Norah Colvin

Live Love Laugh Learn … Create the possibilities

Tag: creative

  • The Very Inspiring Blogger Award – Acceptance

    The Very Inspiring Blogger Award – Acceptance

    birthday-cake-25388As a birthday gift to me (though he didn’t know it was my birthday) Geoff Le Pard, who blogs about the Universe and whatever occurs to him at TanGental, nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

    Needless to say I was both surprised and delighted. I could say that I aspire to inspire, but I think even that would be a great exaggeration.

     

    In his post Geoff provides three reasons for selecting me:

    • I see life through a prism
    • I have a firmly fixed moral compass, and
    • He wishes I’d taught him at school!!!!!

    The first two I am not sure about, but I am definitely honoured by the third. Thank you Geoff. I will endeavour to attain this high bar you have set.

    The rules for accepting this award are:

    1. Thank and link to the amazing person(s) who nominated you.

    2. List the rules and display the award.
    3. Share seven facts about yourself.
    4. Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
    5. Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.

     

    Thank you, Geoff. I am honoured.

    These are seven things about me:

    1. I am passionate about education and the power that education has for transforming lives. I believe that everyone has a right to an education. I have spent all of my adult life involved in education in some way; and most of my childhood was spent in school!

    2. I am the third of ten children. What that tells you about me I’m not sure, but I believe we are more than the product of our birth order and environment; that each of us has the power to make choices about how we want to live our lives. I’m not saying environment and genetics don’t play a large role in who we are, but I am saying they do not determine everything.

    3. I have two adult children of whom I am extremely proud and who I love very much. They are what is important in my life. They each have a wonderful partner who I also love, and my son has two beautiful children who I adore. My family gives me an enormous amount of pleasure. I am very fortunate to have all of them living close to me.

    4. I enjoy playing games, especially word games like Scrabble, Upwords and Balderdash. I especially enjoy playing them with my family. We often spent days playing games together when the children were growing, and had grown, up. We’re having a bit of a rest now that the grandchildren are small and doing the entertaining. I’m sure we’ll have three generations playing together again soon. We collaboratively do the ‘Big Quiz’ (40 trivia questions) in the local paper when we get together on Sundays, hoping that someone in the family may know the answer. None of us fair too well on the sporting questions!

    5. I have a silly sense of humour. I enjoy word plays and puns and alternate meanings for words and sayings. In my head I finish words and statements with ridiculous things before the person speaking has even time to finish them. I laugh uncontrollably at something I think is funny, like this silly senior’s password email that arrived in my inbox this week:

    windows

    6. I think life is short and should be fun. We don’t know how much time we have so we should enjoy what we’ve got. This doesn’t mean we have to be out partying and playing all the time. It means we need to focus on enjoying what we are doing in the present moment, no matter how unpleasant it may be. It also means making choices and accepting responsibility for the choices we make.

    7. I love learning. Learning gives so much joy. There is too much to learn in one life time, and it is scary now that the road ahead is considerably shorter than the one already travelled. I hope that in my days of teaching I have inspired in children a love of and joy in learning that they will carry with them throughout their life travels.

    Nominating 15 other amazing bloggers is the hard part. Not because there are not 15 amazing and inspiring bloggers, but because I have nominated many before for a Butterfly Award, a Versatile Blogger Award and a Liebster Award. Not only that Geoff has nominated many of these same bloggers for this award, and Charli Mills has nominated them also.

    We have a wonderful community of very supportive and encouraging bloggers. We each write our own blogs about our own interests, explaining our ideas and points of view. We read and comment on each other posts sharing points of convergence and divergence, and often adding further insights.

    Rather than re-nominate bloggers I have nominated before (and be assured that you are all very deserving of this award and if you wish to add the Inspiring Blogger’s badge to your blog I am happy for you to do so) – over the next few weeks I am going to do a little more exploring to seek out other inspiring bloggers to add to our growing community.

    A big thank you, to each and every one of you, for encouraging and supporting me on my blogging journey. Having your company is what makes it all worthwhile!

    I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts on any aspect of this article.

