I received a postcard from Diane Mayr this week celebrating the year of the ox, which portrays a bold hard working creature. Thank you, Diane.
A NEW YEAR--
HONEST DAY'S WORK NO LONGER
AN OXYMORON
By D.Mayer
I came across an article in the Syracuse Post Standard today about a family experiencing their garage floor caving in and I thought I’d use the article as a prompt. That seemed to resonate this week.
In spite of all the fault lines and hollow people revealed in Washington, I do have hope and think that the government will weather it. I am thrilled that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will soon be in charge. Welcome!
It’s Poetry Friday and my thanks to Sylvia Vardell for hosting at POETRY FOR CHILDREN. There you will find a wonderful and useful sneak preview of 2021 poetry books for kids.
It’s been a long few days. But I was thrilled to receive some lovely New Year postcards, a yearly event on Poetry Friday. Thank you Jone Rush Macculloch for organizing this. The result is that I received some gorgeous photos adorned with joyful poetry .
The following card and haiku by Mary Lee Hahn filled me with hope, perfect for New Years.
My thoughts have been with the thousands of people who have been dying everyday with the Coronavirus. It breaks my heart. So much unnecessary suffering. God bless them and their families.
Welcome to Poetry Friday, today hosted by the very talented artist and poet, Michelle Kogan. Stop by to see what she has for us this week. Thank you Michelle for hosting!
Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has a safe, quiet, peaceful week.
I am hopeful and exited about taking a COVID-19 vaccine. It’s how we get our lives back. The first vaccines to roll out are composed of Messenger RNA.
The science behind the mRNA, vaccines is miraculous! You can read about mRNA on the Moderna Pharmaceutical cite here. I am in awe of the scientists who created the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines.
In a nutshell the science goes like this, with some illustrations:
DNA is the genetic “code”, the famous Double Helix, that resides in every nucleus in every cell in the body (In every living thing. ) This “code” is the information needed to make all the millions of proteins that power our body. We need proteins for growth and all functions. (such as digestion, breathing, and fighting infection).
Diagram of animal cell anatomy illustration
Inside the nucleus, the code for a particular protein is copied from DNA onto smaller molecules called mRNA.
This mRNA skedaddles from the nucleus. It floats off in the cytoplasm of the cell to a ribosome, which is a protein factory. Here, the code carried by the mRNA is used by the ribosome to build a protein. Then the protein goes where it’s needed.
That’s amazing, but what does that have to do with the vaccine?
Consider COVID-19:
COVID-19 WITH ITS CHARACTERISTIC SPIKES
The red objects on the virus are called “spike proteins.” Humans have never these or any other part of the virus in our bodies, ever. That’s why it’s called a “novel”virus. Our bodies are defenseless against it. If we want kill this virus before it can harm to us, we have to create antibodies.
What are antibodies? They are immune molecules that can recognize this spike protein. These antibodies will see and attach to the spiky protein. Then, other immune cells will know to gobble it up and say adios!
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines contain mRNA that codes for the spike protein. After is injected into an arm, it will get into the ribosomes inside our cells and actually go to work making copies of that spike protein.
This is important! Once our bodies makes this this spike protein, the cells of our immune system will learn to make antibodies to it. Armed with the antibody, if we are exposed to Covid-19 when we are out and about and it is seen inside the body, the antibodies will attach to those spike proteins. Then, zap! Our immune cells will destroy the virus before it can make us sick.
The mRNA vaccines are VERY fragile! They are kept cold at 112 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit! When the vaccine is made, each mRNA is surrounded by “lipid” or fat molecules, like boats that help it get where it’s going.
MRNA vaccines are not the only ones being developed. There are other vaccines by other companies that will be somewhat different, but all are intended to kill Covid-19. Hopefully everyone will be as excited to take it as I am. It’s been proven safe and effective.
The science behind this has taken years of research. That was why, when this novel virus came along, scientists had the technology to work quickly to create a vaccine. It’s important to continue to support science because you never know when a bit of knowledge can save millions of lives and even our planet.
Welcome this week to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by the talented Buffy Silverman Here. Be sure to stop by for a visit.
This month, I have been thinking about Democracy and what a real life lesson we are all receiving daily, and discovered this wonderful 2016 middle grade novel in verse, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, by Laura Shovan. It was waiting on my desk, actually. It seemed so relevant at this moment in history, that I wanted to post about it.
