A Contribution

• A dear member of this blog has sent me a very moving poem to pay tribute to mothers. 

In Memory of my Mother by Patrick Kavanagh

I do not think of you lying in the wet clay

Of a Monaghan graveyard; I see

You walking down a lane among the poplars

On your way to the station, or happily

Going to second Mass on a summer Sunday –

You meet me and say:

“Don’t forget to see about the cattle”

Among your earthiest words the angels stray.

And I think of you walking along a headland

Of green oats in June,

So full of repose, so rich with life –

And I see us meeting at the end of town

On a fair day by accident, after

The bargains are all made and we can walk

Together through the shops and stall and markets

Free in the oriental streets of thought.

  

O you are not lying in the wet clay,

For it is a harvest evening now and we

Are piling up the ricks against the moonlight

And you smile up at us – eternally.

Glossary:

2. Monagahan: a county in the northwest region of Ireland.

4. the station: this could refer to the railway station; or perhaps to the Irish rural custom of a priest visiting homes in his parish to hear confessions and to say Mass.

19. ricks: a large pile of straw or hay (= dried grass) that has been built in a regular shape.

• He has also sent me this song by Kate Bush. I am also posting the audio for you to enjoy.

Mother stands for comfort by Kate Bush
Cover version by Jane Birkin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5satHt2LFo

She knows that I've been doing something wrong,
But she won't say anything.
She thinks that I was with my friends yesterday,
But she won't mind me lying,
Because

Mother stands for comfort.
Mother will hide the murderer.

It breaks the cage, and fear escapes and takes possession,
Just like a crowd rioting inside.
(Make me do this, make me do that, make me do this, make me do that...)
Am I the cat that takes the bird?
To her the hunted, not the hunter.

Mother stands for comfort.
Mother will hide the murderer.
Mother hides the madman.
Mother will stay mum.

Mother stands for comfort.
Mother will hide the murderer.
Mother hides the madman.
Mother will stay mum.

My Mom

When I was a little girl my mom was my whole universe. Her being a housewife and me being an only child probably had a lot to do with it. I thought she was the prettiest woman in the whole wide world, and my goal in life was to at least try to look half as good as she did. I admit that I felt like the ugly duckling next to her.

We used to spend a lot of time together, she was always taking care of me. We would go to the park and to have a snack in the afternoons. I loved hanging out with her and her friends, it made me feel like a little lady. If you remember from my last post, one thing I liked about my grandmothers was that they were very lenient with me. My mom, on the other hand, was very strict. I used to laugh at people who said that only children were spoilt. They sure wouldn't be if those children were my mom's! She always made sure I ate the right things for my health, that my hygiene was perfect and that my manners were impeccable.

When I grew up and became a teenager she was the perfect mother. All my friends were jealous of me because I was able to talk to her about anything. She would always be ready to listen to whatever I had to tell her and I had a very comforting feeling that she trusted me. I appreciated her listening to me very much, because she can be quite a talker if she wants to.

As an adult you learn to see your parents in a different light. You realise that apart from being your parents, they are people and they are not infallible. They have their flaws just like everybody else. My mom is a strong woman who has the theory that a little bit of bad temper will save you a lot of trouble in life. Even though she was born in a time when women had a very clear role, she was always a free spirit. She has probably done things she wouldn't have done if she had been born at another time, but despite that, I have a feeling that she has done pretty much what she wanted in life.

I've always loved my mom very much, but the day I myself became a mother that love grew even deeper. I was able to experience the way a mother loves a child, and it struck me to think that she probably loved me in the same way.

Mom, you're the best!

Well, readers, it's your turn now to write about your mothers. I'm really glad that some of the blog's members have plucked up the courage to share their thoughts with us. Don't be afraid of using your English, it'll only get better if you use it.

Answer Key for the Love Quotes

I was owing you the answer key for the Love Quotes. Did you get many right? Are you shocked by any of the answers?

1.-Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. 
Oscar Wilde 

2.-Love is the flower you've got to let grow. 
John Lennon

3.-The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. 
Victor Hugo 

4.-Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion. 
Miguel de Unamuno

5.-True friends stab you in the front. 
Oscar Wilde

6.-I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. 
Mother Teresa 

7.-Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. 
Jim Morrison 

8.-Where there is love there is life. 
Mahatma Gandhi

9.-We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. 
Orson Welles

10.-I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. 
Martin Luther King, Jr.

11.-A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. 
Ingrid Bergman

12.-Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. 
Aristotle

13.-Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives. 
C. S. Lewis

Our next goal

International Women's Day, March 8th

Our project's next goal is going to be a public reading on the 8th of March to pay tribute to women.Wow, another exhausted worn topic, you might say. Well, and which one is not. All these set dates are mere excuses to let us read and write, which is our real goal. Besides, even though any topic might sound like a cliché, there are always a thousand different ways to approach it.

Given the fact that I am a woman, that I love being one and that fortunately this reality has never caused me any problems, I'm going to reflect upon women from a positive loving perspective rather than one of trouble or adversity. Enough has been said about discrimination and abuse. It's high time we portrayed ourselves without pity or without trying to be equal to men. Guess what, we are not, and I personally don't want to be. Nothing against men, but today I'm not going to talk about them. It's not their turn.

Our school has another project going on, Constructing a European Female Identity, which has so far had many different activities. One that has caught my eye was the construction of a "family tree" of the women in your life. I didn't strictly do it back then, but seeing the ones at school made me make my own one mentally.

