In The Meantime...

It's not really for a lack of having anything to write about that my bouts of radio silence exist. I think it has more to do with really getting into a routine which ultimately exposes gaps of free time which are quickly claimed by various projects. The latest one to come my way is the coordinating of the school's very first science fair; an event which will be pulled together in just over a month. More on that in a bit.

And just as things can become routine around here, there are certain things which come along and make me cock my head to the side in a "Well I'll be damned," kind of way. The other night I was completely taken aback when we here at the compound were delivered a bottle of de-worming medicine. Apparently that is a hazard for those who walk around barefoot. And to think that just this morning as I got out of bed and stared at the tan lines on my feet I thought to myself, "Hmm. I wonder why I don't walk around barefoot more often." Now I have legit reason not to.

The actual taking of the medicine was nothing to write home about. It was like downing a tablespoon of cough syrup, only slightly bitterer and highly punctuated by the knowledge that this was being done solely to fight worms. Over the last few weeks we've been treating an injury to the paws of one of the dogs and the first thing we had to deal with was the worms which were initially forming in the wound. The dog, Pablito is fine, and now I somehow felt a little closer to him after this. And for those of you who are quick to rib me for being on the skinny side, take comfort that maybe what I've had all along is a tapeworm and that soon I will start to wear the effects of eating frozen pizza.

Yeah, I doubt it too.

Also standing out as a banner day around here was the recent appearance of a well published Jamaican poet named Lorna Goodison. Ms. Goodison has enjoyed a very successful career as a poet and is a professor of the subject at a college in Michigan. Our students study some of her poems in preparation for the CXC exams and when the opportunity to have her speak to our students appeared, Fr. Anthony acted quickly to make it happen. She was here visiting family and generously spent a day with us, educating us around poetry and answering questions from students and teachers alike.

Side note: I borrowed one of my previous post titles from one of Lorna's poems.

A very warm and perceptive woman, Lorna has an infectious smile that lets you know that she enjoys her life. She has seen a lot, done a lot and has been lucky enough to find and develop one of her greatest gifts: poetry. And from what I gathered, she did not set out to be a poet. It was something which found her quite by accident as she worked in the world of advertising. Her co-workers knew she wrote poetry and as fate would have it, the right people were in the right place at the right time and she began entering her work in small but public forums and it was not long before she became more widely known.

Between all manner of questions Lorna dropped quite a bit of knowledge about poetry, how one comes to express themselves through poetry and the importance of discovering natural gifts and developing them fully. "The corollary to having a gift," she said, "is the pride of knowing you used it as best you could." That, as well as a certain definition of poetry, (The insides of one person speaking to the inside of someone else) have stayed with me the most since that day.

Now for the science fair. Two days ago I was approached by our science teacher, Ms. McIntosh, a monumental event in and of itself because until that time, she had barely said more than three words to me and they were all the same word: "Fine." She usually said it in response to me asking, "How are you today?" To say that she is quiet and keeps to herself would be like saying Bill Gates has a few dollars to spend so you can imagine my surprise when she came up to me the other day with a terrorized look on her face and asked the questions, "Do you have a scientific mind?"

"Well, kind of." I began quizzically, "I have a degree in Electrical Engineering if that counts."

"Good." she said curtly. "You can help me organize the science fair."

I'm still not entirely sure why she picked me for this. I can't imagine there is a nasty rumor circulating that I have a ton of time on my hands. Regardless, it's a great project to take on because the school has never had a science fair and this is the kind of event the Fathers I trying to bring to the school as they improve the curriculum so I'm happy that it came my way. Logistics and long term planning are my bread and butter – you had better believe I have already started a spreadsheet to track all the details. And as I continue to work on this, I keep having flash backs to the science fairs I took part in and how daunting it felt to have to design a poster board and write a report explaining my project. I'm not sure if this latest affiliation with science fairs is some form of cosmic justice or God's twisted sense of humor. Maybe it’s a little of both.