Spring Break

Last week was my Spring Break for Literacy Partners. One morning, I took a walk in Inwood Hill Park which is just a few minutes away from my home. This park has some great trails and some very old tall trees. It's a great place.

Recently, I have seen some people standing by themselves in the park with their arms and hands outstretched. It has seemed strange to me and I have wondered what they were doing. Were they praying? Were they doing a rain dance? I didn't know. My roommate, Brent, had also seen these individuals in the park and wondered what they were up to. One day he came home and told me he had figured it out. He was near one of these people on the trail...they had their arms stretched out like tree branches...and he saw a tiny bird with a white body and a black cap fly toward the person, hover over their arms, and then land on their fingertips. He was amazed and decided to try it himself. He could hardly believe it when another one of these friendly little birds landed on this outstretched fingers. He told me about it and I decided I had to try it out for myself.

So, on my walk the other morning, I saw one of these little black-capped chickadees hopping around in the branches of a tree. I stopped and tried to look as much like a tree as possible...arms out, fingers extended, eyes looking straight ahead. To my delight, the bird jumped from his branch and flew above my arm and then landed on my pointer finger. He looked at my face and then looked at my thumb. And then he started pecking at my thumbnail. Although the bird was very light, I could feel the strength of its claws gripping my finger. A couple of more pecks and then he was off to find a real worm. It made my day.

Chasing Shadows

Last week, my students decided to throw a Chinese New Year Party. We ate lots of good food--chicken, duck, fried rice, noodles, dumplings, Xue Hua's famous rice cake and some funny green things that looked like tennis balls. While we were eating, we put some music on and Fatima became our impromptu dance instructor. Jeff and Flaco and Claudia were all very good dancers and they had no problem "cutting a rug." Others who had never danced much before got up and did their best...Sheng Lin and Clive had a nice slow dance with Fatima. After dancing we played the game, "Do you love your neighbor?" We listened carefully, laughed and tried to sit down in the empty chair before our classmates.

As we walked up Delancey Street after class, Xue Hua's daughter, Meng Ting, kept giggling. As she is usually a little shy, I couldn't understand what was making her smile. Then I looked down on the sidewalk and realized that she was stamping on my shadow. Once I realized what she was up doing, I ran a few steps ahead...she squealed and ran ahead too trying to step on my shadow again. We played this game all the way to the F Train.

It was a fun morning.

local economy

i've always been fascinated by the people in new york city that gather recyclable items for a living...bottles, cans...

yesterday, during this year's only snow/freezing rain storm...i came across a chinese man pulling a laundry cart laden with his find...he was fish-tailing on columbia and rivington...when a car gets stuck in the snow out west, most people jump in to give a helping hand...so, i smiled and offered to help him push his load through the snow...he wore a fisherman's yellow raincoat and a bell bicycle helmet...we didn't speak...i don't think he knew any english...i just pushed and he pulled our way down to delancy...we avoided two oncoming taxis...when we got to delancy pointed westward..."i've got to go this way"...he smiled and took off his glove and offered his hand. i was happy to shake it and found myself hoping that he would find a great stash of recyclables under a snow drift. that is all.

Love

On this day of chocolate and flowers and construction-paper hearts, my thoughts turn to love.

Jesus Christ once taught his followers, "Love thy (your) neighbor as yourself." Is this easy or difficult to do? What do you think the world would be like if people tried to live this way?

Wendell Berry, my favorite author, wrote this poem about love which I really like:

"Whatever happens,
those who have learned to love one another
have made their way to the lasting world
and will not leave,
whatever happens."

What are your thoughts about love?

Happy Valentine's Day students.

Ned

welcome to my blog...I am sitting here with my smart students at Literacy Partners and they are helping me learn how to do this...thanks, Students!