Merry Christmas to All

A Chance of a Lifetime

I know this blog is dedicated to poetry but seriously.. what could be more poetic than a chance of a lifetime
Such an exciting opportunity! My oldest daughter whom for web purposes I refer to as Word Girl has been given the opportunity to spend her summer in Peru. Yes Eight entire weeks discovering the mysteries of the rainforest! She will be traveling with Operation Wallacea




Where she will be PP101 Biodiversity Monitoring in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

Research Assistants on this project will be based on the research ship and will need to be prepared for the hot and humid conditions of the Amazonian rainforest. Whilst some respite can be found on the boat where the fan-cooled cabins, showers and food provide a retreat from the tough working conditions, the main reward is the opportunity to see and work with such a huge range of birds and animals, including the larger, and more rare, animals such as pumas, primates and tapirs.

 There is a large team of mainly Peruvian researchers based on the research ship with nine different research programmes running. Research Assistants signing up for the various projects will help on all the projects over the course of their stay. There is a strong research atmosphere on the boat with teams coming and going at all times of day and night on various research tasks.

 Research tasks which require volunteer manpower include:, spotlight surveys for caimans and diet studies of this species (which necessitates capture of the caimans through noosing), transect surveys for the abundant Pink and Grey River Dolphins and an elusive population of manatees at this site, mist netting surveys of the bird communities utilising the forest understory, transect counts of wading birds, point counts of macaws as indicators of forest fruiting, gill net surveys of

fish communities, standardised searching surveys to characterise the amphibian communities, land based transect counts of primates, large mammals and game birds as indicators of levels of exploitation, checking 20 camera traps run at a variety of habitats and depending on water level. In addition to these surveys there are dissertation studies where assistance may also be required - for example assisting with behavioural data observations on the primate species.

After her "official" trip is over she will be stopping in Machu Picchu to explore the ancient ruins..

Does this sound like the most fantastic of trips? Well I am sure it will be.. Of course there are expenses involved and we have started a fund raising push to help her cover those expenses. If anyone is interested in donating.. please click on our donating button.. It will show here in this post as well as on the side.. Thanks for all your support whether it be verbal or financial

Shauni

Happy Thanksgiving!

Get off the computer! and have a Happy Thanksgiving

Support Banned Books

Did you know that this week is Banned Books Week? It's a week that has been set aside for the last 30 years to promote reading. To stand up against those who would make our choices for us. It is for those who choose to proudly say I READ..

I grew up in a house where books were plentiful.. where more often than not when we were at sporting events, if you wanted to find my mom, you looked over to the nearest set of trees and there my mom would be in her chair, reading a book. Not watching the game, reading a book. The thought of not having a book on me at all times is inconceivable.

My mom always said, it didn't matter if your child would only read comic books, at least he is reading. Of course that didn't pertain to her children we read classics.. *rolls eyes* She still hasn't forgiven me for my love of romance books.. but that is another story. I do know, more often than not if she had heard that a book was banned and she felt it was age appropriate, we had to read it. I tried to raise my children in a similar manner. I can say with great pride, all four read.. they have unique and interesting tastes but read they do.

Sadly, not all people are afforded that right.. schools, governments, churches all for one reason or another choose to challenge or ban a book.. How can that possible be right? Sure some books are graphic, some books are extreme, some books are *gasp* bad.. but it is not the right of State to make that choice for us. Parents need to guide their children, encourage them to read and question what they are reading.. to make their own choices...in short to LEARN..

I found this list on Rebecca Ryals Russell's Website  and  thought it needed to be shared..

