May news

Well May has been an interesting month for me.  It has been like a sea saw with highs and lows. 

I have found that there is a lot to be said for really praying for spiritual strength everyday because you just never know what is going to happen.  I have had to experience people with unbridled anger who think this is an okay way to respond to the world and other people and had two days where I just had to stay at home and pray before venturing out to the world once more.  Thankfully I did not express any anger back but tried to understand where it comes from and knew it was not directed to me personally but still !

On another note I have become very active on Today's woman an online writer's community.  I am loving it.  I can post poems a few times a week and get feedback from other readers.  I got a nominated poem the other day and got a little on line trophy for it.  Ace my first ever trophy, even if it was virtual.  I have even written some new poems. 

The kids go to little Aths every week and strive to do personal bests.  Julie Dali has 10 pbs, Atticus 4 pbs and Max doesn't get timed yet, but apparently is a great shot putter and putted further than his sister.  Perhaps we have a field eventer in the family.  He also likes to come and try every field event!  He is only four and I think he might be the sporty one, but parental mantra – do not stereotype.

The clan are all still footytipping except me. Sorry Tish, maybe next year I will do a team effort with Atticus. 

 I have taken up practicing long jump again at little aths at the end- I love landing in the pit.

 We are on a family walk campaign and ventured out twice last week.  Maybe next week we'll up it. 

 Hawkeye is a bit ill today.  He is busy preparing for a teacher review too, and marking exams.  Yesterday he was helping a distance ed student doing uni chemistry.

 Atticus is coming along on the French horn now – and he also is begging to do the piano again so we'll see.  Max does "practice on the piano" playing along with things.  I am making sure he holds his little hands right and maybe when he is older we'll see.

Julie Dali, well she is sparky, but has been getting colds once a fortnight, and had a shocking one a couple of weeks ago.  Yuk!!! But now she is on the mend.  I think the stress of Larry Cyclone is still causing people's immune systems some havoc, although someone said we are new to town so the kids will get all the bugs. 

Stay well everyone. 

News – Celebrate Dad project begins

From May to August 2006 I will be surfing flickr for inspirational photographs of fathers and their kids.  I will then contact the photographers for permission to publish their photographs to my internet spaces (all non profit for me and done for fun) and give a written response to each selected image on the theme of fatherhood. 

Then just before Father's day I will let all my family, friends and the kind photographers, know to come and have a look at this celebration in image and words so they can remember and if they chose also share great things about their Dad, whether they are living or passed away. Included in this blog are just a few samples from the beginning of the project. 

Dad and Son Tibet – next poem arriving soon for Celebrate Dad project.

Dad and Son, originally uploaded by flydown.

Dad Japan

dad japan, originally uploaded by Amanda McPherson.

Dad Japan

Dad James Bond

Dad of Dads

Dad Korea

Dad of homecomings

Dad we miss

Dad the peacekeeper

Dad the hero

Dad my Dad

Dad Japan

Words June Perkins

These words from Amanda on her photograph.

"dad japan
my dad in japan during a break from his tour of duty in korea. this was during the vietnam war. he was going for james bond."

Image Courtesy Amanda McPherson (C) Amanda McPherson on 18 May '05, 11.02am PDT. All rights reserved

Fatherhood in Shanghai

Old Town 15, originally uploaded by A Glimpse of the World.

Image Courtesy Howard French. (C) All rights Reserved Howard French, 25th May 2006.

Dad's Shoulder

Standing on the shoulders of the giants we called Dad

We were happy with a gentle lean as we grew older

They grew shorter as we grew taller

While in our own footsteps we were bolder

In every street from Shang Hai to Sydney

We heard that there were absent Dads, stay at home Dads

Go out to work Dads, never seen before Dads

We knew we were the lucky ones

Who did not have to go digging the Gold fields of love

Words June Perkins

Fatherhood in Dubai

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nas-city/58633104/, originally uploaded by nascity.

Image Courtesy Nascity (C) All rights reserved 2006. Nascity , Dubai

There is something in the nurturing touch

that has nought but purity about it

tender and caring it straightens,

tends

helps the child to grow.

Without such sweetly given gifts

the child shivers in the cold of its sunlight

and glow so

dear Fathers learn from Midas

turn your thoughts

not to what you lost the day they were born

but rather what you gained.

Words June Perkins

fishing childhood

fishing childhood, originally uploaded by gumbootspearlz.

Fatherhood in North Queensland, Australia

father and sons, originally uploaded by gumbootspearlz.

Quotes on Archives in the Land

Compilation of quotes from Visitors to Archives in the Land

It looks wonderful. I like the way you say that every bit of land is an archive; and that the tree is within me and I am within the tree (A higher concept of oneness!)- Ananthan , Sydney.
 

I checked out your website with the Archives of the land, and Talking to trees. It is beautiful! I found it very inspiring, and felt the urge to paint!
I thought i can't go on holidays now, is have to paint!!!! I really liked "here in this tree", almost like it is put to music. (Simon and Garfunkel could make a catchy tune out of it i am sure), But all the other poetry is really nice too.It made me visualize the light of the sun shimmering through the nice green leaves of the summer trees.That is good because it is still cold here and the trees are without leaves.

The daffodils have only just stuck out their tiny cold noses out of the soil and await warmer times ….
- Paulien, Netherlands

Thank you very much for sending me your exhibition it is really inspiring!! And the whole page is so well done. the children and their boots look great! I will pass it around to friends if this is OK with you.
- Velda, Townsville.

