day eighteen - whatever tickles your fancy

Japan.
such a beautiful country.
i can't even begin to imagine the destruction caused by the recent earthquakes and tsunamis.

but, there is some good news sometimes.

today i received an email from a friend who lives right in Fukushima - where the earthquake occurred. up until today, we didn't know if she was okay, we hadn't heard from her.

so in this blog, i choose simply to share her email...

Thank you for your message!

I'm sorry that an answer becomes slow.

Under the influence of the earthquake, the Internet was not usable.

I'm OK.

Yes. It was really terrible earthquake and tsunami...

My family and my house are OK.

But, I don't know how about my friends and their family.

A lot of houses were strolled around by a tsunami.

My hometown was gone...

There are no houses, no people, no foods, no wear no water, no light...

It's awful...

In addition, a nuclear power plant was attacked by a tsunami.

So, we can't go out or must go other places.

There are few children in my city...They go to other places.

They have to live and study apart from their parents...

We are afraid of exploding every day...

But I alive. We alive. Japan alive.

I believe that this situation improves.

Surely children will come back our city.

Thanks to you, I got well.

I'll get over these days.

Thank you so much!!!

xoxo,

Mizue

to each and every person affected by the earthquakes,
my heart goes out to you.
xx

day seventeen - an art piece

i'm not a big fan of art. i appreciate it, and am in awe of it, but i don't really understand it or remember an specific art works.
so i'm going to mix this up a little, as i believe that photography is an art all by itself.

i have a friend, a very talented friend, who is an extraordinary photographer.
if you are interested, check out her blog - amazing...
http://lizamills.blogspot.com/

and so, for my "art piece" i have simply chosen the first photo on her blog at the present time.
i think the photo and the caption speaks for itself...


"you are not as fat as you imagine."

check out her blog, she's incredible.
xx

day fifteen - a poem

This year in English, we started off studying the poetry of Judith Wright.

I honestly didn't enjoy the unit that much, as I generally struggle with poetry and understanding it, but I also studied this particular poem in Unit 1 Literature two years ago, and I still love it, even though it kind of makes me angry...

The poem talks about these women, (who are obviously restricted by not only their social class, but more importantly their gender and the role that women were expected to play in society at that time), who are just expected to be the perfect little housewife, and as a result, quite literally must fold up their dreams just like a sheet, put it in the cupboard, and close the door.

So here it is.


Smalltown Dance by Judith Wright.

Two women find the square-root of a sheet.
That is an ancient dance:
arms wide: together: again: two forward steps: hands meet
your partner's once and twice.
That white expanse
reduces to a neat
compression fittin gin the smallest space
a sheet can pack in on a cupboard shelf.

High scented walls there were of flapping white
when I was small, myself.
I walked between them, playing Out of Sight.
Simpler than arms, they wrapped and comforted-
clean corridors of hiding, roof with blue-
saying, Your sins too are made Monday-new; and see, ahead
that glimpse of unobstructed waiting green.
Run, run before your're seen.

But women know the scale of possibility,
the limit of opportunity,
the fence,
how little chance
there is of getting out. The sheets that tug
sometimes struggle from the peg,
don't travel far. Might symbolise
something. Knowing where danger lies
you have to keep things orderly.
the household budget will not stretch to more.

And they can demonstrate it in a dance.
First pull those wallowing white dreams down,
spread arms: then close them. Fold
those beckoning roads to some impossible world,
put them away and close the cupboard door.


xx

a few days behind...

this week = ridiculous.
concerts at school, house aths trials, parents teacher interviews, and the list goes on.

in other words, no blogging has been seen since monday...
but am starting up again tonight.
will catch up 2 days, then everything should be back on track. i hope :-)

xx

day sixteen - a song that makes you cry

It was several days before Christmas......

It was several days before Christmas.
The sisters sat about the parlour and grumbled about their fate.
Meg, the oldest and most romantic said, "It's not fair some girls have pretty things while we have nothing."
"And it won't be Christmas without presents!" said Amy, with her usual pout.
"And we haven't got Father to read to us," said Jo, who yearned to travel and write great books.
Only Beth, sitting contented said in a tone so sweet even angels would have listened...

"But we've got each other."


I'm not sure how many people know, but in 2005 Little Women was made into a musical, starring Sutton Foster as Jo March.
At the end of the musical there is a song called "The Fire Within Me"
It is after Beth's death, and Jo is grieving, finding it very hard not only to continue with life, but to find anything to write about.

I know that the March sisters are just fictional characters, but these sisters, in particularly Jo March, really resonates with me. Jo is just so driven, headstrong, and determined - she won't let anything or anyone stand in her way.

So after she loses Beth, the audience is revealed to this whole other side to Jo. For once in her life she doesn't feel like she can just reach up and re-arrange the stars.

The first time I saw this musical I cried in this scene. Especially when Jo begins to write the book of her and her sisters. It's just a moment of realisation, a moment of warmth, as she understands that Beth's memory can live forever in her heart, and in the heart of her readers.