     

    Previous nominees:

    Liebster Award

    Belinda Pollard of Small Blue Dog Publishing (Australia)

    NANNY SHECANDO (Australia)

    Anne Goodwin (UK)

    Caroline Lodge (UK)

    PS Cottier (Australia)

    Teachling (Australia)

    Peter Worley’s philosophy foundation (UK)

    Michelle Sowey at The Philosophy Club(Australia).

    There’s No Food ( Australia)

    Obscure Pieces (Australia)

    Cultivating Questioners (USA)

    Nillu Nasser Stelter (UK)

    Charli Mills Carrot Ranch Communications (USA)

     

    Versatile Bloggers

    Ailish Sinclair

    Teagan Kearney

    Karen Wyld

    Vicki Addesso

    Susan Buchanan

    Paula Reed Nancarrow

    Lisa Reiter

    Lori Schafer

    Karen Oberlaender

    Diane Mott

    Greg Mischio

    Anne Goodwin

    Caroline Lodge

    Charli Mills

    NannySheCanDo

     

    Butterfly Award

    Ruth Mancini

    The Nerdy Book Club

    Two Writing Teachers

    Raising a literate human

     

  • Are you ready to embrace the future?

    http://openclipart.org http://goo.gl/XApwuV
    http://openclipart.org http://goo.gl/XApwuV

     

    The flash fiction challenge posed by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch this week deals with the future. What a perfect prompt for a teacher, for is not education firmly focused on the future?

    We educate ourselves so that we will know more, be more skilled, or be able to do more in the future than in the past; we may learn new skills that keep us up-to-date with the changing demands of society or technology; or we may seek to improve our employability or income possibilities.

    We educate our children so that they will be independent and contributing members of society, able to participate in the world of the future, and having the knowledge and skills to enable them to achieve their goals.

    We educate for the future, but we are unable to predict the future, so the challenge to making decisions about education is difficult and highly-charged, attracting many different opinions and suggestions for solutions.

    Forbes Magazine featured an article in 2012 which queried the purpose of education.

    A 2013 TED conversation about the purpose of education, related to a talk by Ken Robinson, Changing education paradigms, attracted many and varied comments.

    In 2014 Tony Ryan hosted an online seminar about Future-proofing Kids. Tony says,

    “Many of the children alive today in Western societies will still be around in the 22nd Century. How can we possibly predict what they will experience between now and then? And if we can’t do that, then how do we best prepare them for whatever is up ahead?”

    I think of greatest importance in preparation for life, all of which will be in the future, except for the present moment, is the development of attitudes and character traits including:

    •  Confidence
    • Persistence
    • Resourcefulness
    • Resilience
    • Able to seek solutions to problems
    • Openness to new ideas and possibilities
    • Creativity
    • Divergent thinking
    • Questioning
    • Optimism

    In addition to the character traits, a certain level of skill is required in both literacy and numeracy, and especially an ability to locate and critically evaluate information.

    The title of Tony Ryan’s seminar, Future-proofing Kids, to me belies the value of the content Tony shares. To me ‘future-proofing’ indicates that the future is something to be protected from, like water proofing protects us from water; something perhaps of which to be scared. But Tony’s seminar is far more optimistic and future-oriented than that.

    We don’t know what the future will bring, but we never have. We can plan for it, we can hope and dream and set goals; but we can make no guarantees. Prophesies have never accurately foretold the future. I’m thinking of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four or the more recent Y2K Bug.  I’m thinking of all the teachers who told their students they would never amount to anything, like Thomas Edison’s teachers who said he was “too stupid to learn anything”.

    peole_laptop

    In the early 1980s I was told at a conference that by the year 2000 computers would do so many of our menial tasks that we would have an enormous amount of free time and wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves! How inaccurate was that prediction! The menial tasks have only increased in number and instead of computers being a tool to simplify our lives, in teaching anyway, they are now an unrelenting, ever-increasing and demanding master requiring the completion of data bases and spreadsheets, the creation of graphs and statistics, reducing life to a series of expected numbers and standards

    The potential employment opportunities of today’s young women could not even be imagined when I was growing up and making my work choices. My apparent choices were teacher, nurse or office worker, and ultimately mum. Because I had chosen an academic path after year 8 and hadn’t learned shorthand and typing, office worker was eliminated. If I had chosen the commercial, shorthand and typing, path my choices would have been even further restricted.

