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Last year I led some writing workshops in my son’s class. His group wrote a poem, “I am a Scary Smelly Skeleton Pirate” which my son and I turned into this YouTube video. Here’s the text to the poem and here’s two more Halloween oriented poems from that workshop.
And here we are as un muy pequeno calavero with Art Predator aka Ms Frizzle of the Magic School Bus fame.
River of Skulls: the perfect wine for Halloween & Dia de los Muertos & more
Yep, Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls: This is the wine you need for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and maybe for all the sinners on your list: Twisted Oak’s River of Skulls, a mourverde with a little syrah thrown in.from Twisted Oak in Calaveras County CA
This is a special creature, this wine. Sorry to say that unless you have a trip planned to Calaveras county, you’re out of luck. You can get on the list now for next year! Sign up here.
While my favorite blend on Earth has to be GSM (grenache/syrah/mourvedre), seeking out a mourvedre– “the sinner” in all its wild gamey glory–seems perfect for this time of year. And for my money, I’m going for Twisted Oaks “River of Skulls” which conveniently arrived a few weeks ago in my “Twisted Few” allotment!
I had the amazing opportunity to taste this wine at last year’s Wine Blogging Conference 2008 and it wowed the socks off of me. (OK, I admit, I’m a sucker for mourvedre!) This year, El Jefe aka Jeff Stai served it up during the live blogging portion of the 2009 Wine Bloggers conference. This wine not only wowed us bloggers but in recent competition and tastings, it’s done well: they just got word
from Wine Enthusiast magazine that the 2006 Spaniard will receive a score of 92 points, and the 2007 River of Skulls will receive a 90 point score, in their December issue. Congrats to Jeff and crew!
For more poetry, jump on the TRAIN! For more about wine, head over to Wine Predator! That’s where I plan to aggregate my wine posts and where I will post first from the European Wine Bloggers Conference and from the Enoforum Tour of the Alentejo region of Portugal. (Oh, you didn’t hear about that? You didn’t hear my joyous noise? Go here to learn more.)
There is some ghostly formatting going on here–just attribute it to the hi-jinx of los calaveras!
Halloween Event at Zoo
Contact: 805 378-1441
| Boo at the Zoo America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College will be holding the annual Halloween weekend event on October 31st and November 1st. The zoo opens to the public at 11 am, and hours have been extended until 7 pm for this event. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors & children 12 and under, and free for children 2 and under. Booths will include face painting, crafts, and Halloween activities with candy and prizes. Animal shows in the amphitheatre are at 12, 1, 2 and 3pm. Visitors to the zoo can also witness a carnivore feeding display that takes place cage-side at 4pm. Complete details are on the website at www.moorparkcollege.edu/zoo |
About NCTE
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. www.ncte.org
About the National Day on Writing
Whether we call it texting, IMing, jotting a note, writing a letter, posting an email, blogging, making a video, building an electronic presentation, composing a memo, keeping a diary, or just pulling together a report, Americans are writing like never before. Recent research suggests that writing, in its many forms, has become a daily practice for millions of Americans. It may be the quintessential 21st century skill. By collecting a cross-section of everyday writing through a National Gallery of Writing, we will better understand what matters to writers today—and when writing really counts. Understanding who writes, when, how, to whom, and for what purposes will lead to production of improved resources for writers, better strategies to nurture and celebrate writers, and improved policy to support writing.
America’s writing will be front and center on October 20, 2009—the National Day on Writing. On that day, writers from every walk of life will pause to share their work. Communities across the nation are planning events to celebrate local writing, and NCTE will open the virtual National Gallery of Writing for all to appreciate the rich variety of work on display. The National Gallery will continue to accept submissions until June 1, 2010 and will remain open to readers through June 30, 2010.
Click Here to visit the National Day on Writing Website.
Stay Connected!
Become a Fan of the National Day on Writing on Facebook
Follow the National Day on Writing on Twitter
Join the National Day on Writing Group in the NCTE Ning
Three books that I’m into right now are perfect companions to Blog Action Day on Climate Change 2009 — Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists and Vacant-Lot Gardeners Are Inventing the Future Today by Chris Carlsson (AK Press 2008), Critical Mass: Bicycling’s Defiant Celebration edited by Chris Carlsson (AK Press 2002) and Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (Penguin 2009).
How are you changing YOUR lifestyle to combat climate change and participate in being part of the solution instead of the problem?
