the cusp of may

There’s an old expression that goes, “When gorse is in flower, kissing is in fashion.”

Here on the cusp of the month of May, the yellow pea-like gorse is starting to bloom again, and people are no doubt coming into nurseries asking 'What are all those pretty yellow flowers?' Gorse is none other than one of our most infamous invasive exotic weeds, growing rampantly along the interstates and public-right-of-ways of the northwest. Gorse (Ulex europaeus), is resistant to "fire, bulldozers, herbicides -- everything man has flung at it” but makes a wine much loved in olden times in Scotland. So even while landowners may be committed to an unending quest to eradicate it, we can appreciate the charms of it’s coconut-vanilla-pineapple scented flowers (while fermenting in a bottle) trapping forever the swelling exuberance of May’s transcendence into summer.

Here’s a recipe from Caspar, CA for gorse wine. “The wine has a fruity taste, according to those who have dared to drink it. "Here is an idea that could be the end of gorse," Potts said, tongue in cheek.

GORSE WINE

12 cups of gorse flowers
1 gallon of water
4 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups seedless white raisins
2 oranges
2 lemons (or 1/4 oz. citric acid)
2/3 cup strong tea or 8 drops grape tannin
2 heaping teaspoons all-purpose wine yeast
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

Put the flowers into the fermenting bucket immediately. Boil half the water, half the sugar and the chopped raisins together for 1 to 2 minutes, then pour over flowers. Thinly peel the rind from the oranges and the lemons, and add to the bucket. Squeeze out the juice and add that too. Add the cold tea or the tannin and stir thoroughly. Make up to 1 gallon with cold water, or cooled boiled water if you prefer. This should give you a tepid mixture, about right for adding the yeast from the starter bottle. Add the yeast and yeast nutrient, stir well and cover. Ferment for 1 week, stirring daily. After 2 or 3 days, when fermenting well, add the remaining sugar and stir to dissolve. Strain through a sieve or cloth and siphon into a gallon jug or bottle. Fill up to the neck or the jug with cool, boiled water, if necessary (the less surface area exposed with all wines the better), fit a fermentation lock or secure a plastic garbage bag with a rubber band over the neck of the jug. Rack when clear, bottle and keep for six months.

So, standing out there by the river, with joggers going by, I picked handfuls of the yellow blooms and filled up a bag while watching the sun set. In this day and age, I’m sure I look insane standing out there picking the weeds but someone’s gotta keep the old ways alive.

monday

monday, blehhh.
feeling a bit upside down. tried to be positive but it didn't work out.
an afternoon of productivity. class. migrant workers. polygamy. we should start a tribe...the pink people.
fun with bottles. calling eva.

search and rescue

we went to the gorge, and the weather was beautiful. sure it was windy but it was totally clear and it warmed up a whole lot. there were lots of flowers blooming this time, so many wildflowers...
At multnomah falls there were all these search and rescue teams which was really cool. turned out they were doing training, and get this...picking up trash! (referring back to my previous rant about worthless pieces of shit who throw trash over the bridge, guess what reeeetards, these guys have to come in and clean up after your lazy worthless asses. betcha feel proud now, buddy).
over at cascade locks there were a bunch of shiny classic cars parked by the lock, and motorcycles everywhere. Yep it's Sunday afternoon.

We made it to hood river and drove past tons of orchards in bloom and headed towards Mt. Hood, where in spite of the 85 degree weather, there was snow snow snow.

there were lots of rhodendrons in rhododendron but none were blooming yet. next thing i knew though and holy shit it's gresham...boy we sure got back fast.

went to pizza a gogo again and wow laurelwood free range red is good.

nighty nighty y'all.

clean clean clean

riding on the train, these ladies on the train were talking about pet psychics, and how the pet psychic told them they needed to play with their dogs more. duh...i could tell you that and save you $50.

some guy on the train was barking like a dog sporadically, in a way that you know he wasn't joking around...i got all excited about the japanese brochure but it was just a scientology hustle...

