Portland, OR

a Wind Swept Street,
Walk hand in hand
two.

a restless vagabond
a peaceful warrior

tangled in fortune

In different places,
So much the same.

an artisans cart
illuminated by the sun
through circus umbrellas
rolls softly into the evening
passing
as the street fair winds to a stop

suddenly chanting merchants
belt out an east African soliloquy
while passing shoppers accord an unimposing brief grin

and evenings sun dances through Belmont street
in a lovers tangle with the late summer winds

and the two
continue to walk hand in hand
enchanted
by a fleeting moment.

Not Poetry

After almost completing two weeks of school, I feel as if I've already been working for a month. It's amazing how quickly everything swings back into motion:

Routines
Fatigue
Disrespect
Learning?

I was greeted on the first day with an unavoidable need to argue and completely disrespect me as a teacher. I was a bit disgruntled because I came back with such a positive attitude, and they came back with their fists raised (not in a form of solidarity, but ready to spar)

I am reminded by the New teacher project that I must focus on the positives and the accomplishments so far. Well, the students are excited about reading, they are totally enthralled with the drug and alcohol drenched memoir of Noah Levine, Dharma Punx. It makes me excited that students are so excited about a book. I just hope they are able to dig deep enough to get the true messages of redemption and self integrity woven into the narrative.

We have a new teacher who is very excited to collaborate and work on creating a backpacking/outdoor club with me, which I have wanted to do for awhile.

I started the New Teacher Project today and will be able to share ideas with other teachers from around the county.

The new students have a much deeper understanding of respect and have been absolutely positive in their interactions with me.

So really, things aren't all that bad. There is potential for greatness this year.

The unadulterated power of words

There really aren't any words that I need to say about this, except that it completely blew my mind and moved me more than any piece of literature has in a long time.

This man has an incredibly eloquent way with words and with getting an absolutely important message across. Why do we still live in a country in which people who love each other can't be married?

By the way I found this video on my friend's blog Lip Gloss and Pepper Spray

The beauty of optimistic melancholy

I just got back from a short trip to San Diego to help my sister find and move in to some new digs and I was fortunate to catch one of my favorite San Diego performers, Gregory Page, at one of my favorite San Diego Haunts, LeStat's Coffee house.

He played about 3 years ago at my graduation party and pretty much blew everyone away. He is one of those brilliant small-time performers who doesn't seem to want to get into the mainstream. To the discerning ear his music has a strong tinge of melancholy, which can be something that can be hard to listen to.

while sitting and listening to him I thought a little bit about the importance of melancholy in music and in our lives.

I have been accused of liking "depressing music" more times than one so I guess I would like to defend my side of the issue.

Life is not easy, and it is not static, we are all at sometimes low, at sometimes high and often in that strange space in-between. Sometimes music is used a catalyst to overcome these states. But as Jeff Tweedy puts it, "The feeling is already there, the music just reinforces it." I feel like that lower space on the human spectrum ins often looked down upon, but it is just as real as all of the other places. It needs to be celebrated and examined, and who better to do that then our poets and musicians.

I feel that truer, deeper emotions come from melancholy than they do from anywhere else. The interesting thing is I am not a huge fan of Emo (emotional music) because I feel that the sensibilities in that music are forced and sometimes false.

But I still Say Long Live Melancholy. And give Gregory page a listen:

Power to the People

I just read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that actually criticized the press for a controlling aspect of all the news, and it got me thinking about blogs.

I have sulked multiple times about how blogs are self-indulgent diaries posted in a public place, but I've decided to change my opinion on that. Blogs give common people a chance to have their voice and their perspective heard. Rupert Murdoch has no control over this one.

Blogs give people the power to report about events or things happening in their lives, their communities, or the world, and theres nothing more socialist or gratifying than that. I only have links to friends' blogs, but I plan on searching out some more socially relevant blogs and posting them on here.

Some internet places I constantly visit are The Independent Media Center which is a people powered media source that allows anyone with a keyboard and a voice to post stories, Wikipedia which with its faults is one of the most accurate and modern uses of the socialized internet format and the newly discovered Santa Cruz Wiki which is an editable source about the history and community of my town.

The internet is a powerful source of information and can be a self-indulgent fictional source of edited media or it could also be a great social network to bring people together to create change.
Lets focus on the later.

Listening to Manu Chau

Intentional Writer's Block

Say Goodbye to the dog days of summer.

This morning I woke up with a strange feeling bouncing around my head. My body was telling me that I needed to get out of bed and start planning for my classes this year. It was an unfortunate wake-up call in the middle of my vacation. And it gave me a clear understanding as to why I haven't written in awhile.

I was talking to an old friend who is also a new teacher and she gave me a great analogy of how summer works: June is like Friday, July is like Saturday, and August is like Sunday, when one tries to relax but is fully aware that the inevitable school day is just around the corner.

So here's my writer's block: I really enjoyed not writing, thinking, or talking about school for a good amount of time while I was in Ecuador. It was gratifying and liberating. But as all of the adventure (and misadventure) has come to a close I have had some difficulty coping.

I don't want to stop writing about traveling, and experience and culture. I don't want to start writing about school. Not Yet!

But it truly is inevitable. Target has started their back-to-school sale, Our school Secretary and principle are back to work, and the dark gloom will be settling soon over this little coastal hamlet. The school year is coming.

I will try my best to think of as many non-education related posts as possible, but it is coming.

Listening to: Vince Guraldi Black Orpheus

I haven't posted in awhile. But that does'nt mean that Im not thinking. Here are some picture from my Amazon portion of the journey. The rest will be posted later. I hope that it works.