In my writing class, we are concentrating on a 'triptych' structure for personal essay. You pick a theme and then you write three 'panels' related to the theme. Then you weave the three parts into a single piece.
In the second half of the year, I've been writing about parent group. So my theme is "Parenting difficult teens". So far we've written the three panels and had them reviewed in small groups. Now we're supposed to put them together. I admit being in writing agony all morning. Now I think I have an awkward structure to build on. Really difficult!!
My three panels are
1. Parent's Expectations
2. Our Children's Choices
3. Parents take action
I'm in another writing group that grew out of my Guided Autobiography class. Our theme for today's meeting is 'Spring'. At one point yesterday, I was ready to drop the whole parent group thing and start over with 'Spring'. I don't think I will do that, I will persevere with my original panels.
My three 'Spring' panels
1. A child's view
2. New beginnings not all welcome
3. Spring Glory
I went looking for an illustration for 'triptych' which is a visual art form and spring and was stunned at the beautiful results. This water color is from the website of an artist named Jeannine Cook in Georgia.
Should I include my spring panels? As they are right now? You can read them if you want..... They're a little repetitive as two different panels mention my birthday.
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Spring
Panel 1
A child's view
When I was in elementary school, I built a spring diorama in a cardboardbox. Sky blue construction paper for the background. A brown tree built from construction covered cardboard stood in the foreground with blossoms made from twisted bits of pink tissue paper. Next to the tree stood a pedestal bird bath with crayoned in blue water. I surrounded the bird bath with yellow daffodils and red tulips. A golden round sun hung in the upper right corner of the box sending down warming healing rays. I felt so pleased with my brightly colored fantasy of the season.
I used to run into this box now bedraggled from time to time during my childhood in the garage. It always cheered me. I guess nobody had the nerve to get rid of it.
A whole new set of delightful imagery came out in spring. Flowers or all sorts. So easy to decorate a spring project. I happily drew flowering trees, symmetrical red flowers with green stems. Pink peonies, apple blossoms, so much to choose from.
In Sacramento, spring sprinted by. The blooming was done early on the way to the dry summer months. April Showers Bring May Flowers? I always thought that was odd. The rain had stopped by April. Why would it rain in April? And rain in the summer, unconceivable!
My birthday was in the spring. April 19. In our culture, no matter the day of your birth, we all bring from childhood the secret view that our day, our birthday, has special universal celestial meaning.
Quite a few events seem to happen on MY day, usually involving violence and rebellion. The first shots filed at Lexington and Concord starting the Revolutionary War, the Branch Davidian complex burned down, the Murrah Building explosion in Oklahoma city. Also my father's yahrzheit (anniversary of his death).
I always looked at the flowering trees as a personal miracle. Their delicate hues seemed to be a special gift to me, a spring baby.
When I was growing up in the semi-arid Sacramento valley, the camellias bloomed in February. All over the city, the huge bushes held blossoms in reds, deep cardinals through brilliant hot flamingo and bubble gum pinks, cherry blossom hues, deep ruby, raspberry and roses, pinks becoming so pale, there was barely a blush all the way toward brilliant whites.
Panel 2
New beginnings not all welcome
One recent year, at spring time, the shrubs and plants bloomed per their nature. New green leaves and pale blossoms. Early rhododendrons and magnolias. New life bursting out in the usual way. Like every year.
I felt profoundly shocked. Down to my bones, I could not believe what I saw around me. How could things be blooming?
Made me consider that maybe I had had a tough winter and maybe, just maybe, I was depressed.
Panel 3
Spring glory
So much glory in spring time. Just my season. Why? My birthday is in spring. April 19. In the central valley of California, where I grew up, spring came early and brilliant. By my birthday, the light was strong, the rain had stopped and we were well on the way to warm, very warm times. Soft colors and warm breezes.
Passover in the spring. Hopeful holiday with freedom and delivery from 'mitzrayim', the narrow place. The special foods. Kin and communities gather for the seder full of ritual, symbols and songs.
I always enjoy the particular sensual delight in making that hillel sandwich. First take the matzah, the flat crackerbread that has the consistency and taste of cardboard, ladle on some charoses (coarse mixture of apples, nuts and cinnamon). Top with horseradish, make it hot and spicy. If I do it right, my sinuses feel like they may explode and my eyes feel like they are bulging out. It may knock me flat. Yeah, that annual treat.
Pesach runs deep with themes of liberation and rebirth. Certainly we all have mitzrayim in our own lives, where we've been forced (or force ourselves) into some constricted spot. We can free ourselves and free others. Our very own actions can bring about liberation for all. Never rest until it's accomplished! Next year in Jerusalem!
I can't write accurately about Easter and its attendant resurrection but the pastel colors and fertility laden symbols surround me. Colorful eggs and gaily decorated bunnies. CHOCOLATE bunnies!
Buds and flowers everywhere, the hope for a garden, dreams of blossoms, fruits and vegetables.
A season of optimism, old ragged plants can bloom anew, the ferns unfurl, the trees explode into bloom.
And fecundity, the animals give birth to their babies usually out of our view. And hope for same, the woodpecker drums a rhythm into our chimney facing hoping to attract a new mate by rattling our plumbing.
At my husband's work, the messy and annoying Canadian geese nest in the wetlands during spring. When the eggs hatch, the males are driven away from the nest. They dare not go near those mother geese guarding the hatchlings. Instead they run around and posture in the doorways of the buildings, pretending to protect their young by making threatening moves at each other and anything that moves, running and lowering their large beaks making sucking noises at the office workers.
Here in Seattle, spring is a long drawn out affair. It's not warm as my childhood California springs. In fact, you might forget that this glorious season of rebirth also should bring warm comforting weather. As I wear my turtlenecks and wool sweaters into April and May. But the brilliant and long display of our own foliage almost makes up for our chilly experiences. The colors of the azaleas and rhododendrons with their wide ranging palette from pale to brilliant, creamy yellows to deep vibrating purples. My personal favorite is the fiery oranges that make the whole bush look like a torch ready to set the yard on fire. When we first came to Seattle, we took a spring tour of the arboretum seeing huge rhododendrons with individual blossoms the size of dinner plates.
Our long drawn out spring gives us ample time to enjoy every single blooming bit.
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