some good some bad all too fast

Our school will close in June. Goodbye College Park. I'm not quite believing it yet, but my eyes are wetting up and my nose is scrunching, so it must be real. The School Trustees voted to close 5 of the 8 schools and ours is one. I haven't heard yet which 3 will stay open. There are some with demographics and dangerous walks that would be devastated by closure. I hope those are the ones we get to keep.

College Park is where I met many of my friends and where our kids met theirs. It's a school where every teacher and the janitor and the principal and the secretary know every child, even the younger siblings who aren't at school yet. It's a place where we were helped with gentleness, love and skill, through some of our most confusing and frightening days as parents. I know this could have happened anywhere, but it didn't. It happened at our school. We will miss it very sadly and deeply.

On a happier note, the Main Street Slam was fun last night. There weren't enough people for a competition so we had an open mic. There were some good performances and lots of conversation. It was a mellow evening and we laughed a lot. I'm glad I was there, and not at the School Board meeting.

Even better. I think Dr. Ward finally fixed my tooth. Yesterday he took out and old filling and replaced it. The tooth is cracked, so he said he couldn't guarantee it. If it doesn't work I have to get a root canal (which I hear sounds worse than it actually is). This morning I ate a really cold pear right out of the fridge, and I didn't go through the roof. I'm hopeful it will stay good. I like my teeth. I like to chew with both sides of my mouth. I like pears and apples. I like Dr. Ward.

Tonight is the strata meeting. This issue is about "common property." Specifically who pays if a pipe bursts in your wall - you or the strata's insurance. It has implications for spending, insurance and power and control. If I can get through tonight, the rest of the week should be a piece of cake (I hope).

Best of all, Dagmar at CBC says "yeah" to my Made In Canada Poem. I have whittled it down to under 4 minutes and will now memorize it. Show's Monday at 8pm at Cafe Deux Soleils.

Now I must walk the dog in the snow and maybe hug some neighbours as they walk their kids up to our school.

question: what would you miss if it was closed?

mompoet - piece of my heart at College Park Elementary

our schools

To the Board of School Trustees,

It's early Tuesday morning when I write this email, but you probably know that the word has been out since Monday. We have heard that the recommendation will be to close 7 of the eight schools, leaving Moody Elementary open. We have heard further that College Park School will be closed, but will be used for the coming school year as a satellite to Seaview, while seismic upgrades take place there.

While we're all talking about it like it's already been decided, there's still the hope that you may not vote in favour of the recommendations.

While I have not led the charge this year in our neighbourhood, I have followed this round of school consolidation discussions closely. It's clear that the needs of the children for local schools with safe walks hasn't changed. In several of the areas, population projections have been plausibly challenge. Valid options have been suggested for increasing enrollment and mixing uses at schools so that they may be kept open. The benefit of small, neighbourhood schools has been reinforced, by both scientific research and personal experience.

Surely, from all of this process, you will conclude more than just "We gave everyone a chance to say their piece before we closed their schools." Surely a plausible case has been made to keep some of these schools open, at least a few more years to see if the alternative population projections presented and creative solutions proposed will work.

Tonight will be one of the hardest nights of your careers as School Trustees. I appreciate your work, and hope that you will show us all that our schools are worth saving, and that the process has been one of collaboration, done in the best interest of our children and families.

Respectfully,

.....

question: did you ever hope against hope?

mompoet - joining in the final effort to convince otherwise

thinking about church signs

My friend Irene Livingston just pointed me to a website for making your own church sign image. It's cool and fun to play with, and it got me thinking about the mixed feelings I have been having about signs in front of churches. I have noticed that many Christian churches have moveable letter signs. The Catholic churches I have seen tend to have Bible quotations or information about what time the service is, or an ad for an upcoming church event. Protestant churches are more likely to have very short jokes (you don't get very many letters on one of those signs). Sometimes the joke is funny, but often it makes me feel uncomfortable because I get the sense it's using humour to impose an opinion and say "We're right, you know, heh heh heh.."