"Pleasing to the eye. quite impressive and should be quite popular in Baha'i internet circles and other places as well here in Australia and overseas."  - Ron, Tasmania.  "Lovely works!!! It brought what was missing to my lonely day"
- Farid, Sydney.

"It looks like you are enjoying your new environment and finding time to be creative in it. "
- Karen, Brisbane.

I've taken a quick look at the exhibition on the blog and love the gumboots, etc. Do you mind if I put a link to your blog on the ……. website on the 'Toplinks' page" I also have some friends who I know would love to see it. - Sharon, New South Wales

These are beautiful collages, highly evocative. They sing.
- Ingereth

beautiful echo-y images. I love the effect of combining images. Like our snippeted childhood memories. A scent of a wattle tree mixed with waiting for my older sister to come home from school. A cold slate tile underfoot and rubbing fingers along the ridges of my corduroy trousers. These photos remind me there never one memory not linked to another. Thanks  - QCAN Member

The Archives in the Land can be found in the sidebar RSS feeds, go visit and leave your comments if you wish.  Thanks (:

Soul

I once wrote a poem using the word "soul" and was told it was a cliche to use the word soul.

On a website that collects photographs they said that photographic cliches were
sunsets and flowers and large amounts of photographs of your own children.

Sometimes if you write a poem too long it can trail off into a last line you did not need, which can sometimes be its cliche nature.

So what of poems of soul?

"Soul"- hmm I think jazz, melancholy, soulman, cool, blue, happy, joy, spirit, religion, spirit, Christianity, heaven, God, music, heart, song, opera, saxaphone, trumpet, guita, Picasso blue, Abha kingdom, peace, virtues, birth, walking, running, tap dancing, rhythmn and the comment of a person who said soul is a cliche.

Offering the light of tenderness

Offering the light of tenderness, originally uploaded by a moment in time.

these are the moments we unfold
like the scent of sandalwood and frangapani and the green tree frog
hiding under the window blinds

i am transfixed by this image of leaping out from the waves of cyberspace and leading me to catch the
moments with my children
with my partner

to unfold the lotus of my soul
and let it breath out the colour
pink, orange and yellow

thank you i say to the image poets
who unfold their sight click by click

(Go visit the Moments in Time photostream – you'll enjoy the images.)

Beachcomber

"Beachcomber" by June Perkins


Once this post was poem coming soon, now it has arrived.

Will it change?  I will wait and see.

beachcomber wanders about

remembers sitting out on the edge to

ride out the storm surges

now he looks for shells but must not touch

the hermit crab in his home or he brings

death on a small scale

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Conversations with Creative Souls 1

(Image Mark Perry in On the Rooftop with Bill Sears)

 

Mark Perry on Drama Circles

The other big thing is the “Drama Circle”—a course that combines theater training with spiritual principles as enunciated in the Bahá’í writings. We’re working now with junior youth, and the results so far are very promising. The name “Drama Circle” most simply comes from the idea of a study circle teaching drama. The principle of the circle though is inherent in my view of this kind of work.

Extract from interview Mark Perry’s Story – Drama Circles and On a Rooftop with Bill Sears

Mark: I’m serving a life sentence in drama as far as I can tell. As I recall, I first got bit by the theater bug at twelve when I saw my Junior High school’s production of "My Fair Lady. " I was in awe of the phenomenon of theater, the magic that was going on in the room. The next year I tried out for the musical, and that was that. My mother claims that when I was six, we went to see a play and I told her “that’s what I’m going to do with my life.” I don’t remember that far back. I’m now 35, have a B.A. in theater arts, and an MFA in playwriting. I live in a university town in North Carolina (in the south of the United States.) I teach playwriting part time for the university and elsewhere. The rest of the time, I’m either writing or doing something with the Faith. (Or goofing off, flitting from one distraction to the other, but I’m really trying to stop that.:-) So I write and teach mostly, but I also act and direct, and by necessity produce.

June: What led to the creation of the Drama Circle concept? Can you tell me the story of it?

Mark: I started the Drama Circle officially in 2002 with the immediate goal of producing “A Dress for Mona” here in North Carolina. It had been my thesis play from graduate school and had just been published, and I felt if no one else was going to produce it, I should, and so I did… with lots of help.Since then, we’ve also produced the Bill Sears play and sponsored a couple of playwriting contests. The other big thing is the “Drama Circle”—a course that combines theater training with spiritual principles as enunciated in the Bahá’í writings. We’re working now with junior youth, and the results so far are very promising. The name “Drama Circle” most simply comes from the idea of a study circle teaching drama. The principle of the circle though is inherent in my view of this kind of work.

For the full interview with Mark Perry the founder of Drama Circles click on the following link Interview with Mark Perry

News from Divine Notes – First Baha’i Musical Ebook

Wildfire: Reflections on Music, Drama & Dance
By Istvan Dely

Juxta Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of its first Baha'i musical e-book.

Wildfire is the product of the author's experiences and reflections in the service and teaching fields with a great number of national communities and institutes, raising sensitive issues of the arts and artists in the present stage of our collective learning process and trying to find answers in the Writings and the authoritative Guidance of the Baha'i Faith.

Wildfire is an essential companion for anyone interested in incorporating the arts with core and other Baha'i activities. Read the narrative, see the images and listen to the music that emerges through the author's experiences and interactions in this first Baha'i musical e-book by Juxta.

To download a copy of this inspiring work visit: www.juxta.com or www.divinenotes.com

Submitted by Tahirih at Divine Notes