the year of school

last year was the year of the book for me, and this year's found me firmly planted in the year of school. i've returned to an overwhelming combination of facilitation, research, instruction, and workshop, and am trying to determine a way that doing the dishes can be educational just so i rationalize doing them. studious a.raw:

• cut-up poetry was a favourite at both victoria park collegiate institute and aldershot high school two weeks ago. surprising and, at times, surreal poems were created. one shiny line from vic park juniors: "I found nature behind Tim Hortons."
  
• i'm leading the toolbox workshops at downsview secondary school in grades 11 and 12. spent each morning last week with a fascinating group of students; will return over next two weeks for five more classes. the grade 12 class a hoosh a ha'd with me on thursday, and the grade 11s mined newspapers to build vocabulary and create erasure poems on friday.
  
• i visited st. clement's school on tuesday afternoon for a grade 12 writer's craft class and we discussed lighthouse adjectives, automatic writing, and strategies to translate poetry from page to performance.
• ryerson may be on reading week, but the marking's not. we're in the final week for short stories, and soon onto poetry.
• i nearly passed out from excitement when margaret christakos forwarded info on this upcoming sound ecology retreat.
• i'm considering applying to richard armstrong's sound workshop at banff this summer. it's been recommended by a few others and looks up my alley.
• i found out about the performance studies program at berkeley last weekend and have been daydreaming...
• march: collingwood youth workshop, toolbox workshops commence @ marc garneau, another lovely visit to vic park, virtual liaison with aldershot, and a trip to vancouver to read @ UBC.
  

current mood: studious (procrastinating the inevitable hike up the mountain of dishes)
current get-out-of-dodge: haliburton sound ecology retreat