bye bye declerye

we're probably gonna close down the co-op...and i want to cry. i think it would take a miracle to save it, but it's worth saving. wish i had the money to do it. problem is between all 5 of us we'd be lucky to rub two nickles together.

all the money belongs to people with no dreams. all the dreams belong to people with no money.

it's a bitter irony...

abuses of the staffroom

I've got something to tell you...but I'll save you the suspense, there wasn't really anything all that shady going on in the staff room, not really--but it does make a provocative title.

hopped off the train by the edge of the woods, the steel tracks cutting a line through the fog...
looking half-wild with all kinds of bags strapped down for the storms ahead and an unneeded umbrella in my hand. the fun part was that i had to get it all together so i waltzed right on in the staffroom like i knew what time it was...

what was up with the mobile coffee truck. yo...what a concept!

went in to beaverton esd to get on the list, then walked out of the office and back into the bathroom putting my work clothes on, can't roll into work all high fallutin' like this. shit got crazy for awhile but it abated eventually.

I swear, people really don't know how to use copiers do they? Some people just come in and so much as look at a copy machine and it's out of order for hours. If this sounds like you I'm talking about you, do yourself and the whole rest of the world a favor and ask for help. Do NOT attempt to try it on your own. Really, those of us who work in copy places would MUCH rather do it for you, no matter how embarrassed you may be by your lack of copier magic, spending hours crawling around prying into akward corners unjamming a machine makes it so in my best interest to do whatever task you have in mind, no matter HOW small. Really I DON'T MIND. What I do mind is untangling messes...

charles charles charles.

came home, planted some potatoes, then walked to the library and got some stuff.
walked most of the way home and everyone was all out...kids and dogs and bikes and sprawled out in chairs and playing in the streets. people are real. they exist.

i walked home smelling the crapapple blossoms and thought ahh it's good to be outside.

even the busdrivers seem to be in a good mood today.
too bad i feel narcoleptic.

mal poema español-inglés bilingüe #3

it is you--que agarro, you--que llevo,
es el bolsillo full of precarious sueños
y un corazon full of esperanza,
the weariness from my brazos y piernas falls away cuando usted me sostiene
i rest en la paz of your abrace
and flotador away to slumber

oestre

1. rain sun rain sun hail sun hail sun rain sun rain (yep i'd say it's normal easter weather).
2. made some appleblossom/strawberry/apple champagne, and a batch of dandelion "beer".
3. OD on robin eggs and chocolate.
4. made collard greens, mac n' cheese, butternut squash, biscuits, strawberry/spinach salad, the muy especial devilled eggs and the quorn loaf. lots of leftovers for next week.
5. finished copying the stephen cary book.
6. the new frog is very lively.
7. planted some more peas.
8. picked my first lilac.
9. feel tired as hell but fat and happy.
10. looking forward to some special visitors.

en la marcha

students and workers/estudiantes y trabajadores,
men and women/hombres y mujeres,
the unseen thousands/los millares ocultados,
thousands upon thousands/millares sobre millares,
marching in the streets/marchar en la calles,
for dignity and justice/para dignidad y justicia,
for the past and the future/para el pasado y el futuro,
because in this country/porque en este país,
we are all immigrants/nosotros ser todos inmigrantes,
and we are all still searching for hope/y nosotros ser todo buscar para esperanza,
and wrestling with dignity/y luchar con dignidad,
and learning pride/y aprender orgullo

butterfly wings

pale butterfly petals drift by
a song that went something like this
i know it was easy and hard and hard and easy
ambling down the street past your broken faces
it's too much this time, i don't know where and how it was
walking dreamlike into oncoming traffic
we played that game too many times
no one knows y0ur name or cares what it was
it was yesterday and it's all the same, we don't know why we do this
we keep picking it up and putting it down, and falling forward
it's like the last time i knew, we were older then
now we are foolish and giddy
talking and talking and talking through days and nights
dancing to oblivion
no one speaks softly anymore, it's all unpleasantries and "are you crazy" and yelling and screaming out on the streets
we are broken blossoms drifting towards an endless future of nothing
drifting uselessly into nothingness

high latino dropout rate

The high latino drop out rate is feeling very real today. I wonder how many of these poor kids are gonna make it through high school? Sitting in the room, this week's ED 291 reading assignment is feelin' pretty real to me... after all, how relevant is any of this curriculum to the lives of these guys? And yet they need to finish school or they're in for some real trouble...Something to mull over for awhile...