Again, I have seen a recording of Sutton Foster performing this, as she originated the role of Jo March on Broadway. And yes, I am a little bias towards Sutton Foster (who can blame me, she is phenomanal...), but throughout this entire song, I had shivers, smiles and tears. It is truly incredible.

So there it is, the song that makes me cry, every time I see it performed, without fail.

Here's the lyrics (they are a little different to the link... but they are correct to the sountrack); check out the link below watch the amazing Sutton Foster perform what can only be described as utter brilliance.
(note: at the beginning it's black, something must have gone wrong with the filming? but it comes back in at 1:21. besides, you can just hear the emotion in her voice!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c66VhH-V_mM


The Fire Within Me

How do I go on?
Just an empty room
All I have are memories I need a task to do
Someone give me a task to do I need a....

I thought that somehow we would always have forever
I thought the promises we made would have a different end
I thought the love we shared would keep us as we were
It was the fire within me

We dreamed and plotted with abandon in this attic
When we were gathered here the room became our citadel
We were amazing then my sisters and I
They were the fire within me

In this room I knew we were alive
Nothing was too painful to survive
We faced the world together
The four of us forever side by side
Everything I promised was for them
I was theirs no matter where or when
How can that be lost forever
How when I gave everything with all my heart

(spoken):
It was several days before Christmas.
It was several days before Christmas.
The sisters sat about the parlour and grumbled about their fate.
Meg, the oldest and most romantic said,
"It's not fair some girls have pretty things while we have nothing."
"And it won't be Christmas without presents," said Amy with her usual pout.
"And we haven't got father to read to us,"
said Jo who yearned to travel and write great books.
Only Beth, sitting contented said, in a tone so sweet,
even angels would have listened,
"But we've got each other."

Everything I promised them is here
All of us we used to be
We will always have each other
They will always be the fire in my heart

Here I go, and there's no turning back
My great adventure has begun I may be small
But I've got giant plans
To shine as brightly as the sun
Here in all the smallest details of the past
Here in this attic suddenly life is something vast
The four of us forever here at last
As unexpected as can be
Astonishing


and remember, as Jo sings at the end of the musical -

sometimes when you dream,
your dreams come true in extraordinary ways,
suddenly a day can be so amazing.
and sometimes when you yearn, you burn the air.
and then you are not the same.and the world is astonishing.


oh crap, now i'm crying!!
xx

day fourteen - a non fictional book

the only fictional/biographical book that i can ever remember reading is:



'The World at her Fingertips - the story of Helen Keller' by Joan Dash.

i remember reading this book and just being completely blown away at the idea that someone could possibly live without sight or hearing.

for anyone who doesn't know, Helen Keller is an extraordinary woman who, after contracting a horrible fever at nineteen months, was left both blind and deaf - something that many of us would find difficult to imagine.

to be honest, i don't remember the majority of this book, but i recently watched a film that was based on her childhood and how Helen's teacher, Annie Sullivan, taught her to communicate with those around her.
how she did this was by having a hand sign for each letter, and as Helen would, for example, touch her doll, Annie would spell into her hand "D-O-L-L".

i just can't comprehend how someone could learn to communicate like this, let alone be living without sight and hearing.

so the point of this post, is that i learnt a very important lesson after reading this book/watching the film associated with it...

be grateful for what you have!
xx

day thirteen - a fictional book

alright, so i procrastinated yesterdays and todays blog because i'm not much of a reader.
so i have chosen a book that i used to love, and read, all the time.

Ella Enchanted

and yes, incase you were wondering, this is the BOOK, by Gail Carson Levine, and it came out BEFORE the film.

"That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift. When I cried inconsolably through my first hour of lie, my tears were her inspiration. Shaking her head sympathetically at Mother, the fairy touched my nose. "My gift is obedience. Ella will always be obedient. Now stop crying, child." I stopped."

that's the first paragraph of chapter one, and i used to recite it by memory. in fact i had almost the entire of the first chapter off by heart.

now, although you may have seen the movie, i'm going to go right ahead and explain what this wonderful book is about.
as you can see from the first paragraph of the book, Ella is a young girl who has a "gift" of obedience. in other words, she must do anything that anyone tells her.
at any time, anyone can order her to top on one foot, cut off her hand, betray her kingdom, marry a prince...
her quest is to find Lucinda, the fairy who gave her this gift at birth, and convince her to take the gift back so she doesn't have to kill the man she loves.

don't get me wrong, the film is great, it has musical numbers, and anne hathaway who i adore and does a great job at ella, but as any fictional book made into a film - THEY MISS SO MUCH! i remember the first time i saw the film i was SO disappointed. especially with the character Mandy - they made her such a small role in the film, whereas in the book she plays a huge part.

so that is my choice for my fictional book, and i guess just to point out that the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" definitely applies to this book, but perhaps even change the saying a little...

don't judge a book by it's film!
xx