It is possible that the teachers on Poetry Friday have already read this, but maybe not. I hope middle graders are reading it and talking about it.
I was so impressed with the author’s craft: 18 memorable character, yikes! And all different, the use of different poetry forms to reflect character, and the engaging story.
A full discussion of the plot as well as an excellent teacher’s guide can be found here.
The main plot briefly goes like this: The Board of Education of Emerson Elementary wants to close the beloved school and the students are determined to stop it. The themes include Democracy and the right to protest.
Students protest with the following poem, which is a petition to the school board, recalling the words of our Founding Fathers in our Constitution:
PETITION
George Furst, Edgar Lee Jones, and Rennie Rawling
We the People of Ms. Hill's Fifth Grade,
in order too give a more perfect Understanding
of the importance of our student voices
here at Emerson Elementary,
seek to establish a Protest by our Classroom,
which hath Studied the U.S Constitution and Civil Rights,
to Provide our United opinion
regarding the fate of our beloved Emerson Elementary,
and Demand that the Board of Education
promote general Knowledge about its plans,
and share the Blessings of Facts
with ourselves and all Emerson
and Montgomery Middle Students.
Thus we do create and Submit this petition
to halt the razing of Our School
indefinitely.
Signed in Equality on this 6th Day of January.
In the study guide, the first question posed is this:
“Have you ever found yourself in a situation that seemed very unfair and you were unsure what to do about it? How did you handle it?”
This is exactly the question I have been asking lately. What can I do to have any impact given what’s going on in America today? But this book gave me hope that children are learning about the fundamentals of Democracy, and how important their voices are. The book is an opportunity to appreciate our rights as Americans, especially, the freedom of speech.
Thank you, Buffy, for hosting. I hope everyone is safe and anticipating with excitement the vaccine that just might restore our ability to be with friends and family.
Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Mary Lee at A Year of Reading. Thank you for hosting! Make sure to stop by to see what Mary Lee’s got in store for us this week.
Going for a ride for pleasure has become a rather rare thing lately, as there are few places to stop. But this week my husband and I drove south of Syracuse on back roads. The snow was gently falling, and we encountered a few cows in a pasture. They stood like statues, stopped by the cold. Or maybe there was another reason they were so quiet. They inspired a poem.
I hope everyone is healthy. I’m looking forward to the vaccine, which really is a truly amazing accomplishment, though we must be patient. My gratitude to all the brilliant scientists that are helping us get past this pandemic!
Thank you, Carol, for hosting Poetry Friday on your blog this Thanksgiving week at the beginning of the 2020 Holiday season. Check out what she is sharing this week at Carol’s Corner!
I have a lot to feel thankful for. My family is well, there is a vaccine and a new government is being assembled. It’s like hearing hoofbeats of the calvary just as a battle is about to be lost.
When I took this photo of the pie I made today, I thought about endings beyond simply my dinner.
Today I spoke to a good friend who is a family practice doctor in the panhandle of Florida. He has many geriatric patients and is concerned about their safety as well as his own. A number of his patients have refused to wear a mask when they come to his office. I could tell it was exhausting for him to deal with just as Florida is on fire with Covid.
So, what will this ending mean? How persuasive will an empathetic and steady hand be? Is there a fast forward button to 1/20/21?
Thank you, Carol, for hosting! My best to all and a Happy Thanksgiving
Welcome to Poetry Friday, today hosted by Linda Baie at TeacherDance. Thank you, Linda, for hosting!
Happy Thanksgiving week, even as many, including myself, won’t see their children. But I am happy to help the effort to control the pandemic. We’re all well and I’m grateful for that. I hope all of you and you families are well, too.
As Nero fiddles, thousands of families are insecure in so many ways.
When I looked out the window today, I saw snow brightening my yard. It took my mind in another direction. I wrote a poem and took a picture of the snow, but it wasn’t cheerful or sparkly enough to share. So I found a more cheerful graphic, something Snowflake Bentley might admire, with wildly diverse snowflakes:
Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931), aka Snowflake Bentley, was a farmer in Jericho, Vermont, who loved snow. He loved it so much that he became the first person to ever photograph snowflakes. He captured more than 5,000 during his lifetime, no two alike. Part of the challenge, I imagine, was to keep them in solid state while he photographed them. He lived and died where he grew up.
Below is a print I bought when I visited his red barn museum several years ago followed by two haiku.
