This small space is my writing room, a place for open thought, somewhere for styles and ideas to grow, where imagination will be caught.

The Year of Very Little TV

televisionHarry Cunningham will still be on my list of things to watch. I mean Silent Witness. Even when the story lines get a bit too much about the pathologists private lives and then getting way more involved in a police investigation that I can believe they do in real life, even then I’ll still watch. It’s an escape. Hmm, an escape into blood, guts and murder. Cool.

So, I’ll still watch that, and I might keep up with a couple of other ABC beauties like Moone Boy (it’s laugh out loud hilarity, you should try it!) But really, I think I’ll give most other things the arse. I used to try to stay up to date with Grey’s Anatomy until the characters got way too pathetic and annoying. However I’d still watch for a while, getting increasingly annoyed in order to…avoid doing whatever else it was I was supposed to be doing of course!

You see, things don’t get done if you don’t do them. Oh bloody hell, listen to me would you! Wise Woman of the Year! :) Well, it’s true. If you keep having the idea that you want to write more, and you don’t actually make the time, then it doesn’t happen, no matter how much you want it or how good you think you will be. (I’ll be brilliant  - just wait). So I’m giving most TV the arse. I don’t think I’ll miss much.  Harry and I will still see each other, and I’ll make time for Rob of House Stark when the time comes. But I’ll also try to make friends with some books. I’ve got one about travelling to Fairyland that I’m yet to finish and one about a ship’s King that is appealing. Can’t remember the last time I got through  a whole book – but I don’t blame Harry for that. I blame Meredtih Grey! :-)

So, here’s to 2013 – The Year of Very Little TV and More Books.

Is there anything you need to give up to make room for something you’ve been meaning to do more of? (Oh and this is not a stupid New Year’s Resolution – I don’t do those ridiculous things!)

Image is White Noise by benleto.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice If…

photo (1)

…we had more space for all these animals we seem to keep collecting?

Yeah, maybe one day.

Wouldn’t it be nice if….
…we didn’t have to look out the windows to see 8 foot high fences?
Yeah, that would be good. One day.

Wouldn’t it be nice if….
…we lived somewhere where we could hear more bird noises?
Yeah, maybe next year.

Wouldn’t it be nice if….
…we could get to know a new town and new people?
Yeah, that’d be good. See how we feel in a couple of years.

Wouldn’t it be nice if….
…we had a more relaxed space?
Yeah, maybe one day.

Fuck ‘one day.’ Screw ‘maybe.’

Wouldn’t it be nice if….
… we moved to the country?

So we did.

Now I wake up to birds not cars.
It’s nice.

(also posted on Cowbird)

The Door – a poem for the New Year

I originally wrote this poem for Rodd Lucier as part of my crowdfunding campaign to get to Unplugd12, (an unconference for educators in the Canadian wilderness) and never posted it here on my blog. The start of a new year seems like a good time to release it into the ether:

The Door.

It’s incredible what we can’t do if we tell ourselves so
what it is that will get in our way and what lines we will willingly toe
If we don’t sit and think, if we don’t stand and say
that we will take a chance and do things a different way

What was done before us matters not so much anymore
don’t ignore it, but don’t let it hold us back from the door
that will allow us to step into a future we treasure
that will let us make a difference that we may not be able to measure

because we know that it’s our turn to make change
to say we are who we are and that the future we want is in range
we will not stop cause someone said we can’t, it’s too hard
it’s them that doesn’t understand, not us that will drop our guard

I dare you to take on the challenge you set
and the goals for our kids that you think should be met
because really there is just no chance like today
to think, to stand up, to gather and say

that our time is now, our time is right here
there’s no doubt we can make our passion outstandingly clear
we love what we do and we love to learn more
so here’s to us, our conversations, and whatever’s behind that door.

I Share Online – a poem

Here is another poem as a reward for donations to my GoFundMe campaign to get to Canada for #unplugd12. This one is for Brian Metcalfe and Ghislaine Barbe (from AIS NSW). Brian suggested the topic of teachers sharing online, so here is the result -

I Share Online

I share my work online because when I do

I hope I’ve added something that’s useful to you

I share my ideas online because then I know

That you adding yours will then help mine grow

I share my pictures online because then you can see

A little bit more about what makes me me

I look for your work online because I know that it could

Help me shape mine like no other would

I look for your ideas online because I want to think

About new perspectives, opinions and make my own links

I look for your pictures online because it does make me smile

To see a different side of you every once in a while.