    My generation was the one that began shuffling the female role in society. Had I been born just a few years earlier, I would have worked until I married; after which I would have stayed home and looked after the children. Many female teachers were required to resign when they married. Pregnancies were hidden under loose and voluminous clothing, and the whole process was considered an illness. Unmarried mothers were considered an embarrassment and ‘sinful’ and most had their babies removed and that part of their history hidden.

    Women of my era were able to return to the workforce, but it was not encouraged before the youngest child had started school. At that time child care was not readily available and often grandmothers, who had not returned to the workforce after marriage, looked after the children for mothers who worked, often part-time and for low wages.

    The current generation of women have far more career opportunities but are also expected to stay in the workforce, often required to return to work when their babies are only a few weeks old in order to maintain security of employment. Many now work through pregnancy, almost until the birth of their baby.

    Pregnant women no longer try to hide under voluminous layers of clothing but, partly with thanks to Demi Moore and Annie Leibovitz in 1991, take pride in showing off their changing shape. The term ‘unmarried mother’ is almost an anachronism in today’s Western world. There is no shame in having a child, whether married or living with someone or not; and babies are not forcibly removed from their mothers.

    I am no more able to predict the future than I am to make sense of the injustices and horrors of the past.  However I think part of the purpose of education must be to help individuals grow so that they are able to stride towards the future with arms outstretched saying, “Give me what you’ve got!” while at the same time with a listening ear and an open heart asking, “What can I do to help?”

    What do you think?

    I welcome your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of the article or my flash fiction piece:

    Ready

    “I’m off now,” she said.

    “Have you got everything?” asked Mum.

    “Yes Mum.”

    “Are you sure you haven’t forgotten anything?”

    “I’m sure.”

    Mum looked around. There must be something she’d missed.

    “What about . . .?”

    “No, Mum. I’ve got everything.”

    “Okay. If you’re sure.”

    “Bye Mum!”

    ”Bye.”

    She walked through the door and down the stairs.

    Mum watched, anxious. What could she have forgotten?

    “Wait!”

    She turned, puzzled.

    Mum leapt down the stairs.

    “What?”

    Mum hugged her tightly, whispering softly, “I love you very, very much. Always have and always will.”

    “I know. Love you too Mum.”

     

  • What do you have in mind?

    This week Two Writing Teachers posted a wonderful article by Stacey Shubitz (one of the Two Writing Teachers) about A Picture Book that Pushes the Growth Mindset.

    This post coincided beautifully with the flash fiction prompt posted by Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch Communications. Charli’s challenge is to:

     In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about getting stronger.

    This is a perfect prompt for a teacher as a major focus of our work is in developing children’s strengths:

    Strengths as in abilities; strength as in self-esteem and self-confidence; strength as in willingness to face setbacks and try, try again; strength as in keeping on going even when the going gets tough.

    The picture book discussed in the article by Stacey Shubitz is The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires. Stacey suggests that the book is a great opener for discussions with children about the importance of a growth mindset.

    According to Stacey, an understanding of ‘the power of having a growth mindset’ has been enabled by the work of Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist. It is grounded in a belief that

    ‘Someone can accomplish a lot more through hard work and dedication, rather than by relying on their smarts alone.’

    I agree with Stacey that

    ‘Educators know the benefits of having a growth mindset, rather than having a fixed one. We learn from trial and error. There is value in failure.’

    I will not quote Stacey’s article in its entirety, but suggest you pop over and read it for yourself. (If you do, and leave a comment prior to June 27th, you may win yourself a copy of The Most Magnificent Thing, if you live in the USA or Canada.)

    Stacey says that “The girl in the story tries over ten times to build something and get it right. Through hard work and some help from her trust sidekick, her pug, she eventually succeeds.” As well as a starting point for discussing the growth mindset, Stacey suggests eight features of the book which are useful for teaching writing. The article also includes a brief, but informative, interview with the author/illustrator Ashley Spires.

