As Bon Iver Plays On Radio

I prefer not to mention Facebook in this space. (Although a search reveals that I have referenced that site in several posts.) I post on Facebook at a rate that most people would refer to as often. I do that because I have more tangible evidence of life on Facebook than on my blog. There, there is give and take. There are conversations - like there once were here. I try to write that without sighing in a feeling sorry for self way. It is what it is.

I like writing here - to some extent. The one way mirror phenomenon bothers me, much as it always has.

Why blog?

A dear friend and blog reader has said that my blog has a self selected audience. It's not a phrase I use or am sure I understand, still - it sounds right. I am grateful to G-d for the friends that I have in life, and in particular for those who read me.
In our last speech class of the year (with this semester's group) a student prepared and presented a poem. He introduced it, and from his description I happily guessed that it was this:

i thank You God for most this amazing
By e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)


Another student said that the poem she was about to read was "a persuasive poem." Yes. I will include it at the end of this post.

Another student gave a persuasive speech about the importance of friendship. A great choice and a well done presentation. The number of confidants people have in America is declining rapidly according to her research.

I will miss this exceptional group. Together we created a positive and memorable space/class.

I hope no-one minds too much if I say this: I love my work. My workplace is a major part of my life-community and life. My teaching and counseling are major parts of my meaning and fulfilment in life.

I am about to leave the building for Winter Break. I will miss coming here. I thank G-d for this beautiful blessing in my life.

And now, for now, I leave you with Ruthie's tree poem.

I AM A TREE

By Laleta Davis-Mattis

I am a tree
A tall tall tree
There are many things that I can see
I look above
I look below
So may things that I can show
I see the birds flying high in the skies
Making circles like huge mud pies
And at nights where do they go
On my branches both high and low.

I am a tree
A tall tall tree
There are many things that I can see
I see the snails,
Going oh so slow
Up my trunk , it is their bunk
Then there’s the butterfly
Fluttering through my branches
It feels so good,
It makes me do the crunches

I am a tree
A tall tall tree
There are so many things that I can see
I see the factories billowing out smoke
I see the child ready to choke
I see the garbage flowing down the stream
Oh if you could see
It would make you scream
I see the fisherman with the tiny fish
Oops that can never male a delicious dish.

I am a tree
A tall tall tree
There are so many things that I can see
I see the man, the woman, the boy the girl
I see that the world is in a swirl
I see them , and I see you
Oh I beg, what can you do?
I see the man coming with the saw
To cut me down,
Against that there is no law.

I am a tree
A tall tall tree
There are so many things that I can see
I want to live to tell the tale
Of things happening from mountain to vale
I am a tree
A tall tall tree
There are so many things that I can see
Save the trees, save the earth
We are the guardians of nature’s birth.