I am going to start talking about my grandmother Elisa. I grew up living with her and even though I understand how hard it must have been for my mom to have three generations living under the same roof, I wouldn't change that experience for any other living situation. She was a rather simple woman as regards formal education, although she liked to read and spent her old age doing crossword puzzles to keep her brain active. What I really liked about her was her lively mood and her constant smile. She was the only survivor of five siblings, three of whom died young due to TB. Her health was not the best either, but you would never hear her complain. She was always ready for a joke or a game of cards, not to mention a great traditional Asturian (not that she would have refused one of any other origin) dessert.

What I am very grateful to her for is that she always supported me and never, ever in her life got angry with me. Today, whenever I think about her, a big smile appears on my face, usually accompanied by a couple of tears. I miss her.

I don't want to leave my other grandmother out. Florentina was not such a big influence on me, mostly because we didn't live together. She never got angry with me either and was always eager to listen to my stories. What I remember the most about her was how she loved to look good and was fond of fashion until her very last days. Another thing that shows how vain she was is that she would never say her age, to such an extent that we were not very sure of how old she really was.

Why don't you tell us something about your grandmothers? I would love to read your stories.

COMING SOON: My mom

LOVE QUOTES

LOVE QUOTES QUIZ 

At the bottom of this post you'll find the names of some very well known people. Try to match them to the right quote. I'll be posting the answer key soon.

1.-Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead. 

2.-Love is the flower you've got to let grow. 

3.-The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. 

4.-Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion. 

5.-True friends stab you in the front. 

6.-I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. 

7.-Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. 

8.-Where there is love there is life. 

9.-We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone. 

10.-I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. 

11.-A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. 

12.-Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. 

13.-Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives. 

WHO SAID WHAT? Match the quote to the person who you think said it:

Aristotle, C.S. Lewis, Ingrid Bergman, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Miguel de Unamuno, Mother Teresa, Orson Welles, Oscar Wilde (2), Victor Hugo

           

Valentine's Day Part II

In the evening session of our activity we got together in the computer room to share some readings. At first we read texts in both English and Portuguese. This was quite an experiment for me, since not everybody understood both languages. The Italian team came in later.

 Despite the difficulty, I think it worked out quite well, especially as we were able to follow the texts that were being read on the screen. I've been giving some thought to the multilingual aspect of these sessions, and although I can see some problems, I think that we have to try to be positive and make the most out of it. If we are able to learn some little cultural aspect or enjoy the rhythm of a poem or a song, we should definitely appreciate it.

I personally enjoyed a song in Portuguese Amor e Sexo, by a singer called Rita Lee. You can take a look at it in the blog Abloguear that you can access from the menu to the right of this post.

Perhaps it is the English language that worries me more, since not everybody speaks it, and it is undoubtedly harder to figure out. I must say, though, that most people there had previously studied English and seemed to be enjoying the texts.

We also did a quiz about famous love quotes that I'll post below for you to try out. I'll be posting the answer key in a few days.

To finalise the session we embarked on a spontaneous writing workshop. Starting to write out of the blue doesn't seem to be the easiest task, but our goal was not too demanding. We decided to write Haiku. Have you ever heard about it before? Check out the following part of this post and you'll find out about it.

Haiku

A Haiku is a short poem of Japanese origin which uses imagistic language to convey the essence of the human condition. The common practice in English is to use 17 syllables divided into three lines 5-7-5.  Here are some examples:

your love was a port
of call where many ships docked
until morning came

(Sonia Sanchez)


we are sudden stars
you and I exploding in
our blue black skins

(Sonia Sanchez)


Do not be afraid,
the darkness will fade my love,
the next sun is ours.

(Stephen Hyer)

our eyes meet; you smile.
I think I’m falling in love.
how could this end well?

So this is what we came up with in a few minutes. We are thinking about talking to some publishing companies

Trying to learn some-

thing that makes you overwhelmed

is rather tiring

My son's growing up

he'll be taller than me

but he won't stay put

Thinking about you

I'm spending my summer days

under the green tree

She was so precious

to all people who new her

that she felt alone.

ài

So far today we've done a little activity with Andrea´s advanced 1 group 1 class. They were reading poems and doing a little quiz on love quotes. Some of them were even prepared without knowing it, because they were wearing red :-))

Then we went into Pino´s class and we learnt how to make the Chinese character for LOVE. Here it is


The name of this post is the transcription of how they pronounce it. I'll keep updating you as the day goes on.

I would also like to thank Andrea, Whitney and Pino for their collaboration.

LOVE POEMS

On Thursday the 14th of February, Valentine's Day, we will be having a little tribute to love at the EOI of Ourense. We will be at the computer room waiting for you at 7pm. 

Nothing has been totally planned nor will there be a set programme of activities. If you show up I'm sure something will be happening. You yourself might have a text you want to share with us. I'm going to suggest three poems that I like and that someone can read out loud.

I also suggest taking a look at Reading to Write USA, a blog that you might access through the menu you'll find to the right of this post. In there you'll also find a little selection of texts related to the topic of love.

WHEN YOU ARE OLD

 by W.B. Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

SOMETIMES WITH ONE I LOVE

 by Walt Whitman

Sometimes with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I
effuse unreturn'd love,
But now I think there is no unreturn'd love, the pay is
certain one way or another,
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not
return'd,
Yet out of that I have written these songs.)



MY MISTRESS’ EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN (SONNET 130)
by William Shakespeare


My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Brotherly Love

So the 14th of February is coming up which makes me keep talking about love. Today I'm suggesting that you read a beautiful  piece of writing from a blog that is being published in The New York Times. This text really comes to show that real love does not necessarily happen only between lovers. Click on the title of this post in order to read the article.

One little recommendation, have a box of Kleenex at hand!