SOME of the 2011 challenged or banned books were:

    The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
    Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
    The Flamingo Rising, by Larry Baker
    The Notebook Girls: Four Friends, One Diary, Real Life, by Baskin, Newman, Pollitt-Cohen, Toombs
    Running with Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs
    My Mom’s Having a Baby, by Dori Hillestad Butler
    Betrayed, by P.C. and Kristin Cast
    Staying Far for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
    Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank
    The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
    Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich
    Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
    The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
    The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
    Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer

In 2010 the top 10 most frequently challenged books were:

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins

5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

6. Lush, by Natasha Friend

7. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones

8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich

9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie

10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

But it’s not just contemporary books that get banned, classics get banned and challenged, too.
    *The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    2. *The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
    3. *The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
    4. *To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
    6. Ulysses by James Joyce
    7. Beloved by Toni Morrison
    8. *The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
    9. *1984 by George Orwell  (This one is the most ironic as its theme is suppression of books and thoughts)
    10. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
    11. Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
    12. *Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
    13. *Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
    14. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
    15. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
    16. *Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
    17. *Animal Farm by George Orwell
    18. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
    19. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
    20. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
    21. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
    22. *Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
    23. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
    24. *Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
    25. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
    26. *Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
    27. Native Son by Richard Wright
    28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
    29. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
    30. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
    31. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
    32. *The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
    33. *The Call of the Wild by Jack London
    34. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
    35. Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
    36. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
    37. The World According to Garp by John Irving
    38. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
    39. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
    40. *The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
    41. *Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
    42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
    43. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
    44. Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
    45. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
    46. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
    47. *The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
    48. *Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
    49. *A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
    50. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
    51. My Antonia by Willa Cather
    52. Howards End by E. M. Forster
    53. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
    54. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
    55. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
    56. Jazz by Toni Morrison
    57. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
    58. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
    59. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
    60. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
    61. A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
    62. Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    63. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
    64. Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
    65. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
    66. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
    67. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
    68. Light in August by William Faulkner
    69. The Wings of the Dove by Henry James
    70. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
    71. *Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
    72. *A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
    73. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
    74. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
    75. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
    76. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
    77. In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway
    78. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
    79. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
    80. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
    81. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
    82. White Noise by Don DeLillo
    83. O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
    84. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
    85. *The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
    86. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
    87. The Bostonians by Henry James
    88. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
    89. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
    90. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
    91. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    92. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
    93. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
    94. Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
    95. *Kim by Rudyard Kipling
    96. The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    97. Rabbit, Run by John Updike
    98. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
    99. *Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
    100. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie



To read the entire article click HERE

You want to support banned books, share what books you have read that have been banned.. shout it loud and proud!!

Shauni

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss

Over at Speculative Fiction they are doing celebrating Dr Seuss' birthday by doing Seuss style blog

Here's my attempt

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss
you'd be here if I choose
you'd be here to write a book
you'd be here to meet a zook

If I had my way
You'd be here to stay
writing writing every day
maybe even writing a play

If you were here
I would stand up and cheer
wishing you well
with my silly spell

but you are not
things aren't so hot
you've been gone a while
But I still smile

when I hear about ham
and someone named sam
whenever a hoo let's out a shout
or a screech is out and about

I miss you today
All of the way
But at least we know
what you tried to show

that you were you,
that is truer than true
and there is no one alive, who is Youer than You!!

