In Someone Else's Shoes

I just caught the tail-end of it as I turned on the radio 

to help keep me awake during my long morning drive to the classroom.

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  A local high school history teacher 

had made history with his class

on the anniversary of 9/11

by giving his students a writing exercise. 

source unknown

These young people were instructed to reflect 

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on what they had remembered about this 

particular day

and then were challenged to put themselves in  

someone else's shoes
 

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and write diary entries from the 

perspective of someone directly 

affected by the attacks.

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One of his students wrote from the point of view of a passenger 

on board one of the hijacked planes. 

The entry reads as follows:

"As I look at my husband and say, 

'I love you' 

I feel my baby kick for the first 

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and

last time." 

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Make every moment count.

Photo credit links are provided under photos 

Minnesota Public Radio MPR Radio story can be found here

What a Treat

Of all the goodies waiting for them on 

the first day of school

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it is remarkable to think that 

I 

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am the one they've been waiting to see

all summer long.

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My dear friends and readers,

my students come back to school on Tuesday and I just want to let 

you know that my summer correspondence with you has been

A REAL TREAT.

If I'm late in visiting you just know that I am

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and I will be a bit tardy in visiting you! 

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OH! The bell's a ringin'


Off I go...

Photo Credits:

Erasers from blog: One Charming Party
Photographer Nicole Hull Gerulat

Little Girl at Desk: Kara May Photography

Back to School sign - Sweet Southern Prep

School Teacher - Nulook

En Retard - Tumblr

Breakfast At Tiffanys

I couldn't put it down.

 

I finally sat down long enough

 

to experience the bite of the unknown

and chilling plunge

into the

first chapter.

Then, as if they had a say in the whole affair

the stringed lights in my garden

flickered in dim unison

like children joined hand-in-hand

whimsically chanting summer's 

END.

BUT

the tale endures.


For it is in the HEART of the story 


where the treasures are found

that ignite the joy

of knowing that the dreams of a child

and the insecurities of an adolescent

can flower into the wisdom of an adult.

Because when you follow the story of your life just remember that

My summer holiday is over 

but the plot thickens.

My students and I are waiting 

to learn that

So before I start on 

my way back to the classroom

 
I just want to tell you that 

Thank you

for a summer of 

letters

laughter

gift exchanges

emails

Skype 

and most of all for the confidence that I can collaborate

with you in creating a place to

forget the troubles of the world 


in order to remember 


what is close to your heart.

Anita

Photo Credits: Pinterest

               Tumblr

Sketches of children and Audrey Hepburn: Anita Castles Crowns and Cottages ©

Breathe It All In

I could feel it under my feet

while the fingers that dodged hammers to build

me 

a playhouse that summer

and that deftly 

upholstered furniture from nine to five 

fluttered over ivory stairs 

to the moon.

I heard every calculated measure and responded

 as Claude Debussy transformed mathematical form

into

MOONSHINE.

 But as my daddy played his piano

my young eyes would fill with wonder.

And to this day

my spent eyes well with tears

as I play

yet wonder still

WHAT WAS HE THINKING
 
when he composed

Clair de Lune?

 
Did Debussy behold

the Paris sky

and witness what I cannot see?

I believe he would he say to me,


"If you could only see what I hear."

I will never know what moved him.

But I do know that an artist just simply needs to 

Don't just breathe.

LIVE 

and love forever.


You MUST visit Dawne at Quiddity 2 who kindly allowed me to use her WHIMSICAL and original images of the Paris moon. Just click HERE to see more of her photography and travel log. It is a must-see!

MERCI BEAUCOUP DAWNE 

and my subheader is from her Pinterest board, too! 

OTHER PHOTO CREDITS: 

Pinterest

I am blessed

Just Be Splendid

             

There's Room For Us All

Wouldn't it be a thrill if one day 

someone went shopping 

and came home with a parcel that they were eager to unwrap

that wasn't

a MUST-HAVE in the latest color

or a great pair of shoes

but rather

one of my 

published books?

Oh! 

To have my verse officially in print

enveloped and validated

standing at attention amongst other voices

waiting in line to be heard 

and sampled with sweet surprise.

But one August evening

I lowered my eyes from the clouds of high hopes

and fixed my gaze on the reality of each calculated step towards

room 325.

The relaxed mood of the room 
for the writers' soirée 


allayed my fears as I wandered in and 

wondered if

there would be room for me in this group of

new as well as experienced writers 

who came and went as the tide

casting their collections of 

diverse observations


and then
 ebbing into the night of the duty that calls.

I initially feathered in like a thin blank page caught in the wind

of blemished perception.

But I left CHANGED

as forgotten locals

were remembered by a published urban poet.

Some one's grandmother crisply read her romantic 

short story  

ready for submission to a nationwide magazine.
 
I gave constructive feedback.


We connected.

Maybe one day I'll publish something. Anything.

And maybe I won't.

But in the end, it doesn't matter

because if I

 

I will have lived to learn 

that 

there is room for us all. 

Please visit the talented artist, Patricia Cabrera at Woolytales Miniatures to see her latest creation of The Black Swan for which I wrote a guest post. She is gifted and her work says it all. Thank you, my friend, for allowing me the honor.


Photo Credits:

Pinterest:

Tumblr

Little Brown Pen

Brown Dress with Polka Dots