As you may remember, I work for Writers in the Schools. This week we are hosting our annual Young Writers Reading Series. Here is a video (48 seconds) of Raphael, age 6, from last year's reading. His poem is called "Explaining Colors."
click here to see the original post with text of the poem
Last week Marcia and I led a poetry activity with Pearl's preschool class in celebration of National Poetry Month.
We were a little hesitant about this venture because neither of us has experience in teaching this age group. Also the fact that the kids range in age from 3-7 years old made us a little anxious.
Our trepidations turned out to be unwarranted, however. The children had great fun coming up with their own line for the collaborative writing project we chose for them.
We divided the class into two groups to do the writing (dictating, really) on long rolls of paper. Then each group presented what they had written to the other. We'd defined a poem as a gift made out of words, so this fit into the plan nicely. They laughed and cheered for every line.
When we were done, we combined the two banners filled with words, and the class poem was born:
Olivia is a butterfly flying to a leaf to lay her eggs.
Charlotte is a unicorn flying and playing with her friend.
Liliana is a horse eating hay on the farm.
Alex is an ant biting a kid.
Gillian is a dragonfly flying in the sky close to the roses.
Angela is a blue butterfly laying eggs on a rubber tree.
Zachary is a lion eating a zebra in the forest.
Lucia is a baby zebra playing with her mom and then sleeping.
Pearl is a cheetah running to a cave with hyenas.
Brandon is an elephant eating hay in Africa.
Charlie is a T-Rex laying eggs in the grass.
Jean Luc is a shark eating a fish in a secret hiding place.
Ana Sofia is a horse with a baby eating hay on the farm.
Thomas is a cat sleeping in a house.
Ryan is a silk worm hanging like a spider.
Jacob is a big horsey at the farm eating apples with raisins.
Sydney is a koala eating apples and bananas in a eucalyptus tree.
Ethan is a cheetah thundering after an antelope in the wild.
Anna is a happy baby unicorn stuck in a tree.
Jan is a monarch butterfly laying eggs on a man’s head!
After we finished, I rushed off to work. Marcia decided to hang around because Pearl didn't want to miss recess, her "favorite subject." Marcia said that as the kids played, they remained their animals, galloping and racing about. As the excitement grew, some of the kids began declaring to the children in the other class: I am a poem, I am a poem, I am a poem!
We all went to the caucus tonight...along with over 500 of our neighbors. It's something new to see Texans getting excited about national politics.
Texas is voting today. In Grrrlville the votes are split, but that's what democracy is all about, right? And because of some obscure law or policy, we are supposed to return to our polls tonight to "caucus" at 7:15 p.m. which is also the official bedtime at our ranch. Not sure how Marcia and I will figure this one out, but I'll keep you posted. So far we've approached our differences with sincere good humor.
Who do you think will win, Obama or Clinton?
Thanks for your kind comments and emails about our ailing Jojo. She went to the doctor twice yesterday, first thing in the morning and again last night, when she was given two shots of who-knows-what, one in each thigh. Today she is much more like our happy little girl than she has been in a long while.
Carrie has had pneumonia (again!) all week, and she refuses to take her antibiotics. She is improving, according to Dr. Alex, but it's been a long week. We've watched too much television in Grrrlville.
Nevertheless I've been exciting to hear and read these great news stories about the power of creative play.
In Texas we are accustomed to being ignored when the caucus season comes along, but that's not the case this year. The Clinton-Obama race is very exciting, and we get to be a part of it.
This past weekend we went to the annual Lights in the Heights celebration in our neighborhood. They close off three streets so that only pedestrians, red wagons, roller bladers, and baby strollers have the right of way. The neighborhood is festooned with the light of candles and electric facsimiles all along the route. Singers, string quartets, bell choirs, and balalaika societies play from the front porches of the houses. Houstonians bake 10,000 cookies that are distributed freely. Lights in the Heights has an old-fashioned spin on fun that I always enjoy.
This year the NIA Moves group had a dance space and welcomed participants to join them. Pearl knows the co-founder Christie from playgroup and yoga, and she had a wonderful time dancing. At first she ran back and forth in front of the group, but eventually she started to pick a a few of those moves. Her happiness was luminous.
This weekend Ruthie Foster, Mary Cutrofello, and other girl groovers will be rocking at the Houston Women's Festival. Houston doesn't have events like this very often. We are excited. We have our tickets. We are ready. Please meet us there.
(Mary Cutrofello photo credit: Marina Chavez)
Happy Blog Action Day. The environment is the focus issue of the day, and I must make a confession. My family could do a lot better, environmentally speaking. Little things, big things. Here are a few specific steps I want to work on. I would like for us to produce less trash by
Any resolutions, great or small? Don't be shy!
Let's say you were given $1,000 with the stipulation that you had to spend it online within the next hour. What would you do?
After refusing to allow Grrrlville to participate in a reality TV show (blogging, what's not to love?), I felt I owed you some tiny morsel of self-revelation.
BlogHer has developed a simple meme to prepare people for their convention in Chicago. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the BlogHer Convention (again!), but because I am an optimist and know that SOME DAY I will participate, I decided to participate, virtually. Here's my 10 second introduction:
My name is Robin, and I am the OTHER mother. I am delighted by paint, postage stamps, summer salads, valentines, sunshine, and of course, my friends and family. When I am not working, I should be doing yoga, paying bills, or cleaning up, but instead I am usually blogging, writing poetry, or playing geeky games on the computer. I love reading and rumbling.
Feel free to write your own 10 seconds either on your blog or in the comment section below.
Have fun in Chicago, BlogHers. I'll see you next year.
