News from Wordstock

The First Annual Wordstock Poetry Festival at the Bamboo Arts Center in DeLeon Springs, Florida was a great success.

I wasn’t able to attend, but friends who went came back with glowing reports.

You can read an article from a local newspaper about it.

Wordstock Poetry Festival Brings Authorsand Fans to Central Florida

 

 

Save The Ta-Tas

I found this picture at komen.org

October is National Breast Cancer Month. This month has special significance to me because I am a breast cancer survivor.  Naturally, my poem on October 1^st had to be about breast cancer. 

Read the poem.  Breast Cancer: Life's Victories

My cancer was caught very early. Fortunately, I did not decide to put off getting my annual mammogram.  I had a lumpectomy and radiation. If I had put that mammogram off even another month, things would have gone much worse for me.  Please tell the women you love not to put off getting a mammogram.

 

I saw “Save the Ta-Tas” on a T-Shirt. I think it is funny.



CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE



 

Talk Like a Pirate Day

One of the wonderful things about doing my blogs is learning new things that I never would have known otherwise. For instance, I read the newspaper a lot more thoroughly as I am looking for the story to transform into a news print poem. 
 
Today I discovered something I never would have known. I discovered that there is such a thing as “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” I was wondering why so many people arrived at my blog after using a search term that included the word pirate.  Then I happened to notice an ad in the Orlando Weekly (Orlando’s alternative free weekly newspaper) placed by a local “drinking establishment” inviting people to enjoy a free rum drink on "Talk Like a Pirate Day.”  



CLICK HERE
to see costume detail

CLICK HERE
to see costume detail

 



September 19 is “Talk Like a Pirate Day”.  It has been celebrated for every year for the past ten years. There’s a website: The Original Talk Like a Pirate Site. I knew it was too soon for pirate searches related to Halloween; they must have been for "Talk Like a Pirate Day." 



According to the website some folks celebrate well into October. So, if you want to get in on the fun, check out the website and you may be able to locate an event near you.

And check out my pirate poem, “Pirate Action Group.” It is about real-life pirates. Not the fun kind.

 

How should you celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day? With some rum of course. Florida rum was is a favorite. A Toast to Florida Rum.

Beyond My Control

I feel like I don’t know who is in control of this blog—me or automatons.

For instance, after I post something on one of my blogs, I do a “status update” on facebook to let people know that there is something new on my blog.  I do this only once.  However, when I look at my posts on facebook I see that a notice of new post is on facebook two, three, even four  times.

It’s out of my control.  I must have given permission, implicity or explicity, somewhere some how.  There is probably a way to revoke this permission, but I don’t know how.  If you know how, please let me know.

Automatons from google put ads on my posts. They appear on the right side of my page and below my poem.  I have no control over them.

At first I didn’t like them very much. However, I’m starting to like them because they enhance what I am putting out into the world wide web. For instance, when I did a poem about the new Apple iPhone5, (iPhone 5: Smiles and Long Lines), I saw an ad for a cell phone case for the iPhone5.  That’s cool.

Another example: When I did a poem about manatees, (Little Econ Manatee) I saw an ad for an attraction offering the opportunity for a manatee swim. That’s super cool.  I had heard of swimming with the dolphins, but not with manatees.  I want to swim with the manatees.
 

And lastly some of my poems are political. I use news stories and politics is in the news a lot in the run-up to the election.  Last week I did a poem that slams Romney (Romney Controversy).  Since it was negative on Romney I didn’t expect to see ads that asked for Romney donations alongside that post. I’m OK with that.  Romney (or more exactly Romney’s campaign), has to pay for those ads. I like taking Romney’s (or Romney’s campaign’s) money.

The ads change all the time so you may not see the ones I mentioned.  I wish the cool ones would stay up.  But as I said, I have no control over them. 

This picture is from http://www.theshrubbery.com

 

 

Act Like a Kid Day

Yesterday’s poem for my News Print Poetry 2012 blog was about the release of the new Apple  iPhone5.  I chose that topic because it was more “newsy” than the poem I really wanted to do about fun.

So here is the poem about fun, entitled “Fun.” 

The title for this essay is “Act Like a Kid Day” because it is a phrase I use in my essay “The Amazing Gift of Laughter.”  The essay is in my book, What Ifs, If Onlys, and So Whats, a collection of essays based on my speeches.

 

Fun

Bored?

Channel your inner kid.

Bring back a sense of play.
Appreciate a wink of whimsy.
Think lighthearted.
We all need this in our lives.

Consider adventurous playfulness,

levity, and a sense of fun.
Be as wild as you want to be.
The most important thing in life
is being willing to laugh.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

 

A Fascination with Pirates

CLICK HERE
for Pirates of the Caribbean

What is this fascination with pirates?

On August 16, I posted a poem about pirates on my blog News Print Poetry 2012.  The poem is entitled "Pirate Action Group." It was about how the Somali pirates had turned kidnapping into a business, complete with form-letter requests for ransom. That post has gotten more hits this week than any other post  even though it is over a month old.

Search terms that include the word "pirate" are the main search terms that bring people to my blog. What is this sudden interest in pirates? Are people planning to take up pirating for fun and profit?  Are teachers assigning school children to write essays about pirates? Are people already thinking about Halloween costumes?   

If you know why so many people are interested in pirates, let me know.

 

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

I like to us a picture to illustrate my posts. I find them by searching google images.  Sometimes I will find the same picture from several sources. I actually spend quite a bit of time looking for all the sources of the picture.

I try to find the original source so I can credit the artist, photographer, or organization that created the picture. I don’t think I am too successful at it because people who use the picture in their blogs and websites usually don’t provide a credit.

I believe in giving credit where credit is due. It is my way of thanking the originator of the art I use. I hope that my credits drive traffic to their websites, and maybe someone buys something from them.*

Here’s a picture I love because it is such a powerful image.  I used it for my poem "Trayvon Martin: Shot in the Heart."

 

* PS: If you want to buy something from me, I have books for sale. Some of them ae on the right side of this page.

This picture is from http://deviantart.net