 To make the Internet such a rich space to trawl through

I share online what I can and I’m rapt you do too.

Technology Does Not Fit

Another poem written as a reward for a donation to my GoFundMe Campaign to get to #unplgud12. This one is for Jarrod Robinson who wanted a poem that could be a discussion starter for teachers in technology workshops. Jarrod, I hope this starts some conversations for you! Thank you for your donation. :-)

Technology Does Not Fit

“Technology does not fit, there’s no place I can see

to let it get in amongst my students and me

 but I’m told it’s handy, it can change what we do

really, I just want to see the year through”

 Ah, you old fool, we sit there and say

you’d better catch up or you’ll lose your way

 and the students, well, they will know you’re out of touch

but does that really matter to you all that much?

 If it doesn’t then you’ve definitely missed a bit

of what it takes to really make connections that fit

 Take on this challenge and don’t be so stressed

and embrace what could have you teaching at your best.

The Journey Not The Speed

As part of my GoFundMe Campaign to get myself to #Unplugd12 in Canada my reward system was to write a poem of a certain length for a certain amount. So, for example a $25 donation is rewarded with a 6 line poem, $50, 10 lines and so on. However, what happened was that I was not able to restrain myself to 6 lines – instead for this particular poem I ended up with 20. So, I’m giving the same poem to two people and hopefully that is seen as fair! :-)

So, here is my first one. It’s for Sandy McLeod and Jeannine St Amand, both of whom were lovely enough to donate $25 to my cause of buying myself a plane ticket to Toronto  - all in the name of improving teacher education.

The Journey Not The Speed -

 Start small they say

That’s the best way

To reach that big goal

At the end of the day

But you want it post haste!

There’s no time to waste!

This might be when 

There’s a truth to be faced. 

For anything we would

See as really quite good

Probably took some time

As it most definitely should

Because time helps us make

Those ideas we take

Into deep understandings

That we really can’t break

So we really should concede

It’s not patience we need

But a deep appreciation 

Of the journey, not the speed.

My First Attempt At A Slam Poem – A Very Interesting Woman #poetryslam

Inspired by the likes of Shane Koyczan and Geoff Lemon, I have embarked on the journey of writing and delivering my own ‘slam’ poem. Though mine is not about anything nearly as serious as theirs!  (Maybe this can pass for a #ds106 assignment?! ;-)

Deep breathe – and here I go…

 

Why I Like The Daily Create #3 – Video. Of Me. More Than One. Sorry. :-) #ds106

I dare you…to put yourself out there!

Oh alright, alright, I’m not the sort of person who needs to be asked twice. I’m not shy. Which sometimes is a good thing. Other times…notsomuch.

ANYWAY, with this Daily Create thingo I’m doing – check it out here – there are a few video assignments that ask us to make short videos on various topics and share them.

I think this is cool mostly because…oh bugger it, I’ll make a video about why….that would make sense wouldn’t it?!

Soooooo….the thing is with my #ds106 videos – that the tagging didn’t work! I sent them to YouTube from my iPad and when I’ve gone back to see them on my computer, the two or three tags I put on were just run together, so they wouldn’t have made it to the feed on the ds106 TDC site. NO AUDIENCE FOR ME! :(

If you record a video and noone sees it, did you really record a video?!

Anyway, I did them, albeit a bit late, so here they are, right here, re-tagged and ready to go….

Do this tongue twister in one take:

Fluffly Duck Tells Jokes (record yourself telling a joke – don’t read it – ok!)

A Video showing an object in motion:

My Keychain and Me: (forgot to say in vid that here in Aust they are called ‘key rings.’ #justsayin)

A quick daily update:

Why I Like The Daily Create #2 – Audio

I dare you to….. LISTEN!

That’s it, just listen. Closely, dammit, shut up! Just listen.

What do you hear?

Have you heard it before? REALLY? I mean, have you really heard it before?