    In response to Stacey’s question about using The Most Magnificent Thing for discussing a growth mindset, Ashley responds:

    ‘The character is a perfectly capable girl with a great idea and the skill to make it, but she has to try, try and try again in order to succeed. Most kids (I was one of them) think that if it’s not perfect the first time, then they should move on to something that comes to them more easily. Working hard to succeed is what true success is.”

    <p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/89499612″>The Most Magnificent Thing Book Trailer</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/kidscanpress”>Kids Can Press</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

    My flash fiction, told through the jottings of a classroom teacher over time, shows a growth mindset emerging from one that was previously crushed.

    Progress

    Day one

    Timid. Needed help getting things out of bag to put in drawer. Sat towards back of group. Drew knees up under chin. Hunched over. Sucked thumb. Twisted long tangled hair under nose. Rocked.

    Day twenty-six

    Responded in roll call! Sat with ‘friend’. Legs crossed. Back straight. Smiled – briefly. Someone looked! Screamed, “Stop looking at me!” Dissolved in tears. Again. Retreated under desk. Again.

    Day fifty-two

    Initiated conversation!! Hair combed!! Nose not running!! Brought toy for show and tell. Responded with one- or two-word answers. Small, dirty, pink unicorn. B laughed. Erupted, but went to desk, not under!

     

    I welcome your feedback. Please share your thoughts about any aspect of the article or my flash fiction piece.

  • Taking a risk with flash fiction!

    For the past couple of months I have been participating in a weekly flash fiction challenge set by Charli Mills of Carrot Ranch Communications.

     

    This week’s prompt:

     

    In 99 words (no more, no less) write about the experience of letting go of something that feels safe like training wheels.

     

    appeals to me because it is about stepping out to something new, moving out of the comfort zone, letting go of the past, and releasing previously held beliefs and feelings.

     

    These are not always easy things to do, but they are a necessary part of life. Indeed, it could be said that the very act of being born is the first of such occasions.

     

    The ability to try new things, the willingness to take risks, the determination to get up and try again after failure and the persistence to keep going are important attributes of successful people.

     

    In my role as teacher it was important for me to encourage the development of these traits in myself, as much as in my students. Without these abilities no learning occurs, no growth takes place.

     

    Sometimes a gentle push (read encouragement/incentive) may need to be applied to help overcome an initial reluctance for a particular activity. This reluctance may soon be replaced by an enormous excitement, energy and future love for the activity. Other times no amount of coaxing can get an unwilling participant to budge.

     

    It is equally possible that an activity towards which one rushes (headfirst, arms flailing, bells ringing) in due course loses its lustre to disappointment.

     

    Below is the piece I wrote in response to Charli’s challenge. I have not revealed the activity I had in mind. I’m sure that you have experienced or witnessed several similar responses throughout your life. I’d love to know which one springs to your mind!

     

    Please share your thoughts. I hope you enjoy this piece of flash fiction!

     

    www.openclipart.com http://goo.gl/EY7z5L
    http://www.openclipart.com http://goo.gl/EY7z5L

    About ___________?

     

    I don’t want to.

    I don’t feel like it.

    You can’t make me.

    It’s not fair.

    No-oo!

    Leave me alone.

    Sob.

    Sob, sob.

     

    No-oo!

    I don’t want to.

    Alright. I’ll sit over there,

    But I won’t do it.

    You can’t make me.

    I won’t even look.

    Stomp.

    Stomp, stomp.

    Thump.

     

    Humph! Stupid.

    It’s not even fun.

    They can do it.

    I don’t care;

    Don’t know why they dragged me here anyway.

    Told them I wasn’t going to do it.

     

    Haha. What happened?

    That looks like fun.

     

    Hey! Let me do it.

    It’s my turn.

     

    Boy, this is fun!

     

  • Going on a treasure hunt!

    we're going on a bear hunt

    A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of taking my two gorgeous grandchildren to a performance of Michael Rosen’s “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. To say we enjoyed it would be an understatement. We had a rollicking good time.