Something about working with teens makes me think about these things more often than not...in a rather Kozol sort of way mind you. Seems like this society doesn't have much to offer kids...or anyone else really. The sad but beautiful thing about teens is that they are old enough to suspect all of this...and young enough to lash out.

楽しことは... a daily reflection

I love it when...楽しことは...

there is dirt ちりcrusted under my fingernails なまづめ after pulling weeds
my hands get sticky from picking dandelions 蒲公英 to make more wine 酒
i get an unexpected ride home and don't have to wait for the bus.
when the neighborhood teens 近所のティーン come around hustling candy キャンディ bars
when people ride their bikes 自転車 down my street on sunny days
i'm kickin' it with the teens at mh マーシャル高校 when nobody's got their barriers up.
when i can go outside without getting all wet
when there is more good than bad in the world
things work out alright

customs forms in triplicate..fo' real dawg!

the only thing worse than filling out customs forms in triplicate, is being the person who has to explain the process...in Japanese.
It could have been worse I suppose. And how often do I get to use Japanese for something OTHER than this blog?

It's been a rough week so far. I hope things mellow out, for real.

never mind.

Oh...I see. The lack of pictures on this site, is only in my head...It's just a firefox incompability. So they're really there and I'll just take it as an act of faith that this is all working nicely.

VOZ/Jornaleros play

So it is things like this that motivated the play...I was very interested in the sociodramas that Proyecto Voz 日雇民の声計画was doing. They did a really fun one about the Sessenbrenner Bill for La Reunión y la Marcha del Inmigrantes, but I was too busy to get in on that one.
Nowadays my schedule is a bit lighter... So we went over to the office of Proyecto Voz 日雇民の声計画 and I met everyone over there and more or less jumped right in. I can't convey the full flavor of total immersion Spanish スペイン語 but I was a bit rusty not having used it in quite awhile...but it's coming back nicely. The experience is a good side note to all this ESL theory. As a second language learner, I'm coming into L2 (Spanish スペイン語) from a preproduction/limited emersion phase (Entiendo alguno, pero hablo poco), but as the saying goes it's a context rich environment with built-in motivation. Okay, no more torture with educationese, I promise.

So we're doing 4 scenes. We came up with "Mean Streets (waiting in the cold", "Room For One More" (The employer/el patron only wants one worker)", "The Rip-off" (The workers don't get paid fairly), "ESL Class", and "Work Center 授産所". The method was to dramatize these incidents for a minute then freeze like a snapshot of the situation.

The General Sequence:


1. Mean Streets: ふるい の ひ市街 Everyone 日雇い is standing out in the cold complaining how cold it is. ふるい の ひ は 日雇いは 市街 で まって いる...さむい と いう こと で はなす. Maria is over in the corner hustling tamales. マリァ は [タマレス!] と いいます(Snapshot--everyone freezes in uncomfortable poses)









2. Room for One More: ひとりだけ The employer 手配師 pulls up in a truck but only wants one worker ひとり日雇いだけ. There are 5 jornaleros 5日雇い there and they desperately try in vain to be the one chosen. It's hectic, so el patron 手配師 is shouting "I only need ONE worker ひとりだけ! Just ONE! ひとりだけ!" (Snapshot--crowd surrounding el patron 5日雇い/手配師)






3. Rip-off: The workers 日雇いare waiting to get paid, but the boss 手配師 refuses. しごとが でつて, けど おかね が もらわない "Your work is no good." "I'm not paying you." A lackey translates for the boss 手配師 and tries to hold the worker's back. (Snapshot--el patron is withholding the money)








4. ESL Class: 日雇い は えいご を べんきょする, せんせい は えいご を かいてする I am teaching basic English to workers at the work center. (Snapshot--I'm writing on the board)