Just in time for Blog Action Day 2009, I received this email in my in-box today from the good folks at Credo… Tell Sens. Feinstein and Boxer: Protect a strong EPA in the climate bill. Senators Kerry and Boxer have introduced a climate bill that protects the EPA, a bold step that deserves to be commended. But Big Coal and Big Oil will stop at nothing to strangle the EPA, and maintain the status quo, where polluters escape regulation and our planet pays the price. Almost immediately, the strongest provisions of the climate bill started to be talked about as “bargaining chips,” to be given away for a few votes of hesitant senators. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stepped right up to this offer, and last weekend authored an editorial with Sen. John Kerry. Many cheered this turn of events. But if you look closely at what Kerry and Graham wrote, you can see the horse trading has begun. Among the major concessions to Big Energy already being talked about are huge investments in nuclear energy and an increase in offshore drilling. And what does Big Coal get? A commitment that America will become the “Saudi Arabia of clean coal.” With these concessions already out in the open, an all out assault on a strong EPA can’t be far behind. Big Coal was able to strip the power of EPA to regulate CO2 in the House bill; you can bet it will stop at nothing to take away EPA regulatory power in the Senate. Environmental senators need to stand up and draw a line in the sand: they must pledge only to support a bill that preserves the EPA’s ability to regulate C02 and doesn’t give away tens of billions of dollars to the coal industry. If enough environmental senators draw a line in the sand and say, as a bloc, that they will not vote for any plan that fails to meet this minimum threshold, the Obama administration and the Senate leadership will be forced to listen to their demands. Thank you for working to build a better world. Michael Kieschnick, President |
“If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy; if the world were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I wake up each morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. This makes it very hard to plan the day.” — E. B. White
Let’s try to do both!
In The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, editors and poets Mark Strand and Evan Boland write:
“If metrical forms (sonnets, villanelles, etc) are the architexture of of poetry, then the shaping forms of ode, elegy, and pastoral are its environment.”
I sat drinking and did not notice the dusk,
Till falling petals filled the folds of my dress.
Drunken I rose and walked to the moonlit stream;
The birds were gone, and men also few.
–Li Po, “the wandering poet”
The 59th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday, and hosted by The Passionate Foodie, is an homage to Kushi no Kami, the ancient name for the god of Saké. Host Richard says that “Saké was once referred to as “kushi” which translates as “something mysterious or strange. To many people, Saké still is mysterious and strange but I hope to unveil some of that mystery and reveal its wonders.”
This gave me an excuse to write a post which combines a few of my loves: wine, sushi, and poetry.
Honestly, I couldn’t tell if one
or the other sake pictured was much better with any of the dishes I had; I even tried them with fish and chips with ketchup. Both sakes had crisp light flavors of pear, with not much of a finish. Chilled, the 15% alcohol wasn’t too overpowering. However, the unfiltered Nigori, which is cloudy in the bottle and in the glass–if you remember to shake it– was much sweeter, and possibly paired better with the ketchup. Honestly, I wasn’t too impressed with either one; dinner was not too impressive either.
My nephew Kyle says he’s ridden his bike by the Takara facility where these two sakes were produced many times on his way to his job at the Cal sailing club in the Berkeley Marina, but he admitted he’d never stopped to taste or check out the facility, but his housemate, Alfred, an MBA candidate, went regularly to the free tastings there.
This same nephew returned a month ago from an extended stay in Japan where sake was a regular part of his day. His girlfriend Ashlyn is in a masters program in Osaka University where she’s studying linguistics. They’d often go out to dinner for sushi which they’d enjoy with plenty of hot sake, but he doesn’t know what kind they served because Ashlyn was the expert and she’d pick the sake.
Since he has more expertise at this point than I do, I invited him over to try what was left of the two from the sushi dinner i
n Ojai plus Rihaku “Wandering Poet” by Shuzo, imported from Japan and which I found a while ago at Cost Plus for under $15 and an organic Ginjo Jumai from Mumokawa which my friend Helen had recommended after she tasted it at the Mutineer’s Launch Party last month. This last one, like the first two, are a domestic product, made in Forest Grove, and which is certified organic by Oregon tilth.
Kyle and I lined up the bottles and a collection of sake glasses and went through the sakes a few times, taking notes and comparing them, with the Momokawa first, Wandering Poet second, the Takara ginjo third, and the Takara Nigori unfiltered last.
The organic ginjo’s label, according to Kyle, is a sillouette of a Tori gate which you would walk through to get to a shrine or another important place. The gates are massive, some of them as large as a two story house. Ashlyn’s professor, who studies the foundations of Japanese society, said that these structures are a cornerstone of Japanese society and that’s where executions took place. They’re painted red now, but back in the day, they were smeared red with blood. Most people don’t know this history, according to the professor; the gates indicate society, community, law and order. You could say they had a zero tolerance policy. Kyle says they’re all over the palce and they’re very cool–simple and beautif
ul.
