She Blinded Me With Science

The Science Fair is always an enjoyable event for students, staff and visitors.  Please join us on May 11, 2012 for the exhibition.  If you can not attend, please enjoy the Thomas Dolby video instead, which I assure you, is not an acceptable substitute.  

Mother O'Mine

Everyone has a mother and is grateful for all the hard work she put in to raising us.  To continue the poetic theme from last month, consider what Edgar Allan Poe wrote to his mother-in-law in the poem, "To My Mother":

Because I feel that, in the Heavens above,
The angels, whispering to one another,
Can find, among their burning terms of love,
None so devotional as that of "Mother,"

Other poets have crafted dedications of affection and remembrance to their mothers.  Enjoy some by reading the titles mentioned here.

Who is the greatest poet?

The title question was raised by Dean Raider on his San Francisco Chronicle blog.  His readers responded and they named Pablo Neruda as the number one poet.  If you would like to see the full list, you can read it here.

For now, take a moment in this National Month of Poetry to consider the closing lines of Neruda's masterpice "The Heights of Macchu Picchu."

I come to speak for your dead mouths.

Throughout the earth

let dead lips congregate,

out of the depths spin this long night to me

as if I rode at anchor here with you.
And tell me everything, tell chain by chain,
and link by link, and step by step;
sharpen the knives you kept hidden away,

thrust them into my breast, into my hands,

like a torrent of sunbursts,

an Amazon of buried jaguars,

and leave me cry: hours, days and years,

blind ages, stellar centuries.

And give me silence, give me water, hope.

Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes.

Let bodies cling to me like magnets.

Come quick to my veins and to my mouth.

Speak through my speech and through my blood.

April is National Poetry Month

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events.*

Read more about how you can participate here.

And look forward to Poem In My Pocket Day!

* Information taken from the Academy of American Poets website. 

Beware the ides of March

According to the news from National Geographic, "the ides of March was merely one of several common calender terms used to mark the monthly lunar events.  The ides simply marked the appearance of the full moon."  Once Julius Caesar was murdered on March 15th, 44 BCE, however, this day took on a new meaning.  To learn more about this, click the link to read the rest of the National Geographic article. 

Leap Year

Wednesday, February 29, marks leap day, a day that's added to the month of February almost every four years—that is, every leap year—to keep the modern calendar in line with the celestial cycles that frame it.

But where did leap year come from? How does it work? And have other cultures, with their own systems for tracking time, needed to use it, too?*

Have you ever asked any of the above questions?  If so, click here to read the full explanation from National Geographic.

*Written by Brian Handwerk, National Geographic Magazine, 2008 

There is always some madness in love

Many people think of Edgar Allan Poe as a master of mystery, writing tales to chill our bones.  But Poe is a master of many topics, love included.  He cherished the women in his life, but none more than his young wife.  She was sadly taken from him because of tuberculosis.  The joys of married life and the pain of losing his love are beautifully expressed in his works "Eulalie" and "Annabell Lee."  To experience his words, click the name of the poem you would like to read.