Ezra Pound and the hundreds of essays submitted last weekend on ModPo

I have been working on these 20 words for over a day. I didn't really want to move beyond the title! It is 'In a Station of the Metro' by Ezra Pound. Actually, let's add in the 4 spaces and the 3 pieces of punctuation.

In a Station of the Metro

BY EZRA POUND

The apparition       of these faces       in the crowd   :

Petals      on a wet, black    bough   .

The essay assignment on 'I taste a liquor never brewed' by Emily Dickinson was due last weekend. I did one! The number of assignments listed per page, 25, multiplied by the current number of pages listing individual assignments, 78, = 1950. Can you even imagine that number of 500 word essays? Each of the assignments are allotted to 4 other people to peer assess. I did my 4 peer assessments. That was a very hard thing to do. I agonised and fussed and deleted and altered mine.

I deliberately decided to do mine raw. So I didn't look at any other reviews, just worked it out for myself. Since then I have done maybe 3 more. From just reading 7 or so essays I am amazed at the sheer variety in thought processes between different people. My thing is the vocabulary the writers' use. It shows so clearly the qualities they value. Based on the same short poem we were asked to do a close reading on, out came an endless stream of different takes on the world. Does English have enough words to cover the variety of views? Clearly, yes.

The main lesson of this course so far is "focus". It is absolutely impossible to do all the work. Dealing with this impossibility is crucial. I still feel like a horse which went out for a canter and found itself on TV doing the Grand National. Pleased to have finished standing! That was week 3 and there are 10 in all :)

Middle of Sept new blog list

http://johnwreford.wordpress.com/ Damascus and now Istanbul

http://robinheyden.wordpress.com/ Education ideas, see if you can find the island on Second Life which a study group took over and renovated.

http://poetrymap.wordpress.com/ Poetry project based in Sheffield

http://www.laughingmaus.com/ Germany

http://tomcollins2013.wordpress.com/ Met Seamus Heaney

http://woodbloodink.blogspot.co.uk/ From London

http://leidenhomelearners.wordpress.com/about/ Home ed in the Netherlands

Home Education in the Netherlands

I have just heard that the Netherlands is considering banning home education. Please have a look at this English language website and sign the petition designed for us in the international community.

leidenhomelearners

It is so important for people in different countries to support each other. During year or so following the Badman report here I was so encouraged to read posts online from other countries far away. They gave tips on how to handle the situation and understanding words.

Midnight surprises

Listen to this with headphones on and eyes tightly shut. Think of all those irrevocable moments and decisions.

I heard this on Radio 3's Late Junction last night and found it via iplayer.

"Get Out" from the film score of "Leaving Las Vegas". Sung by Maggie Nichols.

One of my jobs as a parent is done

This very evening T and friend O have been eating delicious looking steamed prawn dumplings and sticky spare ribs. I have just had the 2 left over prawns!

I have completely bypassed the recommended method of introducing middle class accepted foodstuffs to the younger generation. No offering foods 7 or 27 times to ensure eventual acceptance.

Just continue with the pizzas with a happy heart until the great day when you hear that they have been out to a restaurant in a bigger town and have discovered much more sophisticated items for themselves. You may get the classic insult that your home cooking is horrendously boring, but that's ok.

I have to say that this method has taken 17 years to bear fruit, from the petit filou stage to steamed prawns.

My ethos has been that food is meant to be familiar, tasty, reassuring, enjoyable. If coco pops ticks those boxes, then choose coco pops and enjoy them.

ps I have tried the cross, grumpy, horrible approach at times. It is a total waste of emotion and negates lots of good mother points which had previously been earned with carrying, being patient etc.

Attention switch

This feels odd. Because I am taking part in ModPo my focus is on writing comments over there on their 2013 site. So any reading I'm doing is linked to that and I have no time left over!

The other thing is that the Arabic course for this autumn, my second academic year, has been cancelled and we are yet to make concrete plans for classes with our teacher in Oxford. So my focus on writing out the alphabet each day of I can and going through previous chapters of vocab has gone.

Just writing this reminds me of how far I have come and how a lack of current classes is not a dead end, just a detour.

I'll remind the world of the numbers now, 1 to 5:

واحد  اثنان  ثالثة  اربعة  خمسة

Totally engrossed in ModPo

I can't believe it, I am part of a project linked to the University of Pennsylvania. It is an online course on Modern American Poetry. You should see the titles of the discussion threads! Emily Dickinson was the last few days, now we are in Walt Whitman land.

Someone suggested writing poems ourselves in the style of each poet. I couldn't believe I was simply taking blank bamboo paper out of my printer and just writing. I have done 2 in Dickinson's style and 1 in Whitman's style so far. I found myself going out for a nighttime walk in order to prepare for the Whitman one. Very appropriate, all that nature and rain outside our door.

The enthusiasm and openness of the contributors to the threads is so encouraging. I am a very happy person. Please give it a go. The less you know about American literature, history or poetry the better, the more there is to interact with as a fresh mind, taking it all in for the first time.

https://www.coursera.org/

Start of Sept (new blogs since last time)

http://renieddolodge.co.uk/ Feminist blog, because this is still a problem. I can't believe it is still a problem, but maybe it is a problem the way lots of things need to be worked on every day. You don't just polish a window once and it never needs doing again.

http://chitrasudhanagarajan.wordpress.com/ Activism, again, I can't believe I'm reading about the same old crap, some of which I have experienced.

http://midlifebatmitzvah.wordpress.com/ American, empty nester, Jewish, reflective, personal.

http://syriancrisis.wordpress.com/ Syria.

http://www.imtidadblog.com/ I'm sure I used to follow this one, anyway here it is again. Libya.

Festival

It has taken me the full 15 minutes I gave myself to upload this photo. It is of the warm colours of the woollen poncho I bought from the Wallingford Bunk Fest music festival today.

Next year I shall be there for as much as I can be of the 3 day festival. Being outdoors is so good for my face, I can feel it glowing from the sun and fresh air.

The Irish dancing was amazing, so dramatic, loud and boistrous.

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I read some Arabic upside down, and even spotted a typographic error. The words were the answers to an exercise involving first names and I didn't want to turn the book upside down!