I've posted recently about the sign at our church that I found offensive enough that I requested it be changed. (In case you missed the post, it said "A closed mouth gathers no foot," which I thought could be construed to discourage people from speaking up for what they think is right). Today our church sign reads "Life is a journey, let faith be your guide." In the summer it said "This church is prayer-conditioned." Humorous sayings on church signs are intended to be friendly and to convey an image that the people who worship here don't take themselves too seriously or worship too formally for newcomers to feel welcome. The intention is good, I know. At their best, church joke signs can convey a hokey/folksy image that is probably non-threatening to most readers. Inspirational messages like the faith journey one tend to be nice and gentle and welcoming too.

But sometimes I worry that these signs say the opposite of what we mean them to, when read by someone who does not agree with the way we practise our faith. I found some examples on google images. These and this and
this. You get the idea. On the one hand, it's funny. On the other hand, you're laughing and thinking, well, now I just agreed because I laughed so I must be wrong if I don't really agree, and apparently, stop-drop-and-roll won't help me.

So I guess this all goes to say that I don't think church signs are the greatest idea, when we try to use them to make a point by being funny. Sure, it's part of what we Christians do, to spread the word of God, but I prefer it when we're very careful and sensitive in the way we do it. I think it's more effective to tell people what we're about by what we do in the community and as families and individuals, rather than with a clever arrangement of moveable letters.

So that's my church sign at the top of the post, made at the church sign generator website.

I hope you like it, but it's okay if you don't.

question: what are your thoughts on this?

mompoet - in favour of a road that is wide open for journeys of many kinds

I think this is funny

I was reading Mike McGee's post about favourite all time weep-inducing movies and I got to thinking about some of my favourites. The best ones make me laugh and cry all in one movie. That led me to some youtube sleuthing and I found this, which did not make me cry, except when I think about how I miss John Candy.




question: Do you think Tootsie was classic? or a piece of fluff?

mompoet - Dorothy - D-O-R-O-T-H-Y - Dorothy!

ps - Is that Martin Short as Dustin Hoffman?

Sunday Sunday

It's Sunday evening at 7:15. I'm sitting at the computer waiting for yahoo let me send out a few more emails to the Vancouver Poetry House email list (we're promoting the CBC Face Off and our AGM, and yahoo limits you to x number of emails per hour). I know we could switch to "groups" but it's clunkier and the messages aren't as pretty. And I have the time to putter while I wait for yahoo's clock to pass the magic hour and let me send some more.

Andy and the kids are watching the Academy Awards. I'm listening from the kitchen and letting them call me in if something interesting happens. So far, not too much. I did go in to see the freakish "Hollywood Sound Effects Choir," a group of performers in evening dress, making car, train and plane sounds (with some screaming) to match a movie montage projected behind them. They were all wearing headseats and looking grave, and being directed by a very intense looking conductor. What the huh??? Ah well, Ellen Degeneres looks slick in her red velvet blazer. I like Ellen. There's a bit of extra fun watching this year, knowing we stood on that very stage in August, looking out at the rows of seats, some with cardboard movie stars sitting in them. Looks like most of the stars are real tonight.

I am feeling pretty good about the CBC Poetry Face Off, having mostly completed my poem. I'm so grateful for all of the quirky, original, and heartfelt contributions that I received, and confident that I have made the poem my own. If I play my cards right I'll be able to thank my helpers in my intro moment. Thanks especially to Mom, Dad and Irene, who have been reading my drafts and bouncing them back at me with loving and honest criticism. What a blessing to have fluff-busters and quizzle-zappers who love me, ready to help when I ask.

Today I took Fi and her friend to an audition. On the way, they treated me to their specialty "one bar" singing. We play a backing track on the cd player and the girls sing a song together, alternating bar by bar, first one voice, then the other. This requires a lot of skill and coordination. When they get it right and they're really in synch, their two voices sound like a single voice. It's a treat to observe how well they know one another to be able to do this. When they start to lose it, it has to be the funniest thing you have ever heard, frantic and jerky and ridiculous. I love it.

