Murmurs

Video of a massive starling flock turning and twisting over a river in Ireland has gone viral, and with good reason. Flocking starlings are one of nature’s most extraordinary sights: Just a few hundred birds moving as one is enough to convey a sense of suspended reality, and the flock filmed above the River Shannon contained thousands. What makes possible the uncanny coordination of these murmurations, as starling flocks are so beautifully known?


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re·mote·ly

riˈmōtlē/

adverb

adverb: remotely

1. 1.

   from a distance; without physical contact.

   "new electronic meters that can be read remotely"
2. 2.

   in the slightest degree.
   
   
   
   
   

   brain waves

   sonar imaging

   incense  smoke

   galaxy mergings

   screens savers

   breath.

5 Things: Playwriting Tips

as says  marsha norman
(from  5 Things: Playwriting Tips from Marsha Norman)

1.  Story: “The audience only cares about stories that ask questions they are wondering about right      now. You don’t ask directions to a place you don’t want to go. And the questions are always: How do we get through? What are our struggles as human beings on the earth?”
2. The cooked and the raw: “A great play has both something you understand deeply and something you find shocking and perverse.”
3. Home: “Home is where you are able to speak, where you have a voice.”
4. Dramatic conflict: “We can’t be without the battle. That’s the hard-wiring. Humans are heart-filled beings who want to go out and do battle to protect their families. That’s why video games are so popular — they let us relive the experience of being engaged in the battle on our own behalf.”
5. Why Romeo & Juliet should really be called just Juliet: “The main character is the one with the most to lose. Romeo & Juliet is really about Juliet. Face it—Romeo was going to die anyway. But Juliet could’ve married a nice man and been happy.”

Thanks ms. norman. this makes me think about my own "rules" ...i would like to think i have none. But that's not true. But they are a bit different.
1. the story:  i don't know what other people are asking deep questions about, just me. so 1. for me is about my own questions , concerns and inner toilings.  i suppose through creative expression (let's say a Play!) i invite the people into an outward illustration of my insides as i ponder them... at the end there may not be an answer... but at least some comfort found or ...some better questions.

2. The cooked and the Raw perhaps so. but again, it's about what hits me deeply. and how i'd like to make those who participate also feel deeply. I don't need the shocking or perverse. but i do need Awe. Great wonder. the Sensual. Beauty. i need the 3 year old with mouth agape  pointing at a napkin twirling high in the breeze in the middle of time square... yanking my hand to say with a gasp,  "LOOK!" and ask "...how's it doing that???" to me,  those things alone offer questions worth exposing.
3. & 4 Home and Dramatic Conflict.... are the same as 1. for me. as writer, i am the home. i am the conflict. the players  merely a multiple personality type of expression of me as i battle it out.   
   and,
5.  The main Character/Highest Stakes well... in my mind (This is all pretty self-centered, huh?) the audience is the main character. the play will end. but the audience will continue to live. it's there.  that is  where the stakes are highest for me. within a single framed window of time... a character transformation must take place. that is the goal. 
as says i.

New underwater work from declaires

work underway...

(excerpts and  inspirational materials)

..if it's not boiling yet, how can you tell its done...
i  can hear the molecules begin to speed up....

"i'll tell you " 

he said.

 "i'm either way before my time...

or way after."

..so when i was a  girl, i was  a tom-boy to the max..
I  could make the longest skid marks with my bicycle tire, pop the  highest wheelies, and could bare the sting of pine cones against my legs until I reached our fort of hay on the other side of the park. And i still have the scar on my upper  arm from when the boy pushed me down mid race onto a heap of metal 'cause i was already 2 laps ahead of him!

but then there were  the other moments too of course... like the day we  were jumpin the creek...
No problem. This was my fortay! i knew i could clear that creek in one jump without a running start!
Until somebody shouted  "LEECH!" and there in the middle of the creek was a leech this big...

and well, TOM? hmph. Left me! and all the boys were shoutin..."What's you  waitin' for?! Jump!!" My brother. He must have saw it comin. Cause he just looked at me like " ..... (don't. you. dare.)..." They still shoutin for me to come on,  brother still givin' me a solid glare,  but my feet wouldn't move. yep. ..I started to cry. (Oh, it was a shameful day for tom boys that day.)  My brother had to come back to the other side of  the creek to get me. And  worse? He had to HOLD MY HAND! ...as he dragged me to the other side. All the while, i'm still crying and aiming my tip toes like a ballerina at every rock i could find along the  way. ... Come to find out, the leech? Wasn't even a leech. Just a rock under the water, with its tip exposed. It was gonna take me a while to live that one down...