Note: apologies for technical glitches here at The Other Mother this afternoon. TypePad went down for a few hours and ate half of this post for a snack, apparently.
I can remember when I first learned about the dangers of lead paint. I read it in an article in my Weekly Reader. It was pretty scary. There was a picture of a diaper baby sitting on the floor with a peeling wall as the backdrop. Yes, I was in the second grade.
30 years later the Thomas the Tank engine wooden railway is recalling 1.5 million choo choos, and I am steaming mad! When I foolishly spend $20 on a little 3 inch wooden toy, isn't it reasonable to expect that it will pass the most basic safety requirements?
The recall announcement explains how to determine whether your trains are included in the recall. I have located what may or may not be the serial number, a minuscule 2 pt font--dark grey printed on black. I stared at it 10 minutes before finding the sequence of numbers and letters. Then I had to ask M to read it for me.
Bust my boilers, RC2 Corp. Whoever you are!
(via Mombian, thanks Dana)
11,000 BlogHers are ready to change the world. Cooper and Emily have announced a new initiative that they have launched in cahoots with BlogHer. Find out more about it here.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
Scientists have discovered that female hammerhead sharks can fertilize their own eggs and give birth without sperm from
males. No daddies? This story sounds familiar.
Here's a story about our gang that appears in the May issue of OutSmart.
Great news from Polly tonight. The Other Mother has been nominated for Best Parenting Blog in the Blogger's Choice Awards. If you'd like to vote for this blog, you have to sign up first, then click here to vote. Carrie says: Yay!
This news just in. The Other Mother blog received a Top 100 Mom Blog Award. Mother's Day Central chose 100 mommy blogs and announced them today. Click here to see the entire list of winners.
The lions are
roaring
with temper.
The traffic is
running
in terror.
The dolphins are
leaping
in happiness.
to the shop in
the market.
get some sleep.
with fear.
with speed.
to sleep.
A girl who wants
to sing,
to spin,
in trees,
With me.
Anh, 3rd Grade
Celebrate National Poetry Month with A Poem a Day, a project sponsored
by Writers in the Schools (WITS). Each day of April we select a poem by
one of our students and share it with friends. If you want to receive the
poem in your inbox, sign up here. Or if you'd like to read the poems on
the WITS blog, simply bookmark the website.
This poem "Song" by Anh, age 9, is a sneak preview. If you like this one,
there are more wonders to come. Feel free to post this on your blog.
And a very happy poetry month to you.
A recent New York Times analysis of the census concludes that there are more women living without a man than with one. Here are some stats about gay and lesbian families that I gleaned from the Babble Crib Sheet:
Number of American children with gay or lesbian parents: 6-10 million
Proportion of lesbian households with children: 1/3
Proportion of gay male households with children: 1/5
Increase of same-sex households in Connecticut in the last decade: 400%
Increase of same-sex households in Nevada in the last decade: 700%
One day over winter break Pearl suddenly became interested in broken legs. She asked about the phenomenon of "breaking a leg" repeatedly. Maybe she was concerned that when someone broke a leg it actually fell off?
I reminded Pearl that her cousin Max had a broken foot at his Bar Mitzvah and it had healed. She nodded seriously but said nothing. That night she got a doctor's kit for Hanukkah. There were many *broken bones* that needed tending in our family that evening.
The next day I read that Arnold Schwarzenegger had broken his leg in a skiing accident. Pearl at 2.5 has never seen a Terminator movie, and she doesn't know what a governor is yet. But it just so happens that my cousin Herb works for the governor of California. So I showed Pearl the newspaper picture and explained that this man, Uncle Herb's boss, had broken his leg skiing. This provoked a whole barrage of new questions, such as why isn't the man's broken leg in the picture (it was a file photo of Schwarzenegger's head).
A few days later the whole topic of broken legs disappeared as mysteriously as it had arrived.
This week, like a boomerang, it returned. Pictures of "that man who broke his leg" were everywhere, and Pearl was curious all over again! We told her a little bit about the news story and showed her this New York Times photo of Schwarzenegger and Uncle Herb sitting immediately to the right of the (virtual) governor.
Even though Uncle Herb is not a Republican, he is the lead architect of California's proposed plan for Universal Healthcare. As you probably know, it was announced this week to great fanfare.
I said that I was going to write Herb a congratulations letter. Marcia asked if Pearl would like to draw a picture for her uncle. She did three drawings.
The first one (in black) is Arnold Schwarzenegger skiing.
The second one (blue) is the Governor with his leg in a cast.
The third one (purple) is Uncle Herb. You can see that the broken leg is still the heart of the story for this little artist. Those pictures are so vibrant.
And if Herb wants to make it to the top of Pearl's list, now he knows what he has to do!
Today Pearl told Marcia, "All the kids have a mommy and a daddy except me." We knew this would happen, but we didn't think it would happen this soon. She's 2 1/2 years old! Marcia explained that some families have two moms or two dads or a grandfather, and so on. And left it at that.
Then I got home. Early, because it's flooding here. Marcia whispered what had happened. We sat down for a snack, and the Sunday newspaper was lying at the end of the table, unread. There was a big front page story on same-sex parents, and the picture happened to be one of the lesbian families who was in our adoption group in San Antonio in August. I showed Pearl the picture and asked if she remembered the two mommies and their baby boy. She nodded seriously, yes. Then Marcia pointed out other details from the photo, such as their cat and their dog. That's all we've *done* so far.
Please guide us on this one.
And take a look at Cynthia Garza's story on gay and lesbian parents in the Houston Chronicle.
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