Regardless of the art on the label, we found the organic ginjo to be very artful indeed; it was our favorite of the four–full of character, complexity, body, flavors of fuji apple, pungent, upfront, not subtle, and with a lingering finish. Would stand up to food well–salmon, salads.
Helen says of Momokawa organic ginjo (junmai) Sake, “Ohhhh. This takes Sake to a new level. We all know the usual floral, sweet
taste of sake that us gringos drink in restaurants, heated by the galleon. This, yes this is different. Smokey earthly with a WAYYY longer finish. Junmai means “pure rice” thus the sake is made with only rice, water, koji, and yeast. Drink it cold pinche pagano.”
The Wandering Poet was our second favorite: flavors of banana, sweeter than the organic ginjo, vague tropical fruits, pineapple. Mild, some body, enough to pair with light food or even a teriyaki chicken or salmon.
Overall? At $15 for a full sized bottle, I’d seek out the organic Momokawa to have in my cellar or when out for sushi, Japanese, Chinese or Thai food. I’d even select the Wandering Poet in that environment or if I was at home with a stirfry or teriyaki, but for the same price for half the size bottle, I wasn’t twice as impressed. Maybe as my palate progresses, the more subtle Wandering Poet will speak to me.
And speaking of the Wandering Poet, Li Po, I leave you with some of his words from two more of his poems:
Waking from Drunkenness on a Spring Day by Li Po
“Life in the World is but a big dream;
I will not spoil it by any labour or care.”
So saying, I was drunk all day,
Lying helpless by the door.
When I woke up, I blinked at the garden-lawn;
A lonely bird was singing amid the flowers.
I asked myself, had the day been wet or fine?
The spring wind was telling the mango-bird.
Moved by its song I soon began to sigh,
And as wine was there I filled my own cup.
Wildly singing I wated for the moon to rise;
When my song was over, all my senses has gone.In the Mountains on a Summer Day by Li Po
Gently I stir a white feather fan,
With open shirt sitting in a green wood.
I take off my cap and hang it on a jutting stone;
A wind from the pine-trees trickles on my bare head.Clearing at Dawn by Li Po
The fields are chill; the sparse rain has stopped;
The colours of Spring teem on every side.
With leaping fish the blue pond is full;
With singing thrushes the green boughs droop.
The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks;
The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist.
By the bamboo stream the last fragment of cloud
Blown by the wind slowly scatters away.
On Thursday October 16, from 12:30-1:20pm, poet and blogger Gwendolyn Alley (aka Art Predator) will give a reading, discuss process, practice, craft, and approaches to writing for Kelly Peinado’s Introduction to Poetry Class in J-3 Ventura College on Telegraph Road between Day Road and Ashwood in Ventura. She will bring broadsides ($7-10) first published in ArtLife Limited Editions and books including between sleeps: poems from the 3:15 experiment 1993-2005 ($12) which she and Danika Dinsmore co-edited in 2006 (en theos press).
From 1996-2004, Alley published three dozen poetry and art broadsides in ARTLIFE Limited Editions; several of these works are published also at http://www.art-life.com/. Alley has participated in the 3:15 experiment since 2001, and in 2007, she facilitated the Experiment . Many of her 3:15 Experiment poems can be found at http://315experiment.com/.
In August 2008, Alley began creating videos which combine spoken word, sound, and image. Her video poem “Shishilop Project” was accepted by GuerrillaReads for its September issue. Below is the link for “State of Optimism” with music by Alley and art by Reed Seifer:
Alley’s primary blog is the Art Predator: http://artpredator.wordpress.com; she also participates in the collaborative experimental poetry site, The Orchid Room. Her youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/theartpredator.
The eclectic Art Predator site includes many of Alley’s ArtLife broadsides, 3:15 poems, an on-going collection of her own spoken word videos with music and images, as well as adventures in wine, travel, and song.
The event is free and open to the public.
Alley's letterpress business cards produced with Lettre Sauvage
No other word would do. For that’s
what it was. Gravy.
Gravy these past ten years.
Alive, sober, working, loving and
being loved by a good woman. Eleven years
ago he was told he had six months to live
at the rate he was going. And he was going
nowhere but down. So he changed his ways
somehow. He quit drinking! And the rest?
After that it was all gravy, every minute
of it, up to and including when he was told about,
well, some things that were breaking down and
building up inside his head. “Don’t weep for me,”
he said to his friends. “I’m a lucky man.
I’ve had ten years longer than I or anyone
expected. Pure gravy. And don’t forget it.”
“Gravy” by Ray Carver
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