Branches 2 & 3: Circles and Cycles Part 2

Writers are the Best Teachers
To teach effective writing, you yourself must be an effective writer. We can't teach what we don't know, and when it comes to writing, it's important to continue honing your craft. If you haven't engaged in much formal writing since college, you will remain a less effective teacher. No matter what you teach, try starting a blog, writing articles, or developing short stories -- all terrific ways to engage the mind and keep your skills sharp. Reading is important, but reading alone isn't enough to strengthen your writing skills, or to make you a credible authority on the subject.
                     --David Cutler

                        High School History, Government and
                        Journalism teacher from Boston
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Time
     It is time to reconstruct my writing practice--scheduled on the daily, but ordered and categorized separately...specifically.   I enjoy, and am quite good at organizing and scheduling my time.  The image below was, in general, how my weeks worked over this past school year.



I reduced my life fraction down to five core pillars and allocated the time I had.

     However, once the school year ended I found myself with an un-renewed contract, an 8 hour manual labor day job, and a need to recharge my heart-mind-and-soul.
     I have since then found a new school, stopped the day job, find myself feeling fairly recharged, and now ready to rebuild a new life schedule.  But, before I get there, I want to use this space as a canvas for my organizing personal composition projects:

1. I have a blog: Under the Willow Tree I want to upkeep.
2. I have a poetry chapbook in the works.
3. I have two graphic novel story archs.
4. I want to stay active with my poetry writing.

5. I want to start profiling myself as an educator on some quality education websites, respond to articles relevant to my practice, and then submit some of my own.
(the first title at the top is a link to a post a site called Edutopia.)

6.  I will have to write consistent lesson and unit plans.

Branches 2 & 3: Circles and Cycles Part 1

Branches 2 & 3: Circles and Cycles

     Those of you who know me would not argue that as much as I can keep them "relevant," I do my best to remain a creature of habit.  Here I sit on this Sunday morning at a cafe ruminating over teaching, my social tendencies, writing projects, and love/attraction/sex.  All of this with a background chorus of hip-hop/rap music.  This entire construct, a recycling, I have circled and cycled through for the last three decades.

Teaching

     There are certain phrases concerning my struggle with education the last half decade.  Originally, that struggle was the reason I left California. And, ironically enough, the same exact struggle I ended up landing in when I came to New Orleans.

          -education use to be a humanity, now it's politics and business

          -we use to develop young humans and now we develop adolescent operating systems

         -administrations are not transparent with staff and students

         -...and so on

         -and it may not be all that simple, but I am binary and need as highly a reduced fraction as

          possible to drive myself into powerful and purposeful action.

Some networks seem to do things better than others--most networks have some different interests or strength they focused on.  You would think there would be more cross-collaborate, like teachers who support each other cross-curricularly.  Maybe they do, and due to where I have been for the last two years, I have been unaware.  Giving where I am now, I have high hopes, potential certainty, that that will change for me.

Where have I been the last five years professionally: 

     Nola Year #1: ReNew Schools/Elementary Reading Remediation & Kindergarten Co-Teaching

     Nola Year #2: McDonogh 42/ 7th & 8th Grade ELA

     Nola Year #3: Carver Collegiate/Founding Freshman Teacher of Composition

     Nola Year #4: Sophie B Wright/English II World Lit. General/Pre-AP

     Nola Year #5: Sophie B Wright/English III American Lit.  General/AP

     Nola Year #6: Success Preparatory Academy...Here we Go!

Transition Why's

      Nola Year #1: Wanted to go back to Secondary ELA Full Classroom Teaching,

                             had no spaces + lack of admin follow through.

      Nola Year #2: School lost their charter, take over network re-offered me position--

                              charter network offered me a square on my "bucket list."

      Nola Year #3: Admin lacked enough transparency for me to feel comfortable come EOY

      Nola Year #4: Stayed--received highest growth award/offered AP training.

      Nola Year #5:  Lack of transparency, dialogue, openness.

