Family and Life:
Yesterday my daughter and I volunteered at one of our local homeless shelters in the morning. I think it's so important for her to see how different people live, how much she has compared to some, how they can still be friendly and happy even if they seem scary to her on the streets when they are pan handling. We made sandwiches, packed bag lunches, cut veggies for the dinner, and peeled hundreds of eggs for their egg salad sandwiches. I was really impressed with the operation they had going. They feed about 200 people at each meal. At the end of our shift the kids all served the lunch to the patrons, which was a great way for them to interact with the homeless adults and see the positive affect their work could have.
Our afternoon was spent at the local Earth Day Festival where my daughter did a dance performance and we checked out all the fun eco-friendly cars, products, and booths. Afterwards we checked out the new British shop in town (our ulterior motive? Buying Marmite). They are having a tea and finger sandwiches party for the Royal wedding so I think I might have to stop by....
April is National Poetry month so for the past three years I've held a Poetry Slam in my high school library. As Day 1 of the three-day event draws near I get so nervous that students won't sign up, no one will come to watch, what if the performances suck, etc. Not to fear. 12 brave students performed on day 1 with six moving on to the semi-finals on day 2. The finals saw four students who performed wonderfully! We had about 200 students come to watch each day and it felt great to see the competitors accomplish so much (they get 24 hours to write a poem based on words or a theme that I give them) and the audience support them.
Books and Reading:
I had my first DNF in a long time this past week (Disobedience by Jane Hamilton). Whenever there is a book that a lot of people like and I don't, I always wonder if it's me, than I realize it isn't me or the author. Jane Hamilton is a wonderful author who is well-respected, her books just don't work for me. That's one of the great things that blogging has taught me.
5 comments
Oooh a teen poetry slam sounds FANTASTIC. I'm combing poetry month w/ Earth Day week this coming week. We might do some haiku walks. :)
I'm glad to hear about the poetry slam. I grew up hating poetry. Even now I just never read it, and when I do, I take it too literally. I used to be terrified of poem paraphrasing (I know there's another word for this but I can't remember what that was) in exams. So it's nice to see events like these.
Kudos to your and your daughter's efforts for the homeless shelter.
Christina--The Poetry Slam was really fun. I don't know what a haiku walk is, but it sounds great
Aths--I am so not a poetry person either. The best part about this event is that I don't have to write poetry or judge it. I just run the event! And, in a slam, the poetry is much less "poetry like", it's more gritty
Oooh, I love Marmite. I have it almost every mornign on an English muffin for breakfast. Sounds like a lovely day. How fun to do a poetry slam for high school students.
Robyn--I also have Marmite every morning, but on wheat toast. It is just so yummy!
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