"Because you have yet to learn this skill", or, "For my students on a Friday afternoon"

Listen

I said, LISTEN

Because, when I speak, you should understand that the words coming out of my mouth may not be perfect, but they will affect your future.

Listen, because even though you think it’s boring right now, in 10 years you will thank me.

Listen, because what I say right now, may never be said again, and what I say 10 minutes from now could determine the rest of our lives.

Listen

To

Each

Word.

Each

Phrase

Each

Inflection

It matters

You think you know

You think, you have all the answers, to all the answers, to all the answers

What you don’t know, is I have a secret

The secret

In fact

To decode those answers

Those questions

You know, the ones you are afraid to ask

Every day

The questions that creep into your dreams, that scare your friends, that your parents don’t want to answer or won’t even entertain.

I have the secret

Do you want to know what it is?

Are you curious?

It is slowly seeping in

Your brain is twirling

Connections

Right, left, forward, back, reverse, no, just a little further.

There it is, you found it.

Listen

Emily Woodall

March 1, 2012

Sway

Before she knew how to dance freely

She used to sway back and forth to the music

only keeping time

but not truly letting her soul soar

When the music swells, her heart jumps keeping time with the drummers feet, hands and breath


It is not the booming beat, but the sound of soft voices coming together to form one
two, three
harmony
long fingers grace the black, in between ivory and glide
slow, slow then race down and back up again to land on that perfect blend
one, two
two and four the hands slap together, feet land and mouths open


she cries, soul singing, voice echoing and arms rising
it is when soft voices come together
to form
one


Before she knew how to dance freely, she used to sway back and forth
but these days, 
her heart opens, into the light, dark and spaces in between, mouth open, song pouring out and feet moving, arms flying
soul singing
soaring
swift, slow, sweet sensation


Emily Woodall
March 5, 2012

Found in translation

Something a little different for the blogosphere tonight...Algo diferente esta para los que leen este blog. noche

Tonight I had the pleasure of hosting a workshop for parents at our school. The workshop was about asset building, a fancy way of saying, "how to get our kids to build the skills they need to be successful". The information was sent out to parents via our newsletter, which is translated into Spanish. Now, given that about 50% of our students are Hispanic, I should have expected that Spanish speaking parents would show up. Little did I know that only Spanish speaking parents would show up. Needless to say, it was an interesting night.

What I didn't expect, however, was that, what could have been an utter fiasco (with no translator), ended up being a great success. Luckily for me, one parent spoke both Spanish and English and was gracious enough to translate some of the information, and I spoke as much as I could in Spanish. The feedback was great! One parent even asked if they could come every Tuesday night! I am very thankful that I was able to connect with these parents and learn to find some common ground within the Spanglish translation. I look forward to working with these parents more and am hoping that they will share some of the information they learned tonight with more parents and members of our community!

Drifting

Another great weekend brought lots of time outside, and three shows! Scott and Ellen played in their newest collaboration, Tumbler, on Friday night, then Evan busted out some comedy and the Perpetual Drifters played on Saturday. It is times like these that I become so incredibly grateful for the friends that I have in Chico. They bring immense joy to my life. I loved the lighting set up at the show saturday because it made for such fun photos. 

Lil rockin' out!