     Each school/network is like relationship with a significant other.  Both sides of the relationship have strengths and weaknesses.  What are they willing to compromise and what are they not?  This is what creates the temporary or the longevity of  the relationship.  Sometimes you stay for the children, until you can't.  Each school/network added a positive piece to my New Orleans experience, and I hope i returned the same.  I am for excited for the culture I am joining at Success Prep this year!

     to be continued...

     Part 2: Introversion/Attraction/Friends

Branch 1: Words worth Wordsworth

Something I have been piecing together for the last few weeks.  I finally dug throw all the notebooks I had left parts in, collecting them together, and rough drafted them.

Words worth Wordsworth

We will sit upon the same steps,

Within touching,

Within talking,

Within all synchronization possible,

And yet, only the silence will connect us.

Only the wind raking through  the branches above

Will be our discourse, of coarse

Wordlessness will fit me like a vest and tie

And you like a dress and eyes, and I

Will unspeak so loudly through all those talking

Around us that you will pause, you

Will tense and pause and look at someone else so,

You will not look at me, and we

We will remember.

That Thursday

In the park

Under the tree

We sat on my sweater, we

Talked and told

And asked and listened

And broke and bonded

and re-broke and re-bonded, until

Until the silence could only be shattered

Into words worth Wordsworth:

We leave you here in the solitude to dwell,

With these our latest gifts of tender thoughts;

Thou like the morning in thy saffron coat,

Bright gowan and marsh-marigold farewell!

Cid Galicia

2.21.2015

8:18pm

Branch 3: Following Resolutions with Actions

Productive Morning
-work of spirit
-work of relationships
-work of self


Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. 
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
                   -Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Good Morning World,

This is a follow up on my post from yesterday, where I am continually reducing the fraction of larger ideas/goals to successful actions steps:

1. Took the larger context specific weekly schedule and reduced/specified it into resolution based actions steps.

2. Then began to single a specific day with specific actions.

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I am inspired for my new year; one goal of which was to recommit to my spiritual health and strength.

Today's readings in prep for church tomorrow:

1st Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14

2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

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Found this cool website full of preacher notes:

https://www.workingpreacher.org/

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On a humorous note, words i had to look up because I'm out of practice! lol

Edifying

-to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift:

Admonition

-counsel, advice, caution

Doxological

-a hymn or form of words containing an ascription of praise to God

Have a great day y'all,

Cid

...and now to work out!

Branch 3: New and Old Beginnings

Happy New Year!

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
-T. S. Eliot
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Being one who finds strength in the binary,  I take great joy in beginnings and ends.  The year is complete; there have been joys and sorrows, successes and failures, learning and growing.  As I look back on 2014, I have no regrets.  I feel I pushed myself to live with love and honor; now that i can be more objective, I can see what parts of my life were not the strongest or most healthy and now begin to forge ahead with new and old ideas, plans, and action steps to be and live better, stronger, and healthier.  I am all for New Years Resolutions and took some inspiration from this man:

Pope Francis`New Years Resolutions Suggestions

– “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”

– “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”

– “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”

– “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”

– “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”

– “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”

– “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”

– “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”

– “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”
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Here is the path to the destinations of creating my own resolutions

I took myself out of the immediacy of my current New Orleans life.  Stepped out and ventured back home to California.  I wanted to compare the who I am now to the who I was.  The idea was to see those places and people who first helped inspire the tenants that I would chose to forge my male adult identity.

I reviewed parts of my life with family and listened to their responses, did the same for my brother, and shared my proud love to my sister, who is now a mother, and introduced and welcomed my niece, Giulianna, to our family.

I revisited my college town, the first real steps of building and creating the masculine warrior and poet I now identify as.  I was able to reconnect with good friends, mentors, and God.  And again share my year, and listen to their ideas and responses.

