new home to move up in your career path, find adventure, true love or something no one else may understand, careful planning and sound reasoning are bound to create a strong pathway for the life you desire to live. Be proud of the hard work you have done to get there. Look back at the hurdles and laugh as you recall all you have accomplished - alone or with help. Be certain that you will find all that you are looking for in your new home, and celebrate how far you’ve come to reach your goals.
* * *
Bio of Author: Mel Edwards is a teacher, writer and storyteller. She has lived in New York, Arizona, Montana, Tennessee and South Carolina. Her love of people and practice with relocating across the continent make her the perfect author for this piece.
How to Run Away -- Responsibly
by Mel Edwards
Copyright April 14, 2005. All rights reserved.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda are three ugly terms that can drive a good person to the brink. If you are truly miserable or simply want something “more” out of life, you do not have to remain where you are, doing what you have been for the rest of your life - even if you have a family or a budget book packed with commitments.
Identify What You Want
Wise people know a good road map is essential to reaching your destination. With life planning, the same sentiment holds true. Don’t just pack a bag, walk out the door and hope for the best. If your irresponsibility doesn’t irk your landlord, friends and family, at some later point in life, your own conscience may turn on you.
If there is anyone else in your life who will be effected by the move, discuss it with them. If you want them to join you, ask but be prepared to find they are not mentally or emotionally willing to join in on your new adventure. If you are moving alone, make sure you have no legal ties to their well-being before you make your exit. Otherwise, your entire plan is doomed.
Why Move?
Answering this question with frankness is a must before doing something you may later regret. As the old saying goes, “Wherever you go, there you are.” If your source of discontent is your age, weight, social status, boredom etc., a move may not resolve the problem. You may be better off seeking assistance in familar surroundings. However, if you hate the weather, cannot find work in your field of expertise or want to live in a different social climate, hauling yourself out of town may be your wisest move.
Make Your Reasons List
Santa Claus wasn’t the only list keeper in history. The best way to delineate your thoughts is to write them down. Sure, by going through the first step of asking yourself mentally why you desire to move and what your want out of such a shift are ground level steps in the process, but if you haven’t written it down, you may still be in for a shock.
Grab a sheet of paper, or better yet, a small notebook, and write all the reasons you can think of for moving. Then write all the benefits you expect to reap as a result of leaving town. Don’t leave anything out. If your neighbor is a smoker and you despise the fact that you can smell it through the air vents between your apartments, write it down. If you have always lived in the same town but dream of the hustle and bustle of a metropolis, write that down too. Whatever is imporant enough to motivate your move is imporant enough to record on this list.
Before you make another move, read your list. Carefully. Cross out anything you made up in the heat of the moment that does not really matter to you. Add anything related to your personal ideals which you have forgotten when griping about your daily irksome details.
Make a Commitment
Now ask yourself, “Do I really and truly want to do this?” Let’s face it, none of us gets off this plane alive. On your death bed, will your last comment be, “I should have stayed at home?” This possiblity exists no matter what you decide, but your gut and your head should be in agreement on this point. Without agreement, you face a difficult time ahead. With it, the world can be a marvelous place.
If your resolution is to not make the move, I suggest you shred that list. It has served its purpose. Time to move on.
Yet, if your soul still cries, “Get me out of this place!” Hang on to it. You’ve got a long way to go, baby.
Decide What You Need to Know
Okay, you’ve listed your reasons, reviewed them and now is when the real fun starts. You will now create a new list. This one is for what you need to know before you can make a change that will effect every aspect of your life. Some basic questions are: Where will you live? Will you rent or buy a home? Do you need gainful employment? If so, doing what? How much do you need to make to keep up with your current bills that won’t be left in your wake?
If someone is going with you, please, have them make a list relevant to their needs. Otherwise, if only one of you has all your heart desires in your new home, realtionship struggles will surely lie ahead.
Research
Once you have finished your list, it is time to get some answers that are reliable. If you haven’t visited your public library in a while, you may be surprised to see how many resources are available for free. Consult newspapers, magazines and phone books from the geographic regions you are most interested in. Some of these are available electronically, while others may be in hard copy format in the reference section. Don’t waste an afternoon hunting around aimlessly for answers. Begin by asking the reference librarian. He/She can save time, energy and help keep your blood pressure in check by pointing out the best solutions to your research needs.
Book stores have entire sections dedicated to travel, subdivided by region and nation. Take your time looking at what is available and try not to buy the first book you see about a region you think you might want to live in. Discretion will save a bundle in the long run.
Finally, the Internet now allows friendships to be made with people you would not have ever gotten to know without it. Log on to the web and find groups with similar interests, values and goals. Yahoo!Groups alone hosts hundreds of such forums.
Once you make a few friends, start asking the little questions which mean a good deal to your quality of life. Sometimes you can get lucky and meet a person who lives in the exact local you plan to run to. Their insider’s view may be invaluable and you may have a house-warming party planned before you lift a single box. However, keep in mind that we all have different outlooks. One man’s prison is another man’s hallowed hall of delight.
Getting it All Together
So, you know where you are going, maybe even have a job lined up and have secured a place to live. Now, the hard part comes: Moving day. Before moving, you will decide what to take with you.