So now I'm partly looking forward to the week ahead and partly dreading it, which is a Sunday evening thing for me. Weekend's almost over and I'm standing on the tip of the diving board, looking down to everything I'm about to do and see and be. Highlights will include the new Main Street Slam on Tuesday evening. Hurdles include our strata AGM on Wednesday, where there's a big contentious issue coming up. The big question/dread this week will be Tuesday's announcement of school closures. I'm still hoping that College Park Elementary will get another reprieve, but when I look at the other schools on the list, several communities stand to lose more than ours will if their schools are closed. I'll try to stay optimistic. Oh, and I'm getting a filling in my tooth on Tuesday morning. That's going to be a doozie of a day.

I think if I just breathe through my vision of the week and picture Thursday morning, everything will be okay. In the meantime, I have a poem to learn, a family to love and friends all around who give me tenderness and support whenever I need it. Even with the hurdles, life is pretty sweet.

question: what's the week looking like for you?

mompoet - yahoo-bound

coming up for air (aka procrastinating)

I am trying to write my CBC Poetry Face Off poem today. The theme is "Made in Canada." I would like to say that I am taking a long time because I have tried a different approach, but I think it's more like I have tried a different approach because I needed to take a long time. The deadline for submitting my poem to the show's producer is Monday morning. The Face Off is one week later on March 5 at 8pm at Cafe Deux Soleils in Vancouver. My approach has been pretty Canadian I think. I know my own ideas, but that's "just my experience," so I have asked for input. I have talked/emailed/written to about 50 Canadians (neither a representative nor scientific sample, but an interesting one) about their personal reflections on what it is to be Canadian. My poem will include as much of this information as I can fit, and part of the problem is that I have enough material for four poems, when I have only 4 minutes for my performance, including recognizing the contributors. At the moment, all I know for sure about the poem is that it begins with a nosebleed and ends with a whispered promise. Somewhere in the middle there are fiddleheads and universal medical care.

For other research, I have watched a bunch of contemporary Canadian films. Last night's pick was one I missed at the Port Moody festival - Atom Egoyan's Sabah which was stunning and delicious. Interestingly, it's available in the Foreign Films section at Roger's video, which has something to say about Canada, but I'm not sure what. I have dipped into my copy of the Canadian Encyclopedia (2000 edition) and done some internet research on David Oppenheimer (just to be sure). My friend Jim McKnight just read some of my poetry from the new Shoreline Chapbook and called my work "soft rants." Probably my CBC poem will be another such. I intend to infuse it with feelings of love, pride and curiosity.

Speaking of films, I have not forgotten my promise to view An Awfully Big Adventure as suggested by "anonymous" after I posted my negative opinion of Hugh Grant as an actor. I'm eager to challenge my own personal prejudice in this regard, but I can't find a copy at the local libraries or video stores. If anyone reading this has it in his/her personal collection and wouldn't mind loaning it to me, I'd be most grateful. I'll pay postage if needed.

Another aspect to my procrastination is the fact that after several months of writing pretty much nothing, three or four poem ideas are bobbing at the surface, demanding attention. For now I must tell Tom Jones, moms embarrassing teenagers, fantasies about germs on doorknobs and Pluto and the middle school science curriculum to STAY PUT! (You'll have your turns soon.)

So now I've blurted my blog and drank a cup of chai tea. I have always wanted to drink chai tea then do tai chi (or vice versa), but there's no time for tai chi today. I have a poem to write.

question: what do you do when you need to procrastinate?

mompoet - bla bla bla

ps - what's one notch more assertive than "self-deprecating?"
self-effacing?
maybe there's a clue in the antonym list for self-absorbed?

the things you see when you look up

question: in which direction are you looking today?

mompoet - observing

tug of war time

For the next few weeks, spring grapples with winter like some insistent alarm clock waking a drowsy sleeper. Getup getup getup. How many times can I hit the snooze button?