5. Work Center 日雇い授産所: An employer 雇い主comes in to the work center 授産所 and puts in a request for workers 日雇い. The interviewer comes and explains that there is a job available and what the pay is. 2 of the workers 日雇い volunteer to do the job.
(Snapshot: shaking hands)




It was a lot of fun practicing. On the day of the performance we went to city hall, and walked into a zoo. We had no idea there were going to be so many people there...and here we all are in our work clothes, and everyone else was dressed for the opera. It was like a circus in there! Fortunately we were in a space where I couldn't see everyone so I didn't get completely nervous and freeze up. People seemed to enjoy our play, although I don't know how much of the dialog they heard, but being that the play was so visual, I'm sure they got the idea.

april reflection

more dandelion wine simmering in gallon jugs next to the radiator, more in the kettle on the stove. golden yellow sunsets stain the sidewalk as i ramble around the neighborhood,
all the clouds look like they belong in an episode of the simpsons,
the last of the daffodils are fading away, and the air smells utterly of crabapple blossoms,
high up in the pines, hummingbirds are twittering,
the parasites circle closing in on affordable housing turned into unaffordable condos,
the last days of porch furniture and barbecue grills are upon us,
younger whiter faces walk the sidewalks,
i ponder these things sitting on my porch potting up plants and sipping on last year's oak leaf wine in the fading light of day,
abandoning the jacket to go across the street to pick more dandelions for another pot of wine,
listening to the hum of the trains and boats by the river,
if i fail to notice the passing of spring, i can still see summer is rolling in like the tail ends of thunderstorms across the mountains of the west slope.

$#*&@!!!

Don't know why the damn photo feature ain't working no more...this sucks! That was possibly my favorite feature with blogger.com.
sigh...

two blocks

it's funny how interactions with high school students never go the way you think they will. when working with this age group you really gotta improvise. i definitely had to pull out the johnny cash moves...i think everyone was all giddy from the weather.
in spite of it all, there were tangible accomplishments. note to self: let the ADHD kids listen to music while they're working, it goes so much better. wonder if that would work for L....too?

boy nothing like driving to make you not want to drive anymore. what with pedestrians leaping out of nowhere to really high gas prices...i'm looooving the bus experience after what i went through today. it's so worth it not to have to deal with this level of frustration just to leave the house...

can't claim to have gotten much done, but you know i did have some time to go do a neighborhood photo shoot. that was a nice change of pace. an amazing number of interesting subjects within two blocks.

and just for the record

Today's little thoughts:

The life that's drama -free is the life for me.

It is easy to screw up...and much harder to get it right.

We're all just one dollar away from being homeless and that's scary.

You can't get ahead...there's always something waiting to drag you back down when you are poor. And you can NEVER see that thing coming at you.

If you have a good person in your life, take a moment to thank them for being a sane decent human being. They're the exception rather than the rule.

When you are surrounded by crap it's alot easier to smell the roses.

Always expect something completely unexpected.

春休みは終わりですspring break's over, 仕事をしなければならないback to work

urrrgh...welcome back to 夏時間 daylight saving's time. i see indiana decided to get with the program finally...well sort of. they're always confused about 時間 time issues over there. here, half the town seems half asleep. everything feels a bit off and probably will for awhile yet.

oh and it's 月曜日 monday. not a favorite 日がきらい day anyhow. in true form the 謄写器 copier went 気が狂うhaywire. people were ひややか surly. and the 押すな押すな電車 train was packed. i wouldn't mind following the ジプシー gypsies with their ひとまとめ packs and sitting 橋の下under a bridge with flickering ろうそく の 星 candlelight stars until the whole thing blows over.
家に帰る on the way home i had 不運 terrible luck catching the バス bus so i went straight to cascade, it took so damn long, i didn't want to take my chances trying to catch the next one.

気持ちよくなった it felt good to be sitting in a 授業 classroom...it's kinda like an 教育家の支持団体 educator's support group. now if i could only swing the 学費 tuition so i could get credit for being there...
another day, another hustle.