And now, I have returned to my current home and started to have those conversation of the experiences of the year past, with those here, and forging into the new year.  With a more clear mind, I will put myself back in the mix with my New Orleans city and New Orleans friends--share my realizations, listen to their responses, and move forward.
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Happy New Year!  Here are the Topics of Growth of my Resolutions:
-it appears to be a lot, I know, all important and necessary.
-reasonable steps at a time.
-lots of planning, successes, failures, and re-planning.

Scheduling
Writing Projects
Reading Growth
Work/Life Balance
Spiritual Fitness
Physical Fitness/Diet
Solitude/Community Balance
Financial Stability
Romance/Dating/Sex
World News/Political Awareness
Art/Culture Awareness
Friendships
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Steps Complete Thus Far

1. Turning the larger concepts into specific actions, tasks, and goals.

2. Draft #1 of my weekly schedule

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Final Thoughts

I will be coming to a very important milestone in my life, at least according to my design.  I will be 35 in February.  The promise I made to myself was the change in focus from pleasure, in the moment, and rash decisions to  a true ownership of male adulthood: health, education, financial stability--simply a true focus and commitment to my life in the long term.  One truly difficult part of that is my Black and White vs Gray internal and external struggle.  My idea is not to sacrifice all of my binary aspects as the thoughts and beliefs they are, it is more of maintaining an openness and love for those who are not me and shifting my balance of expectations between myself and those I truly care about.

-that is not very specific yet, but it will be over time.  Also i have me working since 7am, and my brain and hands are tired.

Peace,

-Cid

Branch 1: Locks and Keys

My life had found itself collected on a beautiful and challenging path for the last to years with a woman, I still to the moment, have a great love for.  It had found its' apex however, where the understanding of love needed to shift. And, in some sense, it is now a new beginning .

Recent additions to life:
-Teaching American Lit & AP Lit/Comp
-Brown Belt in Kung Fu
-Single/New Apartment
-Reinvigorating my Poetic Spirit

I wrote this piece early yesterday.  It began as a free-verse and went through many shifts, pauses, stops, and changes.  And, at that final moment in time, yesterday, my eyes finally saw it for what it was becoming-- what it  has now become, a "Concrete Poem."

This is a form I have very rarely wrote in since elementary school or workshops in college classes.  It designed itself, however, as I wrote through my 2nd draft in pen and paper and ended up as the following below.

Can you see the images?  What are they?

It is still a draft obviously, but it felt good to take creative ownership of my new space.
Could not quite get the right format below, so I also attached the above picture.
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Through the Gate

It has been a summer-spring of two years,                     

Two years of…                                                   Vertical root                                       vertical feet

Vertical trunk                                     vertical chest

Vertical branches                             vertical hands

        And                                                         and

Vertical leaves                                   vertical minds

gravity cannot

                                                                        water

growth of                                                            be out-longed

                                Still the                                                                 or out-timed.

                                of vertical                                                            to now face

                                Two years                                                           and force.

The                                                                        the

Leaves                                                                  minds

Branches                                                             hands

Trunk                                                                    chest

Roots                                                                    feet

The exiled-exhale of two twined lungs that now push out and away.

Chest concave                                                                   the closing of eyes

Shoulders dissolve and            leading to                     the closing of windows,

Ankles sink                                                                        doors, and  curtains.

Through the gate, keys are re-exchanged and the unlocked becomes

once                                                                                                       again.

Branch 4: New Book on Ba Gua

Today's post is going to start covering one of the new books I am reading: Ba Gua "Hidden Knowledge in the Toaist Internal Martial Art,"  by John Bracy and Liu Xing-Han.