@Shauni

hey don't laugh it's a poem

The Road

The Road less traveled

The Poem does say

The one to choose

To find your way

Until you find

It's been traveled

by many who dared prevail

A torturous path

doomed to fail

Unless

One dares to fly

To chance the faults

To learn to fly

To refuse default

Beware the danger

The distrust and dismay

Avoid the lies and deciet

stay true to the Way

To walk this path

You will oft dispair

You may get lost

The weather not fair

and yet

Once traveled 

You will find 

A joy, 

A peace of mind

A Dream complete

Avoid the pitfalls

step over the faults

A hope to all

is beyond it's vaults

Stop if you choose

to explore the view

Allow life's journey

to empower you

Life is not easy

But the way is true

Just follow the path

Set in front of you

Is life the journey

or the end

It matters not if 

You live it my friend

@Shauni

Promises Lost

A Child is born

talented and gifted

full of hope

A Promise 

A Vow is made

a gift of tomorrow

love that lasts

A Promise

A contract is signed

ambition and nerves

hope for something

A Promise

A Friendship is formed

touched by laughter

shared experience

plans for fun

A Promise

The Child falters

The Vows are broken

The Contract torn

The Friendship shattered

Promises broken

laying on the floor

like shards of glass

Sharp, painful,

Destructive

Hopeless

A Promise is broken

no hope of repair

A covenant mocked

complete despair

@Shauni

Invisible

Can you see me

Do you know

that I am here

Can you see me

Do you know 

that I feel

When you walk

past do you hear

me crying out

Do you understand

my plea?

Do you hear me

an almost silent voice

whispering 

see me..

Or to you

am I not worth 

your notice

Silent, lost

alone,

Invisible

@Shauni

A Rolling Rage

Sometimes when the wind blows 

You can hear the 

Rolling Rage

More than dancing clouds

An internal battle

sound and fury

waiting to erupt

Sometimes the wind calls me

Creating that furor inside

A Twirling Swirling 

Mass of Anger

Contained 

Behind clouds

Ready to Burst forth 

and Release Rain 

Amongst the Heavens

Sometimes...

I dream of letting go

Watching the Damage

Gleefully dancing in the storm

Sometimes...

I want more than sound and fury

I want to see destruction

in my wake

Sometimes...

I think I deserve

to let loose

But...

Storms destroy

Disconnect and Damage

More than what is around me

If let loose

The Rage would 

Destroy Everything

@Shauni

Tears

I do not cry

Pretty tears

No gentle rain 

For me

No single teardrop

slowly trailing

down an alabster cheek

No soft sigh

No, I sob

A wild Thunderstorm

Wracked with Grief

I Grieve

I sob

I hurt..

No beauty queen 

tears for me

Emotion grabs me

shakes me

controls me

I do not cry 

pretty tears

rather inelegant

gulping gasping sobs

Tears falling off

spiked lashes 

Like a waterfall

Dashing to the rocks

The pain engulfs me

strangles me

controls me

purges me

Leaving me empty

destroyed

ruined and lost

@Shauni

Words

I love Words

The way they

trip along the tongue

The way the wrap 

themselves around 

you, creating

delight

Wonderful, wicked words

that make you see

new things

 Think new thoughts

I love words 

they create a tapestry 

of delight

showing us images 

in our minds

wonderful, wicked words

I love words

they wreak havoc

and mend souls

they dance on air

and sludge in the mud

the twirl and twist

confuse and bemuse

I love words

Wonderful Wicked Words

@Shauni

God's Eye

Be silent

speak softly

bow down

God is watching

Always aware

always present

Don't dismay

Don't wonder

yet let wonder fill you

God is there

Always

Listen to the wind

Listen to the seas

Listen to the very birds

In their trees

God is watching

God is Here

Be Joyful

Be Awed

Be Humbled

God IS

@Shauni

On the Edge

on the edge

insecurity wrapping around

me 

a slow sinuous snicker

taunting

ready to escape

on the edge

of dreams just escaped

promises lost

despair beckons

on the edge

take that step

will the despair win?

or does hope survive

on the edge

a fragile belief

in what can be

not what was

of innocence lost

and found

Of Hope betrayed 

and faith renewed

take the leap? 

will I fall?

or will I fly?

On the edge of laughter

and life

of simple joy

On the edge 

of everything

@Shauni

A New Dawn

A New moment

A new Dawn

A New Chance Revealed

A New hope 

A New Dream

A New time to dance, unconcealed

Promise of today

Just today

A heart fulfilled

Promise of Fate

A Story untold

A Fear Stilled

Rejoice

Renew

Respond

Every Day

A New Hope

A New Chance

A New Dream

A New Promise

A New Dance

@Shauni

I know sloppy work, but I just needed to get something no matter how amateurish back on paper.. more to come