    The performance involved a lot of audience participation including spraying the entire audience with water from the “deep cold river”; an event which left everyone slightly wet, screaming with anticipation and laughter, and genuinely having a wonderful time interacting with this fabulous text.

    We were already familiar with the text, of course, and had read it, recited it, acted it out and played a board game which has been made to accompany the text. None of this really prepared us for the delightful stage performance; but these pale in comparison with a telling by the master storyteller himself, Michael Rosen.

    Michael Rosen’s website is a veritable treasure chest with much to explore and delight.  From his home page you can visit his blog which he describes a as a place where he’ll

    “post up some thoughts and ideas – especially on literature in education, children’s literature in general, poetry, reading, writing, teaching and thoughts on current affairs.”

    You can also check out a full list of his publications. He’s very prolific!

    After attending the performance of “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” I shared with my grandchildren the video of Michael Rosen performing the story, which is also available from his home page. They loved it and we watched it “Again!”

    Then I showed them the video of Rosen performing his fabulous poem Chocolate Cake. We watched it four times! Artie, who is four (and a half) was joining in with the telling the second time, and by the fourth time was copying many of Michael’s actions as well as facial and vocal expressions. Artie laughed along with the story and excitedly called other members of the family to watch it with him.

    The next time Artie came to visit he was performing his own version, “Lollipop”, with similar actions and both facial and vocal expressions. His younger sister also had to have her turn telling the story. It was delightful and convinced me, though I needed no convincing, of the power of a great performer to turn children onto the fun of language, of playing with words, of performing, and of composing writing of their own. Creativity ignited!

    If you haven’t yet watched Michael perform Chocolate Cake, I urge you to do so. You are in for a treat. I’m certain you will not be able to watch it without a smile on your face.

    Michael is so passionate about making poetry come alive for children, he has made many videos on his website freely available to teachers for use in their classrooms.

    In his article “Teachers write to me saying, ‘What about poetry?’”, Michael begins by saying,

    The-best-thing-you-can

    He then goes on to present many fun ways of engaging children with poetry, none of which involve word study or comprehension exercises. He makes suggestions for performing, writing and talking about poems; and says that

    “The best and most important thing you can do with any poem that a child writes is either get it performed or ‘published.”

    and offers suggestions of how to do just that.

    Another thing he says in that article, which was the inspiration for the title of this post, is

    Treasure-what-each-child

    I couldn’t agree more.

    This is just a brief sample of the riches to be found on the Michael Rosen website. There are so many videos of Michael’s performances available that I have not yet watched them all. Please let me know your favourites and I will make sure I watch those too.

    Thanks Michael Rosen. We can learn so much from you while we are having fun!

  • Flash fiction – Innocence shattered

    Here is my contribution to the seventh flash fiction challenge from Carrot Ranch Communications. I hope you enjoy it.

    In 99 words (no more, no less) write a biography for a character, alter-ego or you. 

    Innocence shattered

    She hurled it with such force that had it been his head, as she had wished it was, it too would have smashed into smithereens, just as the figurine had.

    “You ab-so-lute monster!” she screamed.

    She fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

    All her life she had thought it was her; something wrong with her; she that was wanting.

    But it wasn’t her. It was him. His wanting. His vile taking.

    The repulsive visions made her want to turn inside out and eradicate any trace of connection.

    Her ignorance had offered no protection; and now no solace.

     

    I welcome your comments.

  • This is nice

    If you haven’t yet visited Brain Pickings by Maria Popova, this week’s newsletter is a great place to start.

    Maria Popova describes herself as “an interestingness hunter-gatherer and curious mind at large”. She gathers up all sorts of things that you didn’t know you were interested in, until you are.

    Brain Pickings — “is a cross-disciplinary LEGO treasure chest, full of pieces spanning art, design, science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, and more”.

    I’m sure you will find something of interest to you!

    This week’s offering If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? Kurt Vonnegut’s Advice to the Young on Kindness, Computers, Community, and the Power of Great Teachers  provides ideas, quotations and excerpts from speeches made by Kurt Vonnegut at college graduation ceremonies between 1978 and 2004.

