Journeys
Words
Images
Cloud
Timothy M. Leonard's books on Goodreads
A Century Is Nothing A Century Is Nothing
ratings: 4 (avg rating 4.50)

The Language Company The Language Company
ratings: 2 (avg rating 5.00)

Subject to Change Subject to Change
ratings: 2 (avg rating 4.50)

Ice girl in Banlung Ice girl in Banlung
ratings: 2 (avg rating 4.50)

Finch's Cage Finch's Cage
ratings: 2 (avg rating 3.50)

Amazon Associate
Contact
Sunday
May312009

Accelerate Production!

The title is from an automated voice in a factory in Juarez, Mexico. Where thousands of women work for $5 an hour assembling televisions and appliances under NAFTA "free trade" agreements. No insurance, no benefits.

Cheap labor. Hundreds perhaps thousands of women brutally murdered. Powerful Mexican and American economic and political interests. Bordertown.

"You are falling behind in meeting your quota. Accelerate production! Accelerate production!"

More...

Metta.

Wednesday
May272009

Take amazing risks

We begin the final "test" portion for G4 kids today. Speaking. They have five topics.

They present in groups of three and the audience asks them questions, follow-up questions and curious questions about unique proteins found in the venom of Komodo dragons.

1. What is a rain forest? Why are they important?

2. Name some jobs people do in Indonesia.

3. Imagine you are a tourist. What would you like to know about a place?

4. You are planning a vacation to a new place this summer. What do you need to know? Talk about five ideas.

5. How can you learn about the past, about history?

6. Random bonus questions, like:

"Talk about the coolest thing you did in school this year."

"How does making a mind map help your intellect and creative instinct?"

"What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?"

"Explain your values on friendship."

"Is imagination more important than knowledge?"

Metta.

Monday
May252009

Jump!

How was your weekend?

Wonderful thanks. Played two hours of doubles on Saturday morning and gave some teamwork suggestions to the other players. Attack the net. The team that controls the net wins 85% of the points. Laugh and lob.

Went swimming in the olympic size pool. Cool underwater blue field of liquid.

Rode the Cosmic bike over to see Heni the queen of orchids at the nursery. She has many new flowers.

Enjoyed a 1.5 hour deep tissue massage on Sunday in the Balinese relaxation zone. Jumped in the pool.

Watered the amazing back garden and studied, with profound reverence, a large yellow, red, black and green spider finding a cool drop of liquid on a green leaf. It then scurried back to it's position in the center. Patience.

Metta.

Saturday
May232009

Act 1

(Editor's note - this will be published as Room For Rent on the side bar. It is also available at Scribd.) 

September

“The leaves are falling fast,” I said to a ghost.

“They are falling far from the tree,” the ghost said.

“Yes, they are dancing,” I said. “Dance is about process, becoming, the passage of time. Shiva symbolizes the union of space and time and indicates creation. This is why dance is one of the most ancient forms of magic.”

“Magic is universal,” the ghost said. “People wear masks to hide their transformation, seeking to change their dancer into a god or demon. Dance is the incarnation of eternal energy. They are free. Do leaves really fall far from the tree? It’s hard to say. Did you see a diamond light off a leaf this morning? It reflected an elegant universe.”

“Yes, the diamond reflects 10,000 things.”

“What do you see now?”

“I see a circle of movement. A connected unity, a language in space.”

“It’s more than that,” the ghost said. “There are five rhythms in dance. You start with a circle, it’s a circular

movement from the feminine container. She is earth.”

“Really?”

“Yes, then you have a line, from the hips moving out. This is the masculine action with direction. He is fire.”

“Fire purifies,” I said.

“Chaos is next, a combination of circle and lines where the male and female energies interact. This is the place of transformation.”

“I see. And then?”

“After chaos is the lyrical, a leap, a release. This is air. And the last element of dance is stillness. Out of stillness is born the next movement.”

“Ah, I see language in space. The word is beauty. The Greeks said it was order.”

“Speak to me,” the ghost said. “Tell me a secret. Plant a seed in my garden. Something glorious for spring. Eternal material with regeneration potential. Turn old soil. Give me a metaphor for digging.”

“They say grief for the dead was the origin of poetry.”

“What are your choices?” the ghost asked. “Choice is a powerful word.”

“Initially I chose to feel resentment for their lack of responsibility. I had to deal with my resentment. Why did I feel resentment? It was because of deception. My lack of knowing. Clare’s lack of truth. Her mask. I was angry I didn’t see behind her mask sooner. I was blind. I forgave myself and started to see.”

“Were you really angry or were you confused, sensing the sadness? What did you see?”

“I sensed the sadness beneath the surface. How they tried to fill up their emptiness. How their containers were bland and empty.”

“Is this really true, their containers were empty?” said the ghost.

“They were filled with anger and fear. I saw how they never learned. How their destiny brought them together intheir misery. How the two of them were on this endless negative spiral of energy.”

“They forecast their death?”

“I’m afraid they may end up killing themselves. It’s the chance they’ll take when they get desperate further down the road. The choice they will make. This is the way, their nature. How I process it. How I paid attention to their pain and suffering, their loneliness.”

“What do you mean? Please don’t talk nonsense. Let’s not have this conversation in the abstract. We have no time. Turn your hourglass over and talk. Remember we are all death deferred. We are all orphans sooner or later.”

“Ok, here’s the play,” I said, “a story inside a story with a through line. The inside is the outside veiled in mystery. I made a choice inside the puzzle. I am not saving anybody here.”

“Yes, I see your CPR accreditation is up for renewal. I’ve read your relationship resume. You’ve had your share playing many rescuing roles. Ok, then, stop the bleeding and start the breathing. Three compressions near the sternum. You know the procedure. It’s not about justice, it’s about procedure. You’ve always been here, wherever here is, haven’t you?”

“Sure, I’ve always enjoyed passing through incarnations. This is my nature.”

“Tell me a story. If it ain’t on the page it ain’t on the stage. I need some entertainment, some drama with character development, arc, conflict, resolution, direction and movement. A through line,” said the ghost.

Metta.

Thursday
May212009

Essay test questions

 

Tomorrow is the Big day. Grade 4 kiddies take their end of the year sale unit test. The focus is on reading comprehension, listening and language arts. The speaking opportunity is next week. Everything must go!

It covers the final two chapters - history, time lines, bar graphs, maps, giraffes, gaffs, staffs and laughs.

Language Arts Essay Questions

Instructions. Read the questions. Answer the questions using complete sentences.

1. Why do you think it might be good to know your street address? Please explain.

2. When might you need a map? Can you tell why.

1. It's probably a good idea to know my street address inside the heavily fortified gated community on the old banana plantation because that's where older moronic perverse pedantic people take care of me. Actually two of them, the ones who connived me during a lustful interlude ten years ago leave early to make money. They take me shopping on weekends to reduce their abandonment guilt.

The other two - a comedy team from Vegas - do all the heavy lifting: washing, cleaning, cooking and rearranging antimatter. They pack my lucky lunch and tons of textbooks in a rolling suitcase, drive me to school in a black shiny SUV - the place surrounded by bamboo pavilions - and leave me alone to play with my catatonic friends and yell at high decibels.

I love noise and confusion and yelling. It's the only way to get people to pay attention to me!

2. The map is not the territory.

I hope I pass this test. My parents promised me a fantastic new toy if my score is higher than a bird can fly.

Metta.