It's Lent now, and I'm thinking about Easter (the Bible and the bunny). This will be our second Easter without a trip to Cranbrook. Next year, Barb and her family will be home so we can go there again. That's a rite of spring for me, and I miss it, and them.

At our church we focus more on giving out than giving up at Lent. Families are encouraged to recognize and appreciate the comfort and security in our everyday lives, and mark this appreciate with small, personal gifts of charity. It's a gentle way to go into Easter, and meaningful to us at home.

Crocuses are poking through the cold, damp soil in the garden, while the air chills again and the snowline plunges lower on the mountains. I'll keep my snowtires on the car for a while, but these days I'm using my umbrella more frequently than my ice scraper.

We have begun the countdown and plan-making for spring break.

Both children are selecting high school courses for next year. And Alex will go to a college open house next weekend. Next year is his last in high school, so it's time to make plans for what's next.

The buds are ready to bloom, but the chill prevails. I think I'll sleep for five more minutes.

question: how's spring looking for you?

mompoet - reluctant

wordless (but some numbers)

slam-bo

I went to the Van Slam last night. It's been such a long time since I competed there, that I decided to be in it. I performed my ice cream flavours poem which is a very hard one to remember and I did lose it partway through but it was okay. I got lots of appreciation, but low scores. That's okay. It's not a slam poem really, but I really wanted to see if I could do it, having forgotten my way with the same poem at the Summer Dreams Reading festival (for which I originally wrote it). Now I think I can put it back in the freezer for a while. Although it did make me feel kind of hungry.

It was a fun night at the slam. Brendan McLeod featured. He is so smart and talented and funny. I wished the feature slot was longer. I could have listened to another song and another poem easily. We also had a bit of a surprise for our beloved slam host, RC Weslowski, who everyone thought had decided to quit slam. So, headed up by famous poet and good friend Sean McGarrgle, a few of us cooked up this lovely/absurd and moderately profane 10 minute group piece tribute to RC. He seemed to enjoy it, then he told us at the end that he was still going to slam, just not try out for the team again. Oh. Well, I think it was a good thing anyway. My friend Irene says that you should never think a compliment and let it go unsaid. If you do, it's wasted. So expressing sincere affection, even if we got the motivation a bit wrong is always a good thing to do. It felt good to be part of that.

In the morning I felt surprising un-tired. At work I bored through many more layers of budget, and started up a cooking program for Grades 1-3 children, which was fun. Tonight I'm going to the ugly school closure meeting. Perhaps someone will stand up on the stage and initiate a group piece tribute to one of the school trustees, but I doubt it. I think it's guaranteed grimness and sorrow for at least 3 hours. Cathy and me, we're bringing lawn chairs and hot tea and seating ourselves strategically so we can leave when the time is right.

Next week I'll go to the new slam at the Cottage Bistro. It's on Tuesday the 27th. Sean and co-host Trevor Spilchen have invited me to be one of the competing poets. Then the week after that it's the CBC Poetry Face Off. I am still juggling poem-bits thinking about that one. Getting back in the game with 2 slams before it should help me feel good going in. And spending more time playing with the nourishing community that is Van Slam and VanPoHouse are definitely good for my soul.

I must go now to eat supper, boil tea and find the lawn chair. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Nope, not now. It's time for politics.

question: what's your favourite ice cream?

mompoet - a little scattered but mostly coherent

A strange new twist in the school closure saga

Late last week, two of our District 43 School Trustees, Keith Watkins and John Keryluk, called for a halt to the school closure process. Here's the news story.

In the meantime, meetings at local schools are now over, and we have a big meeting hosted by the school trustees that has got so big they've expanded it to two nights. Originally scheduled for Tuesday Feb 20, it will now run on both the 20th and the 21st. Eighty-two speakers were scheduled at deadline time. After these meetings, the trustees will deliberate. Their decision on the fate of 8 elementary schools will be announced on February 27.