    Here are just a few that I found particularly interesting or appealing. Please visit Brain Pickings for a more complete synopsis.

    Teaching-is-the-noblest

     “But I say with all my American ancestors, “If what Jesus said was good, and so much of it was absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not?”

    If Christ hadn’t delivered the Sermon on the Mount, with its message of mercy and pity, I wouldn’t want to be a human being.

    I would just as soon be a rattlesnake.”

    “But in our personal lives, our inner lives, at least, we can learn to live without the sick excitement, without the kick of having scores to settle with this particular person, or that bunch of people, or that particular institution or race or nation. And we can then reasonably ask forgiveness for our trespasses, since we forgive those who trespass against us. And we can teach our children and then our grandchildren to do the same — so that they, too, can never be a threat to anyone.”

    “I recommend that everybody here join all sorts of organizations, no matter how ridiculous, simply to get more people in his or her life. It does not matter much if all the other members are morons. Quantities of relatives of any sort are what we need.”

    “By working so hard at becoming wise and reasonable and well-informed, you have made our little planet, our precious little moist, blue-green ball, a saner place than it was before you got here.”

    “When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”

    If-this-isnt-nice-what-is

    Which ideas of Kurt Vonnegut do you find interesting?

    With which do you agree or disagree?

  • Flash fiction – Vagaries of time

    The fifth flash fiction challenge from Carrot Ranch Communications:

    In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that quotes from a song’s lyrics (could be a classical aria, a rock & roll song, anything).

    This is my contribution. I hope you enjoy it.

    Vagaries of Time

    She rubbed the grimy pane, squinting to peer inside.

    It was all boarded up now with chairs stacked haphazardly on tabletops and piled in corners decorated with cobwebs.

    On one side stood the jukebox covered in dust.

    Suddenly she was back in his arms, their bodies pressed tightly together, swaying to Mick singing “time is my side”. They thought they would be young and in love like this forever.

    “Hmmhmm! You okay, Miss?”

    “Yes,” she stammered, embarrassed.

    She stumbled down the steps, smiling as the words in her head became Van’s “precious time is slipping away…”

    Thanks for reading. I welcome all feedback.

  • Liebster Award acceptance responses

    liebster2

    Recently I nominated a number of bloggers for a Liebster Award. Out of the thirteen I nominated, six chose to share their thoughts by answering the questions I asked. Considering the percentage of responses that are often received to a survey, I think this is a great result.

    Below I have presented the questions that I asked and collated a summary of each response. If you wish to read each respondent’s answers in full, please visit their blogs. I’m sure you will find much more of interest.

    You may notice that not all respondents have answered every question, and that one respondent has chosen another question of her own. That’s okay. I gave them permission to do so!

    Remember, these were open-ended questions with no wrong answers and everyone did a marvelous job in answering them. I am very grateful to each for sharing the depth and openness of their thoughts. I think we have much to learn from them, and from each other. This is a list of respondents with links to their blogs.

    Anne Goodwin  annethology  annecdotal Anne Goodwin’s Writing Blog

    Nillu Nasser Stelter, Fiction and Freelance Writer

    Nicole Hewes Cultivating Questioners

    Charli Mills Carrot Ranch Communications Words for People!

    Caroline Lodge book word

    Nanny Shecando

     

    1. What do you value most in life?

    Anne Goodwin

    Authenticity; ambivalence; fairness; mutual respect.

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    the ability to choose how I live my life. Freedom is everything.

    Nicole Hewes

    moments of possibility and opportunity, where the world seems open and the choices seem infinite

    Charli Mills

    living in such a way that I look for beauty all around me and find good even when life’s path gets rocky

    Caroline Lodge

    my daughter

    Nanny Shecando

    the chance I get everyday to make the most of it. That I can do whichever I chose to do.

     

    2. What activities do you enjoy and why?

    Anne Goodwin

    Reading and writing; walking in the countryside; choral singing and growing (some of) my own food.