A Vermont farmer
saw something in snow--took it
quite seriously.
Did Snowflake Bentley
ever think that snowflakes
might be all the same?
Have a wonderful Holiday week. Stay healthy and safe! Thank you Linda for hosting.
Today is Poetry Friday and Robyn Hood Black is hosting at Life on the Deckle Edge. Be sure to stop by to see what she has in store for us. Thank you, Robyn, for hosting! I hope everyone is healthy and safe.
When I feel agitated, as I have been this week by yet more over-the-top political chaos, it helps to go outside and find peace in nature. Yesterday my husband and I went to a favorite place called Green Lake, a “meromictic” lake that is always a deep blue-green. It is protected by trees and so is usually calm, with trees and sky reflected photographically in its surface. The lake is 195 feet deep, created by a glacier long ago in the Finger Lakes region of New York.
What is a meromictic lake?
Briefly, it is a lake of three layers that never mix. Compared to the top surface layer, the bottom layer has a low oxygen content, a high salt content, and little light. A middle layer separates the two extremes. Depending on the oxygen, light and salt content, different organisms survive in the the three layers.
Most lakes, the great majority, are “holomictic” meaning that its surface and deep waters mix at least once a year. Meromictic lakes don’t mix because they are deep, have steep sides, and because the bottom waters are heavier, with salt. The Black Sea is the largest meromictic lake in the world.
I was there on a perfect fall day. The brighter leaves have fallen from trees around the lake, replaced by brown and rust colors. Beautiful changes. Here’s a haiku I wrote to share today.
Meromictic lake--
like neighbors in a highrise
its waters find peace.
Our hike around the lake was peaceful as I hope our country will be, at least relative to recent times, soon.
Have a wonderful day and weekend. I hope you all find peace wherever you go.
It’s Poetry Friday and today artist and writer, Susan Bruck is hosting at Soul Blossom Living. Thank you for hosting, Susan! Be sure to stop by and see what she has in store for us.
It’s been a busy week! A week of worry and waiting for the results of this important election to be finalized. I’d like to celebrate not just November 3rd being over, but the fact that we take voting in America seriously. I have been very impressed by those I’ve seen on TV who run state elections. They are amazing in their dedication at all levels.
I was grateful that I could cast a ballot by mail. I did it weeks ago. I thought today about the founders. What we are really doing when we cast a ballot? Connect with the idea of America? I wrote this to share:
For those who might not be familiar, though I know many who will read this are, this poetic form is and “etheree” and it’s easy to remember, and fun to write. All I needed is an idea and ten fingers.
It is composed of ten lines. The first line is one syllable and each line increases by one. I hope I counted right. Alternatively it can start with ten syllables and end with one syllable.
Have a great weekend as we all await final results. We still have functioning institutions in America, and I hope with this election they will be stronger, still.
Check out the link above for Soul Blossom Living as you peruse Poetry Friday posts. Thank you Susan for hosting!
Thank you, Linda Baie, for hosting Poetry Friday. Don’t forget to stop by TeacherDance and see what’s on Linda’s mind this week.
It’s the anxious time. States are trying to vote safely and struggling with the virus. I am trying to come up with small and more distant ways to acknowledge loved ones this holiday season. It’s just the way it is. We have to accept it.
For this post, I dusted off three bird haiku. This first one was chosen as one of the poems to be paired with an artist for the SYRACUSE POSTER PROJECT in 2013. Artist Carolyn Glavin, a student at Syracuse University at the time, illustrated it, which I thought was perfect. The photo doesn’t do the artist justice, but it’s a charming painting that I cherish.
cardinal, feathered
masked bandit on a snowy
limb--all can see you
Here are two more haiku featuring birds:
the black white and red
woodpecker pecks a metal
pipe--he doesn't know.
a sudden robin
among the forsythia--
orange in yellow light
Thinking about birds this morning has taken my mind off the election for a short time. Out my window I see bright orange and yellow leaves which brightens an otherwise cloudy damp day.
To close, Happy Halloween 2020! I just read Lee Bennett Hopkin’s 1993 anthology RAGGED SHADOWS to celebrate. Inside these covers, as many teachers probably already know, are wonderfully eerie Halloween poems by legendary poets such as Karla Kuskin and Eileen Fisher and Valerie Worth.
Enjoy the weekend and be sure to stop by TeacherDance for more Poetry Friday inspiration with Linda Baie.