I checked in last night with Reece Harding, the College Park parent who is heading up the fight to keep our little school open. Reece told me that the official reps for the 8 school Parent Advisory Councils are scheduled first on Tuesday, followed by the remaining speakers over the course of the two nights. Speakers will not be clustered by neighbourhood or school. I think our PAC is #5. Reece is #32, and there will be other speakers from our community throughout. Reece recommended that we attend on Tuesday, but either night should be good for supporting our speakers. And every presenter should be compelling.

Other speakers of note include two Port Moody City Councillors. Our mayor reports that district staff and trustees have refused to meet with him or other reps from our city. The city, understandably, wants to keep all of its schools (3 Port Moody Schools are on the block). Our councillors seem to be of the opinion that the district's enrolment projections are pessimistic.

As for our little school, if it closes, the kids will be assigned to Seaview Elementary School, a few blocks to the south. This much larger school is less than half full, so it will easily accommodate as many of our kids as do end up going there. One hitch: Seaview is scheduled for a major seismic upgrade in 2007-8. Most of the kids there already will be moved out to portable classrooms for a good part of the school year. So if College Park is closed and our kids move over, they'll face the double disruption of changing schools and learning in temporary classrooms within a de-stabilized school community for most of their first year.

From a dollars and cents point of view, the answer is clear cut: close as many schools as we can and move the kids to fill other schools with empty classrooms, thus saving money on heat, light, maintenance, equipment and administration. From a community point of view, and a social perspective, it's not as easy. A neighbourhood school is something special in the life of a community. Children and families rely on it as a base for learning, living and growing, and not just within the curriculum or school programs. While your kids are there, the school is a centre of family and community life. It will be hard to see some of these bases eliminated, and difficult for those affected to re-establish roots in newly-shaped community groupings.

The next ten days will be very stressful for everyone. I hope that there will be some happy resolution. It's certain that some schools will be closed. I don't wish it for our school, but neither do I wish it for any others.

I have a piece of art given to me by one of our students 4 years ago when we won the fight to keep College Park open. On the back it says "Thank you for saving our school." I'm going to take it to the meeting Tuesday and give it to Reece. No matter what the outcome, this effort has shown the strength of the bonds in our small community. That is something precious indeed.

question: how do you solve a problem like school funding?

mompoet - sad about change

more port moody film festival

Saturday I spent the day in the theatre. In the morning, I saw the "Community Shorts" show - five short films from around BC - all good! After the showing, there was a cafe discussion, with people who worked on some of the films. That was interesting too. After lunch I saw "Whole New Thing," a coming of age movie set in Nova Scotia. It was great. I felt like I had indulged in a very luxurious day.

In the evening there were more good films, but I'd had enough. We went out for supper with my Mom and Dad, who recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They didn't want a big party, so we had a nice Thai supper out and dessert back at our place.

Today there are more films, and also Shoreline Writers in the afternoon and church in the morning. I have a hankering for home, though, and I'm trying to memorize a poem, so maybe I'll go to the show, maybe I'll stay home. We'll see. For sure this evening is Sunday supper and home with the family. We all need home base on Sunday evening to get ready for the week ahead.

question: laundry or cinema?

mompoet - wishing I could be two places at the same time

okay fess up!

Who signed me up for the Immodium email list? I just got a coupon for $2 off?

question: would I do that to you?

mompoet - usually regular and intestinally stable

haiku movie reviews

Eve and the Fire Horse

jesus and buddah
sweep eve in living room waltz
young girl sees the light


Souvenir of Canada

we must be more than
stubby bottles and long roads
may our house stand strong

Canadian Movies

Its the Port Moody Film Festival this weekend. This year's festival is all Canadian works. There are so many intriguing offerings, I wish I could just go to every one, but there are other things to do, so I'll have to choose. Last night I saw Eve and The Fire Horse, and attended the opening Popcorn Gala. It was sold out by the time we went to buy tickets, but we got in on standby. What a good movie that was! I'll post a haiku review separately.

