Today people in the USA celebrate Memorial Day. For some, it is a day to honour loved ones who have died serving their country. For others, the national holiday is the unofficial start of summer.
When is Memorial Day? This federal holiday is observed on the last Monday of May. Whether you want to honour a fallen comrade or celebrate peace, Memorial Day Weekend is a time for remembrance and thanksgiving.
Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks and trips to the beach.

GRASS
by: Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

PILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,

Shovel them under and let me work--

I am the grass; I cover all.

 

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.

Shovel them under and let me work.

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

What place is this?

Where are we now?

 

I am the grass.

Let me work. 

 



Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln.

I've finally updated My Students page. Give it a look, please!!

YES, THE TIMES ARE A-CHANGIN'

The times are a changin’ in Madrid. (AITOR AGUIRRE INFO@ANTINEAMEDIA.COM )

With everything that's going on in Spain and in other parts of the world today, I see really fitting to share this wonderful Dylan song. This  song became an anthem for frustrated youth. It summed up the anti-establishment feelings of people who would later be known as hippies. Many of the lyrics are based on the Civil Rights movement in the US. In the liner notes of this album Biograph, Dylan wrote: "I wanted to write a big song, some kind of theme song, with short, concise verses that piled up on each other in a hypnotic way. This is definitely a song with a purpose. I knew exactly what I wanted to say and who I wanted to say it to." (source: Songfacts.com)
Unfortunately, I couldn't find Dylan's version which should really be the one to post but I found a live cover by Eddie Vedder (from Pearl Jam) which is the next best thing. Enjoy the song and think!




Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressman
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he who gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
You old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Short Story Competition!

My wonderful sister, who is always finding me things for my classes and my students, has informed me of a competition the on-line newspapers Elcomerciodigital.com and Lavozdeaviles.es are organizing for people your age (10-15).  You only need to write  up to three short stories in English and submit them before June 1 2011. I think this is a great opportunity for those of you who love writing and do so regularly. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose... the first prize? A scholarship for Hello English summer camp. For more information go here.
Even if you don't want to take part, you may want to visit their site and see what other students are writing.

Calvin and Hobbes cartoon by Bill Watterson

I want to offer a different take on Mother's Day and this poem by Linda Pastan seems really fitting. I love the humour and truth in it. I'm sure every mother has felt the same some time,  I wonder how many went through with it though.

 Marks

My husband gives me an A
for last night's supper,
an incomplete for my ironing,
a B plus in bed.
My son says I am average,
an average mother, but if
I put my mind to it
I could improve.
My daughter believes
in Pass/Fail and tells me
I pass. Wait 'til they learn
I'm dropping out.

Linda Pastan is an American poet of Jewish background. She was born in New York on May 27, 1932.
She is known for writing short poems that address topics like family life, domesticity, motherhood, the female experience, aging, death, loss and the fear of loss, as well as the fragility of life and relationships.

MOTHER'S DAY

Mother's Day is celebrated in Spain the first Sunday in May, which this year is next Sunday, May 1st. Though it is a celebration found all around the world, it isn't celebrated on the same date: In the UK and Ireland, Mothers' Day (or Mothering Sunday) is celebrated on the fourth Sunday during the period of Lent. In the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Mothers' Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May.


Let's celebrate it too with the "Mother's Day Proclamation" by Julia Ward Howe. Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet. This poem of hers was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother's Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of the American Civil War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe's feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.

Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Here's a video inspired by this poem, made by the Maine Women's Fund:

Easter Eggs!

Easter Sunday, we were walking
Easter Sunday, we were talking...

Now that Easter is coming I think I should write a post about it but the fact is that you probably know more about Easter than me and, even if you don't, you can always google it. So I've decided to have some fun and hide some virtual easter eggs in my blog.
A virtual easter egg is an intentional hidden message, in-joke or feature in a work such as a computer program, web page, video game, movie, book or crossword. Typically, easter eggs are used to display the credits for the development team or to display a humorous message. To see an easter egg, you need to know a special procedure or sequence of keystrokes.
See if you can find the hidden easter eggs ;)

I just love  Savage Chickens by Doug Savage