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    lazy afternoons in the park with my family; sinking into a bubble bath with a good book; singing when nobody is listening and dancing when nobody is watching

    Nicole Hewes

    reading

    Charli Mills

    Activities that connect me to living in the moment: gardening, cooking and writing about the birds outside my window

    Caroline Lodge

    Reading and writing, and talking about both with other enthusiasts.

    Nanny Shecando

    any activity that allows me to be creative

     

    3.What is something you wish you had more time for?

    Anne Goodwin

    I don’t think we can do everything (that’s what fiction is for – the chance to live other lives) and I’m reasonably happy with how I portion out my time.

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    reading and writing; other creative pursuits

    Nicole Hewes

    travel, try new recipes, read more books, and to spend with my friends and family

    Charli Mills

    I’ve found that by taking time to stare at a sunset or falling snowflakes, I have all the time in the world. It’s what I do with it that matters.

    Caroline Lodge

    it’s not so much time as ability to fit all the things I love in my life

    Nanny Shecando

    read more books

     

    4.What is one change you would like to make in the world?

    Anne Goodwin

    a shift in emphasis from a culture of greed to one of equality and compassion

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    more understanding for each other, first within our own countries and then across country boundaries; clean water for all!

    Nicole Hewes

    change our society so that equal educational opportunity could actually exist, so that everyone could have access to basic resources, and so that money and special interests wouldn’t dictate the media

    Charli Mills

    contribute to world change through one beautiful book at a time; honor the hero’s journey within us all and to actualize everyday beauty

    Caroline Lodge

    World peace; access to books for everyone

    Nanny Shecando

    people holding themselves accountable for their actions

     

    5.What is something you would like to change about yourself?

    Anne Goodwin

    I’d like to be more laid-back; a published novelist

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    I’d like to care less about what other people think about me.

    Nicole Hewes

    I would like to be a tad more outgoing and a little less independent

    Charli Mills

    To stop worrying whether or not people approve of what I do.

    Nanny Shecando

    to practice a, “you’re full of greatness so long as you tap into it and utilise it” mentality

     

    6.What surprises you most about your life – something good in your life that you hadn’t expected, dreamed of or thought possible?

    Anne Goodwin

    taking part in choral concerts of major classical works along with some pretty decent singers and a full orchestra. It’s a real emotional hit

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    The ease of transition from single person to family life; how tiring and rewarding it would be.

    I have evolved from a child with a mass of insecurities to someone who is comfortable with herself.

    Nicole Hewes

    Being in a relationship with a partner with a worldview quite different from mine who challenges my views and assumptions and is incredibly kind, supportive, and loving.

    Charli Mills

    an upheaval in my life would open the door for me to step into that writer’s life. It isn’t easy, but it is what I’ve dreamed of doing and I’m doing it.

    Caroline Lodge

    That it goes on getting better, that I go on learning, that there are so many amazing people in the world and I know some of them.

    Nanny Shecando

    that I am able to be so happy, comfortable, confident and secure in leading the life that I do.

     

    7.What ‘big” question do you often ponder?

    Anne Goodwin

    The fact that our species has invested so much energy and creativity in the technology of warfare and so little in strategies for living in peace with our neighbours.

    Nicole Hewes

    Why our differences continue to lead to such polarization and why empathy can be so selective.

    Charli Mills

    How do I listen to God’s calling and live in the light?

    Caroline Lodge

    How can articulate and intelligent people inflict direct and indirect suffering upon others?

    Nanny Shecando

    life vs the state of dreaming. How can we really distinguish which is which? How do we know if what we perceive to be real is actually so?

    8.What sorts of things amuse you?

    Anne Goodwin

    my husband’s dreadful punning jokes. And I quite like dark humour exemplified by the ditty Always Look on the Bright Side of Life from The Life of Brian

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    Slapstick comedy and Ally McBeal; innuendo; the children

    Nicole Hewes

    comments that my second graders make in our classroom; when the ridiculousness of an idea is exposed by positing the same thinking in another situation.

    Charli Mills

    Silly little things

    Caroline Lodge

    Unintentional meanings in things like the sign “uncontrolled pedestrian crossing” in London.

