Praise the Writers

I've written in the past about the praise poems my students compose as part of our poetry challenge. I've been assigning them since 2013, and every year I am blown away by the honesty and beauty of the writing.

Praise Poems come from Western Africa and celebrate an individual's identity. They are often call and response, with the audience chanting a chorus between lines.

The formula I suggest is to write six lines and a chorus. The first line is your name, the second about your place of birth or ethnicity, the third about your family, the fourth and fifth compare you to natural elements or entities, and the last chooses a positive, defining quality about you and repeats it three times. The chorus is an expression of what you hope might be said of you by your community, and so it is written in third person.

Here are some of the choruses from this year:

Rhythm is in her soul.
Dance skips in her heart.
Her light shines through.
Nature is in her soul.
Competition is in her blood
Animals are in her heart.
Outside for life
Intelligence runs in her veins.
Happiness is her strength.
Determination in every step.
Singing is in her heart.
True to myself.
Sports are in his soul.
Playing with his dog every day.
Happiness in her soul.
Free soul
Friends in her heart
Kindness in her soul
Gymnastics in her veins
A true pessimist at heart
Perfection is what she strives.
Kindness in her heart
Being loud is in her soul.
Drawing is her soul.
Helpful is her heart.

It's a shame my time with these kids was cut short, because they really deserve the praise.

Pandemic Purchases

Here at home-bound, online shopping is always an option. In fact, when I look back at the deliveries over the last month or so, I definitely see a trend, particularly in the items I probably wouldn't have bought had I not been re-thinking the way we spend our days.

an oximeter
face masks
a remote control caddy
a 2" thick gym mat
a standing desk
a play-anywhere ping pong set
a mystery jigsaw puzzle
a Hunt-a-killer subscription
a compost bin
raised bed corners
corn, squash, and bean seeds

Newton's First Law

We grumbled more than a little this morning as we headed out the door and into a light rain to fulfill our promise to pick up a friend's dog and entertain him while she completed an online training session. We had originally planned to walk the mile and a half over to her place, and after a little debate we drew up our hoods and trudged in that direction.

Soon, though, the softness of the day, the cotton-batting clouds swaddling the sky, the pink dogwood and green grass, the goldfinches flirting in a boxwood hedge, and the wide empty sidewalks won us over. Chins up, breathing deeply, our pace quickened, and we were nothing but glad that we had left the house.

Livin Large

We've been eating well during these stay-at-home days; cooking fresh, satisfying meals every day has been one of my main creative joys. But yesterday when a neighbor offered to repay a kindness by bringing us dinner from a restaurant of our choice, we enjoyed a delicious Friday night meal of steak and salmon from the Carlyle. And today when I got an email from Clydes offering lobster dinners to go? I barely thought twice about treating ourselves on Saturday night, too. 

A Girl Can Dream

Our neighborhood pool is set to open four weeks from tomorrow, the Saturday before Memorial Day. So far, we haven't yet heard of any change of schedule. According to the CDC, the water and chlorine in a properly maintained pool should kill the virus, but I'm kind of skeptical about keeping social distance and disinfecting other surfaces. What would that look like?

Even so, spending sunny summer afternoons at the pool is definitely something to look forward to on a dreary, homebound day like today. So with that in mind?

I sent in the application for our pool passes this morning.

Stretching Our Legs

I put off my walk a little too long today, and by the time I was finished with school stuff, the rain that is predicted to be with us for the next several days was here. My choice was to sit around or brave the weather, and as tempted as I was to hunker down, I put on my rain boots, zipped up my slicker, leashed up the dog (she didn't get a choice), and headed out.

It was a light rain at first, with an almost pleasant fresh breeze, and the sidewalks were relatively empty, so I took a deep breath and quickened my stride. A little while later, my hood felt a little too warm, and I swept it back and let the rain fall as it might. And that is how we continued. The rain fell steadily as Lucy and I continued on our way without wavering.

And when we got home? We were soaked, but satisfied.

The Missing Piece

Much like last week, my office hours today were attended by lonely sixth graders looking for a little conversation. That's fine by me, though; it's hard to replace the social piece of school, and if being present for an hour is helpful, then I'm in.

This time I split my required hour into two half hour sessions, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon. One of the students who stayed on for the whole hour last week, attended both of the conferences today. He didn't have any questions about the material, and once my 2 minute presentation was over, neither did his classmates, so we just chatted about what their days are like. They gave each other video game, TV, and movie recommendations; a few mentioned books and new hobbies; everyone said they missed school.

At the end of the last session, it was just me and a couple of boys, one of them the frequent flyer. The three of us had just wrapped up a conversation about whether or not we like scary movies in a scary time (nope!) and who's allowed to watch R-rated movies (just me!), and I was getting ready to end the conference. "Ms. S?" my regular attendee interrupted. "Do you have an x-box?"

I had to confess I didn't. "Maybe that should be my pandemic purchase," I laughed.