Today will be my notes on:                                           

Introductory Note
Preface Part 1: Intro by Master Liu Xing-Han
Preface Part 2: Intro by John Bracy

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Introductory Note (Key Take-Aways)
-In China, particularly with the internally focused, dawn is a key time to begin the day
-Most of these groups are practicing t'ai chi ch'uan, Ba Gua, or another internal style
-The best time to meet is pre-dawn
-Master Xing-Han, 90 year old, may be the oldest/most senior Ba Gua master alive
-He began in 1917 at the age of 7 under his father
-On the Chinese New Year in 1924, his father invited him to be an "inner door" initiate of the renowned
 third-generation disciple  Master Liu Bin
-Later became a fourth generation "inheritor" charged with maintaining the oral/written records of the
 clan and passing them down to the next generation

Preface Part 1: Intro by Master Liu Xing-Han (Key Take-Aways)
The Internal Styles of Traditional Kung Fu (net chia ch'uan):
     -Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi (hsing I), t'ai chi ch'uan
-Master Xing-Han learned the heart of Ba gua was the I Ching
-After many years, he understood that the form of Ba Gua Palm is derived from:
     -adaptation
     -extension of power
     -constant change
-Because of this it always the art and the practitioner to adapt to any circumstance
-Ancient Chinese Taoist: reality/truth is never frozen/crystallized, but fluid
-Trigrams in the I Ching do not represent a fixed truth, but truth as always harmonizing/changing
-The movements in Ba Gua are based in Harmony and change
-Based on effective turns and circles utilizing unique training patterns and unique walking methods

Founder
-Master Dong
-When young, he traveled through China studying from many great masters
-He especially loved training with the mountain dwelling Taoists
-Lore states, one of them (always unknown) imparted him with the greatest secrets of their arts
-Eventually his travels lead him to being a servant in the Forbidden City
-One day, while serving drinks, his great skill in movement was noticed
-He was asked to demonstrate his Kung Fu and then may a palace body guard and martial arts
 instructor
-Thus began his teaching career, hundreds of studets, five were taken as "inner door" disciples
 and received the full body of the art
-His most popular student Cheng Ti-Hwa was very famous and respected
-He was given the nickname "Invincible Cobra cheng" (died in 1900)
-Stories of his death:
     -he confronted a group of german soldiers who were forcing people at gun point to work-parties
      he took out two knives and walked the circle through them, killing many before he was killed

Co-Author of this Book
-Master Liu Bin (one of Cheng's top disciples) was Master Xing-Han's Sifu
-Master Xing-Han began studying with Master Liu Bin in 1917
-Bejing was the birthplace and center of Ba Gua
-There was a North City and a South City group
-He studied, learned and transcribed everything, and become formaly invited into the inner door in 1925
-Japanese invasion of China 1937-1945 / Cultural Revolution 1967-1976
-Both of the time periods above were difficult times for Kung Fu teachers/practitioners
-After 1976 Master Xing-Han returned to Bejing and has taught ever sense
-He has had over 100 formal students, but only one westerner (the author of this book) John Bracy
-Bracy was accepted as a student in 1988 and renamed him Yubg Wei
- Bracy now teaches Ba Gua at hi own school in California with many formal students approved by Xing-Han

Ending Notes of Master Xing-Han
-persist with study and revelation will come in a flash
-consider the riddles of the Ba gua Practice:
     -move forward and withdraw
     -link mind and body
     -practice the method of constant change

-always remember:
     -one move/on stillness
     -for every move there is an advance and a withdraw
      (a change from movement to stillness)
     -merge yin and yang/dragon and tiger
     -one move one calmness

Preface Part 1: Intro by John Bracy (Key Take-Aways)
-First interested in the internal arts in 1967
-Catholic upbringing help lead him to follow the interest
-1981 in Taiwan was introduced/began taining in:
     -Ba Gua, Xing-Yi, Tai Chi, Ti Te-Kuen
-Meet Liu Xing-Han/conferred with formal lineage discipline of the art

-Offers Book Layout Explanation:
    -political/philosophical background
     -difficulty of defining the internal arts
     -metaphysical/symbolic aspects of Ba Gua
     -qi/power training exercises
     -two ma exercises
     -combat applications
 

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Glossary
-Sifu: father teacher
-inner door initiate (disciple): receiver of the whole body of the art
-inheritor: Grandmaster in charge of keep and teaching the art