    Nanny Shecando

    the daily conversations that I get to share with the kids.

     

    9.What do you like to collect?

    Anne Goodwin

    Slugs from the garden

    Nicole Hewes

    copies of student work that blows me away with its insight or hilarity (I have a “smile file” where I keep these items). I also like to collect quotes and articles and stories that suggest that gender roles are actually shifting and gender stereotyping is altering. And pasta recipes

    Charli Mills

    Stuff from the ground that’s old–rocks, fossils, arrowheads, purple glass.

    Nanny Shecando

    books and old sheet music

     

    10.If you could talk with anyone and ask them to explain their ideas and/or actions, who would it be, and why?

    Anne Goodwin

    I’d ask the women who doled out white feathers to men out of uniform in the First World War why they thought they had the right. If I couldn’t time travel, I’d ask our Prime Minister, David Cameron, why he isn’t ashamed that a rich country like ours has spawned so many food banks.

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    both my grandfathers, who have both sadly died

    Charli Mills

    I’d love to talk to my 5th-great grandfather and ask him why he left North Carolina. He was a poet and wrote such sad verse about leaving those mountains as an old man.

     

    11.What is something you can’t do without?

    Anne Goodwin

    My glasses, voice-activated software

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    feeling connected

    Nicole Hewes

    a good book on my person at all times

    Charli Mills

    Internet!

    Caroline Lodge

    my daughter

    Nanny Shecando

    a notebook and pen

     

    12.What is something important you learned about life, and how did you learn it?

    Anne Goodwin

    That, unlike a work of fiction, we can’t scrub out the bits that don’t work and start again.

    Charli Mills

    A life of truth is not an easy one.

    Nanny Shecando

    you don’t get anything unless you ask for it

     

    13.What is your earliest memory?

    Anne Goodwin

    I distinctly remember standing on the steps leading up to the front door of our house, replying “two in August” to a passerby who’d asked my age. However, this being one of the stories my mother liked to tell about me, and knowing what I do about the fallibility of autobiographical memories, especially those from early childhood, I doubt its authenticity, and regard it as my mother’s memory, not mine.

    Nillu Nasser Stelter

    Probably my gran singing ‘Nanu maru nak’ (my nose is small), a Gujarati nursery rhyme, to me, but I often question whether my memories are real or reconstructed, so I can’t be sure.

    Charli Mills

    One of my earliest memories is of a black cat that I coaxed into being a pet on a ranch where I lived the first seven years of my life. That cat made me feel safe

    Caroline Lodge

    Someone threatened to steal my little sister. It was an early experience of a quandary: if I went to get adult help she might get taken, but could I make sure she was safe on my own. I was scarcely 3 and she was newborn.

    14.What sorts of things irritate you? (Caroline Lodge)

    Caroline Lodge

    There are lots of things, and one of them is the pervasive idea of favourite books and writers in tweets and blogs. It’s such a simplistic, reductionist concept that I try to avoid it. I added this question, just so I could indulge in a favourite whinge.

     

    The responses reflect the richness of our humanity, both the commonality and its diversity. Which responses strike an accord with you? With which do you differ?

    Please share your thoughts and keep the conversation going.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Flash fiction – It’s just the wind.

    The fourth flash fiction challenge from Carrot Ranch Communications:

    In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes the phrase, “It’s just the wind.”

    This is my contribution. I hope you enjoy it.

     

    Her crumpled body pressed tightly into the corner; she willed herself a part of it.

    He was coming to get her.

    His tendril-like fingers scratched the window pane, prised up the screen, tore down the blind, demanded entry.

    With her eyes clamped shut, the images took charge: too terrifying to forget, too horrible to remember.

    He’d never let her be.

    His powerful hands pummelled the door, jangled the handle, wrenched it free.

    Hands blocking her ears failed to exclude the menacing howl.

    “There’s no escape.”

    Her screams found voice.

    “Hush,” they soothed the quivering mass. “It’s just the wind.”

     

    Thanks for reading. I welcome all feedback.