Be More Awesome!

School is back in session.
Met an awesome young man today -- Kasiem.
ah. saw the glow of greatness he is marked with
and with it, he taught me.... 
reminded me that it's all an honor.
direct access to the young human mind and spirit...
a bag of clay.

the basics...

I recently ordered a book called "The 100: Most Influential People in Human History"
.... and,  I know by category it's not a human...but, I  vote sesame street to such a list one day...  for future beings to look back upon as they ponder just what was in place to keep the human spirit --the child within watered and fed.  colorful. alive. happy.  ... the basics.  


" it's not down in any map; true places never are"
                                                                     ~ Herman Melville

how to hollow out a bulb

DIY Hollow Out A Light Bulb

 

http://www.teamdroid.com/diy-hollow-out-a-light-bulb/

When I was growing up I had a keen interest in the sciences. Mostly because of the cool gear that scientists used, you know, beakers, flasks, Bunsen burners that sort of thing. Well, not only did I not have the money for those sorts of thing but I had no idea where to even buy them if I could. So I had to improvise. One of the better improvisations I was able to do was to hollow out a light bulb and use it for other things. The glass that makes the envelope of the build is quite heat resistant and the screw base is good to attach things to (even better if you can find old ones with brass bases, you can solder to those). I made a number of small boilers in order to learn about steam and distillation. I hope to show people that even if a bulb burns out, it can still be useful.

Step 1

You will need some common tools, a screwdriver (regular) and snips (or needle nose pliers). Use whatever bulb you have handy. *CAUTION* Never use a fluorescent bulb for this project, no matter how cool it looks. The powder used to coat the inside of them is made from phosphor and is quite toxic. You’re also working with glass, so use eye protection! You can’t see mine because I’m wearing them. You should also use gloves or wrap the bulb in a towel just in case it breaks. Yeah, you can’t see mine because i didn’t have any handy. So do as I say and not as I do, got it?

Step 2

First, grip the little solder point and give it a good twist. You will free the brass contact and break one of the wires leading to the filament.
Step 3

Once the contact has been pulled out, carefully crack the glass insulator. The chips from this are quite pervasive, they get into just about anything in the area and they are razor sharp. Use caution.
Step 4

After the insulator has been removed you can see the inside supports of the filament and the fill hole. In the old days bulbs were evacuated of atmosphere to keep the filament from oxidising and burning through. Now days the glass envelope is back filled with an inert gas like argon. The keeps the filament from burning through and makes the bulbs safer.
Step 5

Use the screwdriver to break the fill tube.
Step 6

The fill tube could be saved for a later project if you wish.
Step 7

You can now shake the filament assembly out of the tube. If the tungsten wire is still intact you could probably find a good use for it. You could make another light bulb if your stuck for something to do I suppose.
Step 8

The bulb needs a good cleaning. This powder, is called kaolin and is pretty safe. You should still be careful and keep it away from your mouth and anything you might eat near.
Step 9

Mind the sharp bits of glass in the socket when doing this. If you have some stubborn bits inside of it that you can’t get to with this technique you can fill the bulb with a little salt and shake it about. this should scour the powder off the walls.
Step 10

Impression: Pageants Among Mountains

and this sums it up....

...but i make no promises. 

Lesson Planning....

Power of words:

tending to your mind field.

fertile dirt

pull the weeds (life owies, negative words, lil monsters)

plant the seeds (day dream. imagine. speek it write it. claim it in present tense )

 water 

then  the flowers come.

 

 

                                                                                                                               (7 marks completion)