Audio is special. I reckon. I’m not sure it gets enough currency in what we do today. Video is everywhere, but just audio, well, notsomuch. Also, I did hear someone very wise not so long ago say that if you don’t have a visual  then you are really are letting your story down. I’m not convinced. I like leaning back and just hearing something and coming up with my own images. Not that images aren’t powerful, but audio on it’s own can conjure up some great images in our own mind’s eye…don’t you think?

Anyway, because of this interest in audio on it’s own I’ve created an audio blog which I’ve been keeping for a while now. It’s got various life sounds on it, (and a few images to accompany them) and can be found here at Life Sounds Like This. Not long after I joined the #ds106 community, smarty pants Michael Branson Smith had a very clever moment (I’m assuming you often have these Michael?! ;-) and played some of the sounds on my audio blog all at the same time. It was cool and somethingI’d never thought of doing. Here is the result:

Anyway, I digress and self indulge…so I shall get back on track!

Audio. The Daily Create.

Ok, so like, there are audio tasks to do, too. Just like how the photo tasks make you think and see things differently, well, of course, these tasks make you think and HEAR things differently.

Henry Ford apparently said that “Thinking is the hardest work there is which is why so few of us engage in it.” I’m engaged alright, Henry?! Good grief….

So, hearing things differently – I even recorded the sound of myself making vegemite and cheese on cruskits for lunch! Pfft, the things #ds106 makes me do! :)

It’s really important to listen carefully I think. Lots of audio happens around us and we miss a lot of it in our hurries. Stop. Just listen. What sounds are you creating?

Here are some of mine:

Record the sound of a meal you ate or made:

Make a recording of two sounds not normally heard together:

Making music from an everyday object:

Record the sound of the most lively laugh you have made someone do: (well, variation on a theme…)

Record the sound of something that brings you comfort or makes you feel safe – well, singing along in my loungeroom does just that!: 

These Daily Create tasks are my favourite really. I like the idea of sound with no picture to it, just the raw raw sound.

So please, everyone, listen to what is happening around you. Close your eyes. Just appreciate the sound.

I dare you…

Why I Like The Daily Create #1 – Photos

I dare you to …. see things differently…

Well, right, it’s like this – you know, you get into a community and you say you’re gonna do all this stuff, and you have, like, the best of intentions and then it falls…..away….

Not so here!

There is this community called, like #ds106. It’s about digital storytelling and there is this thing in this community about making art. Dammit, ppl, make some ART!

Oh, alright then, if I have to…

So I did. And it’s surprisingly easy. Well, part of it is.

Check the Daily Create.

Each day a little art-creating task is posted. Short things that shouldn’t take too long, and they don’t. There are photo tasks, audio tasks and video tasks. Here I’m going to babble on about my experience with the photo tasks that I’ve done so far. So…

…sit down, shut up and LOOK! Here is a selection of the pics I’ve added for the Photo Daily Creates -

Make a photo that looks better in black and white than the original:
Mr Tips. #ds106 make a photo that looks better in black and white than the original @ds106TDC

Show a finished product and at least one of it’s raw materials: (gee, guess what country I come from! :-)

A finished product and it's raw materials

A photo that visually represents a sound:

Smash

An extreme close up of an everyday object:

Don't too close or I'll staple you!

Two related objects of drastically different sizes:

Another for #tdc22 two related objects if drastically different sizes

A picture that represents or expresses something loud :

Loud

Now I can tell you, I would not have taken most of those pics if it wasn’t for the Daily Create. I like this little photo tasks because -

  • they make me look at things differently
  • they make me notice little things about regular everyday stuff
  • they make me stop and think and see different details of my surroundings
  • they make me think differently about the things that are immediately around me
  • they are easy to do

You are very clever, aren’t you Kim Droom – building small successes in to your tasks. There is no failure in the daily create. Your work is immediately up there with everyone else’s. It’s your interpretation, your vision, your experience, captured in still. For all to see. To SHARE. Your ART. MY ART. I’m quite proud of my lot I must say. I think I did alright. But, I’m quite proud most of all because of the way it makes me think and look at things, to re-imagine my most immediate environment (I take most of my pics at home). The end result is not necessarily the most important part of the process.

Anyway, there are audio and video tasks too and I’m going to blog why I like them next…