I know one single, young man who filled his hatchback and moved across country paying only for the fuel to get there. He moved into a hotel that rented long and short term. He didn’t need to bring any furniture, gained maid service and a kitchenette for less than $150 a week, and he reasoned, if he didn’t love the place, there were other hotels in town which would allow him the same conveniences without the commitment of a long-term lease.
Most Americans, however, are consumers first and foremost. That leaves us with stuff to move. Your research should have told you how far you are going, when you want to be there and what your budget for the trip and life, once re-established, will be. A little more investigation will also tell you if movers will do the hauling for you or if you will rent a truck and do it yourself.
Beware of movers who seem “too good to be true” and check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints about any moving company that has not been recommended by a close friend of family member who has personally used their service. Nationally televised news programs have profiled several companies who quote rock bottom rates for the move and then hold customer’s goods hostage for an unanticipated balloon “payment” once the destination has been reached. Such companies have cost unsuspecting folks between a rock and a hard place and some have lost thousands of dollars in the legal battle to get their belongings returned.
Be Patient
When the moving day finally arrives, whether you will be directly involved with the hauling or not, anticipate minor setbacks. Inclement weather, flat tires, construction on the roads and furniture that doesn’t move quite as easily as you imagined, all can delay the packing and transportation of your worldly goods.
You should also consider that fatigue and stress will alter your plans as well. My husband and I have moved four times in less than three years. We never, ever argue about anything - until one of us has an armload of junk and is depending upon the other to make a move to assist or get out of the way on moving day. A two hour delay at the truck rental agency the day of our last move left us hot and exhausted at the time we had planned to drive across the state.
Instead of moving that night, we dug back through the truck, found pillows and blankets and slept on the floor. We used our cell phone, because our landline had been disconnected that morning, to call our new rental agency and tell them we were unexpectedly delayed a day. Luckily, the complex we were leaving had a manager who was delightful and had no qualms about us spending another evening in our apartment free of charge.
As a result of the mental and emotional hurdles from that relocation event, we have sworn that NEXT time we will pay someone to load our belongings for us - even if it costs us double what self-moving tallies would. Why? Our relationship is worth far more than a movers bill could ever be.
Celebrate!
Whether you find yourself migrating to a new home to move up in your career path, find adventure, true love or something no one else may understand, careful planning and sound reasoning are bound to create a strong pathway for the life you desire to live. Be proud of the hard work you have done to get there. Look back at the hurdles and laugh as you recall all you have accomplished - alone or with help. Be certain that you will find all that you are looking for in your new home, and celebrate how far you’ve come to reach your goals.
* * *
Bio of Author: Mel Edwards is a teacher, writer and storyteller. She has lived in New York, Arizona, Montana, Tennessee and South Carolina. Her love of people and practice with relocating across the continent make her the perfect author for this piece.
Poem: Dusk at the Maimed ‘Coon Cafe
Husband’s eyes exceeded his orbitals.
A three-legged derelict entered our lot.
Twisting to the right, ever-so-nonchalant,
“Oh!”
Exclamation revealing all.
Pointless to query,
I drew Husband back to our
after-dinner chat.
Less callous dilettantes dine in Ossining,
you know.
Words easily served -
ring-tailed vagrant out of view.
If thought lightens burden,
we assisted
in securing a suitable supper,
as he hunched, stretched and
pogo-legged his way buildingward.
Nod to Husband,
“When he knocks on your breakroom door,
he’s gone too far.”
Laughter -fills our bellies.
And Guilt belches an appropriate aftertaste.
-Mel. Edwards
6/9/05
Backstory to “Dusk at the Maimed ‘Coon Cafe”
I had driven to my husband’s place of work to bring him dinner when this supposedly wild creature joined our view. I found myself nervous that he might be rabid, but more sickened by his physical state and need to scavenge. Yet, my fear kept me from leaving my vehicle to offer a morsel and my guilt kept trying to take my mind anywhere outside of his world - where I was willing to bet a “civilized” being had maimed him and our disgustingly unhealthy diet had polished him off - at least in function if not form.
A three-legged derelict entered our lot.
Twisting to the right, ever-so-nonchalant,
“Oh!”
Exclamation revealing all.
Pointless to query,
I drew Husband back to our
after-dinner chat.
Less callous dilettantes dine in Ossining,
you know.
Words easily served -
ring-tailed vagrant out of view.
If thought lightens burden,
we assisted
in securing a suitable supper,
as he hunched, stretched and
pogo-legged his way buildingward.
Nod to Husband,
“When he knocks on your breakroom door,
he’s gone too far.”
Laughter -fills our bellies.
And Guilt belches an appropriate aftertaste.
-Mel. Edwards
6/9/05
Backstory to “Dusk at the Maimed ‘Coon Cafe”
I had driven to my husband’s place of work to bring him dinner when this supposedly wild creature joined our view. I found myself nervous that he might be rabid, but more sickened by his physical state and need to scavenge. Yet, my fear kept me from leaving my vehicle to offer a morsel and my guilt kept trying to take my mind anywhere outside of his world - where I was willing to bet a “civilized” being had maimed him and our disgustingly unhealthy diet had polished him off - at least in function if not form.
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