At home this morning in my pajamas, I watched Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada, also very good.

So I think I have a theme going this weekend.

question: appreciated anything Canadian lately?

mompoet - O CANADA!

ps - It was very funny to see the priest in Eve and the Firehorse played by Alan Cedergreen who was our "Widow Twanky" in the Aladdin Panto this Christmas.

snowdrops

Who signed up for "Poetry?" I thought this was "Myths!"

Valentine's Day was Literacy Day at the middle school. One of the grade 6/7 teachers asked if I could come do a poetry session with a group of students. The format of the day was pretty nice - the kids could sign up for things like "love story writing" "scattergories" "improv" and "myths." My presentation was poetry.

Last year I was fortunate to book slam champions Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod to come with me to do the presentation. They had the kids on fire with a combination of performance, discussion and exercises. There was definitely some magic happening. My presentation was a bit closer to teacher/mom style, because that's who I am, but I think they had fun, and they did write some pretty good stuff.

Here are a couple of impressions:

• If you love math, "The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides" is poetry.
• my apple smells like secrets
• sometimes it's hard to remember all of the five senses
• the word "loins" is funny to 11 year olds
• the noisiest, unruliest kids wrote the most poetry and some of the coolest lines
• if you are a grade 6/7 teacher on a day filled with chocolate and budding hormones, you are a very hard-working person
• I like kids

The kids also shared their impressions of Canada with me, as I gather ideas from lots of Canadians for my CBC poem.

Fifteen minutes into the hour I was sweating. By the end I felt very satisfied. Next year I hope I can book some slam heroes again. That would be fun to do one more time.

question: where do you find poetry?

mompoet - I found it in a room that smelled like stinky running shoes

Left brain left! Right brain right! Left brain...

Yesterday was a big day at work. We had a major special event in the morning, then I crunched the budget in the afternoon.

Right Brain Morning

Working with a team from parks and rec, public health, community schools and some other good people, I helped host our annual Healthy Kids Preschool Fair. We took over a big community centre and organized checks of vision, speech, hearing, nutrition etc with health nurses, as well as exhibits by all kinds of organizations dedicated to helping kids and families grow up healthy. As one of the parks people, I was focussed on the fun stuff - crazy hat-making, fish pond, face painting and balloon twisting. I also coordinated the volunteers. We get students from the high school, people whose fitness classes have been cancelled for the day to make way for the fair and some wonderful seniors. We think about 300 people attended. It was a lot of fun. My favourite was helping the volunteer at the fishpond for a while. You should have seen the children's faces when they threw the "hook" into the pond, then there was a tug on the line and pop! a surprise! The whole morning felt like a great big birthday parties with lots of aunties and uncles hosting together - for a serious good cause.


Left Brain Afternoon

Then there was the afternoon. We've just switched the whole city over to a new automated office system for HR, finance etc. It's massive and we're all learning and adjusting to new ways of doing just about every administrative task. And now it's budget time. Everything is different, and everyone is anxious to get it right. On top of that, my co-workers are (one) off with a sick child and (two) off with a broken foot, so I volunteered to do three budgets. Well, I just closed my office door and crunched and crunched. I actually love numbers and figuring out new things, although I procrastinate and avoid it for a bit before I take the plunge. Having already worked on it all day Friday, I picked it back up and finished the darned thing. I still have to double-check my work, but I think it's done. It's like learning a new language, thought. I'm still not sure I haven't said something totally ridiculous without know it. Ah well.

I was glad to come home at the end of that day, enjoy a nice supper with my family and crash early. Both sides of my brain worked well for me. That's a good feeling.

question: which side of your head works most often at your work?

mompoet - cranium like a geranium

and now for valentine's day, a cat being licked by two cows

Here's the link from Cute Overload

question: have you ever been licked by a cow?

mompoet - Happy Valentine's Day

wordless

snort!

(in sign language) thanks dooce!