days of naze

karma overdraft
10:47 PM

Glen and Marketa were amazing last night at the Keller. Glen owned the room. He could barely contain this huge grin and several unfakeable, "It's so f*ckin' great to be here."

Before "Falling", Glen had a thought about what his life has been like since the ultra-low budget "Once" captured a rabid world-wide audience: "You're tryin' to kick the ball across the garden, and then it goes over the fence and then over the block and then over the sea. And then other guy wants his ball back..."

Glen recalled playing the Aladdin and hitting the used clothing shop next to it that used to have loads of Pendleton shirts.

(Isorski has a nice summary of the evening.)

This concert ranks right up there amongst my very favorite Portland musical experiences. I was there with a very cool family with connections to art and culture (and my old job in Beaverton!).

Frankly, I'm starting to get a little worried. I'm not certain I've sent out enough good stuff to have earned what's coming my way...

This morning, a student brought in a multi-colored origami crane - with a 4 foot wingspan! And just for fun she added another crane smaller than a centimeter in length. The starting material was a 6 foot by 6 foot quilt work of colored paper.

Then we encountered Hurricane Bart King. Bart used to teach middle school in Beaverton, but lately he's been pumping out very popular books like the Pocket Guide to Mischief. An hour later, my face was sore from laughing so hard. My students, weary of my tired old schtick, were ready to adopt Bart as their new teacher, having him sign foreheads, arms, and books he hadn't written.

A couple of hours later Superintendent of Portland Public Schools (40,000+ students), Carol Smith, made an appearance as we were working through a game of Guess My Number. I'm doing my teacher thing: "Do you know what superintendent means?" And a bright student "Kind of like the principal of the whole school district", which I thought was dead on. I got a really good vibe from Carol and gave her credit for doing a job that is incredibly difficult. One student earned a quick $20 on the sly for his "Mr. Naze is the best teacher ever".

Hey, I know how to teach 'em.

April 28, 2008

swell
06:11 PM

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won this year's Oscar for Best Original Song with "Falling Slowly". For those of you who have been living under a rock, their music was essentially the script for the indy smash "Once".

Yes, yes, Christopher and why do you trouble us with this trivia?

I received a happy little e-mail last night from friends that just happened to have a spare ticket to the sold out show and wouldn't I like to come?

Curtain in a little less than two hours! Sweet.

...
notes:
Glen and Marketa perform under the group name The Swell Season.
Swell Season website
Swell Season Wikipedia entry

April 27, 2008

the kharma train rolls
10:36 PM

I know it to be true: the fact that I can be happy with others is predicated on the truth that I am happy by myself.

I remind myself, but others help me to remember.

April 22, 2008

it's good to be alive
12:03 AM

I'm my favorite
Taurus, Naze, but you come close
Happy Birthday, man.

-Carol, Faithful Reader

You are forty-four
Naze, that's a multiple of
eleven, like me

-paraphrasing a student's comment this morning

Haiku arrives late
Webb's are thinking of your birth
On important date

-Tom Webb
host of the most awesome St. Patrick's Day ever

Spawn of Sixty-Four,
Effervescence tip to toe,
Keep it in the now....

-Calamity Jane

April 16, 2008

don't go there
11:18 PM

There are a lot of people that fear true stories. A lot of people that are worried what people will think. People that want you to keep your stories to yourself.

The intertubes are the wrong place for those people.

Derek is not asking your permission to tell his story.

April 15, 2008

you haiku me
09:33 PM

You don't want to, but you can't resist. It's time for a little 5 / 7 / 5 for your favorite Taurus, Yours Truly.

Just a few moments out of one of your next five days to make haiku magic by the Monday, April 21 birthday deadline.

Get zen and let it rip: christopher at naze dot net.

The 1999 haiku remain a high (low?) water mark...

April 12, 2008

a friday to remember
01:50 AM

2008 0411 mary christopher leslie at lc.jpg

Today Spring came late, but most welcome, with many blessings to Portland.

In a very rare off-district campus staff development day, the teachers in our school convened at...a former Portland Public School - The Kennedy School. This is a beautiful little North Portland site that was closed in the '70's and restored and reimagined by the McMenamin brothers in the '90's.

A colleague and I led the staff in a poetry lesson based on Sandra Cisnero's poem "Abuelito Who". My fellow teacher and I learned about this poem three years ago in the Oregon Writers Project and have utilized it heavily in our classrooms. You could feel the energy in the room. It crackled and sparked. Pens danced across the paper. The results, even in such a short period of time, were a little miracle. It's what you dream of as a teacher.

That afternoon I was called to a memorial service of Edith Kilbuck. In 1984, when I switched form violin to viola, Edith sat in on my end of term performance. I remember her encouraging remarks noting how my new instrument suited me.

Edith was perhaps the guiding spirit of the School of Music at Lewis & Clark College through the '70's and '80's. She had a way of identifying the things that defined your gifts and helping you see the barriers in your path. Her students, colleagues, and family members gave eloquent talks about her life that were works of art up to Edith's vaunted standards.

As is the case so often in life, the death of another serves to unite. Mary (left above), Leslie (right above), and I, fellow string musicians at LC started up right where we left off. Mary continues to do impressive work at Stanford (the new Institute for Creativity and the Arts). Leslie is a master teacher (5th grade like me!) in Tigard who gave me a gift of her delightful CD, Songs for Kyle, a sonic reflection of her warm and honest spirit.

After forgetting my workout bag at home, I just made it in time for a performance at the Ballroom Dance Company. A confident and spicy tango, a solid, flowing waltz (my lift spin - respectable), and a jive that survived with extra helpings of showmanship.

Home to bedtime stories for my kids.

It just doesn't get better than that.

April 05, 2008

two books
05:40 PM

"In the Moon of Red Ponies" is one of James Lee Burke's novels that features Billy Bob Holland, a defense attorney in Missoula, instead of his better known protagonist, Dave Robicheaux. The Holland books are subtler, taking a little longer to develop and distributing more of the action to the cast of characters. Burke's mastery of scene continues with gorgeous descriptions of Montana's natural riches. The captivating patterns of Burke's writing continue: the problem that can't be ignored by a man of conscience; an assortment of personalities in various degrees of disrepair; moments of startling, violent ferocity; small moments of hard-earned redemption; and the sanctuary of love-making.

Ironically, I'm having a harder time with "The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde". Previous Wilde biographies have touched on his homosexual relationships, but Neil McKenna catalogs them exhaustively placing them in the context of Wilde's artistic life. So far, there are two problems. First, Oscar picks up and discards lovers like magazines at the dentist's office. He's really kind of an asshole. Secondly, the book commits itself to a chronology, which becomes a bit tedious after bit. I'm hoping that McKenna will get into a more analytical mode as the work progresses.