 | | |
| | |
|
Spaces home  Caroline's NestPhotosProfileFriendsMore |  Tools   |
Caroline's Nest |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
October 06 Dancing for Joy!As regards the pictures and titles . . . my dissertation proposal is in the hands of my committee. A huge step in this dissertation process and that's why I'm dancing. The committee has 10 days to review it and then I have a meeting scheduled with them for discussion. My committee chair already told me she's very happy with it. As some of you know it has taken me a full year to write 3 chapters of the 5 required. I figure it will take another year to actually interview research participants (formerly called subjects) and write the final two chapters analyzing the results and final conclusions.
On a different but related note, in her latest post Katheryn Magendie talked about strength training and form. As a former dancer, I can tell you that the floor to ceiling mirrors in dance studios serve a very definite purpose. Pound for pound, a classically trained dancer has more strength, stamina, and agility than a professional football player. I will quote Celia Sparger, a noted dance teacher and author of many books of ballet technique. I have taken the liberty of translating the ballet terms for those of you not familiar with them.
The Structured Format: [O]ne thing is certain, that her first and last lessons will begin with plie's (bending of the knees) at the barre (the bar as seen behind Leeza) and continue through a series of barre exercises, repeated in the centre (center of the dance floor with no bar to help steady the dancer), and finishing with changements de pieds (rapid changes of the feet), or similar movements of elevation (basically this is the warmup for all dancers, beginners through prima ballerinas). The details of the lesson will vary but the essentials will never vary. Whatever may be the vocal language in which the lesson is conducted, the language of the body will be the same plie's, grand battements (high kick that Paloma is demonstrating), battements tendu (the toe on the floor before and after completing a grand battement), and de'veloppe's (a movement in which the working leg is drawn up and slowly extended to an open position in the air and held there with perfect control). This is the alphabet of ballet which distinguishes ballet dancing from any other, and it has been used for some 200 years as the foundation for that training which produces ultimately the beauty of movement, strength, endurance, poise, agility, and speed unequalled in any other system (Sparger, 1970, p. 9).
I started my career as a dance therapist (before nursing and family therapy) and will write later about my experiences working with girls who had emotional problems. Once I get started writing or talking about ballet, it's hard for me to stop.
Blessings,
Caroline August 03 Good-by, Au revoir, Adios, Auf WiedersenWell, my blogging friends, I'm going to take my leave of your company. I have appreciated the time I spent getting to know you. I've come to realize I need the immediacy of voice, gaze, and touch in order to feel like a real friend. I spoke with a friend today and we talked and laughed for an hour by phone. I wish I had that kind of relationship with all of you.
The problem with blogging (for me) is that many times we only know what others want us to know about them unless there's a slip. I challenged a rather nice man (I thought) about one of his comments on another blog. He came after me like a junkyard dog. The venom and ugliness of his attack was startling. I immediately deleted his entry as it was too toxic to leave on my post. That was very early in my posting days and I learned very quickly to only say what I thought people wanted me to say. There are, of course, many of you who are thoughtful about my questions and comments. Laoch is one, and Silvery Lizard, God bless her, is an outstanding example.
This is not to leave out my other blogging friends. Sweet Dee and Marilyn always leave me feeling relaxed. Jay (the modern day St. Francis) is an uplifting example to the rest of us with her photos and true-to-life animal stories. Greg is a knight in shining armor with words of comfort and support. His moving pictures are also laugh-provoking. I chuckled over the 'happy birthday girl' every time I opened my site. The only reason I deleted it was because it was distracting from a very serious post I wrote later. Were you wondering why I deleted it, Greg? Ebony Dragon is an uplifting example of courage and love that I wish I could inject into my clients. Ebony, you need to bottle that love and patience and send it to me.
Paul Goodness and I have not spent enough time together, but maybe he'll tell me what hotep means before I sign off. Check out his site. Many of his posts are about minority issues that are relevant and intelligently stated. I can relate to many of them. Just Linda is another portrait in patience and hope. Despite it all, she keeps on smiling and looking toward the day she can be a full-time working girl again. And she's got a new dog that she's training herself to train. Lucky puppy!
I can never adequately thank all of you who helped me through the grief process when I was losing and then lost my little Bobby McGee . . . and shortly after that, my good friend, Ron. That was a very difficult time and so many of you shared your caring and concern. Thank you! Now Kathryn Magendie is going through the same hard time. I've given her love and support even as all of you gave me.
You all came through again when I asked for volunteers to answer the question about a 'turning point' in your lives. My advisor was very impressed with the information you shared. There may be an article in the future but with all identifiers deleted of course.
Now that I'm saying good-by it seems as if there's so much more I want to say. But unfortunately, I just don't have the time. As Dee said, it is very time-consuming to blog and I hardly have time to turn around and see where I've been. I just finished a presentation (Friday) at an agency that works with emotionally fragile children. I took a week out of my messertation research to research my presentation topic, 'Trauma Related Behaviors in Children'. I continued to see clients at both my offices. I went from the two hour presentation (12:00 to 2:00) to see a client (3:30) at the outlying office which happened to be in the same town. Then it was back to my home office to see a client at 6:00 pm. I missed the opera I was going to attend with my son because I was just too tired. The opera was a student presentation at the local university. I was sorry I missed it because a young friend was singing the lead.
But of course, I'd rather be busy than not have enough to do. God has blessed me with good physical and emotional health and lots of stamina and if a busy mind keeps the dreaded Alzheimer's at bay, I should have lifetime immunity. I will miss all of you. Thinking about you doesn't take any time out of my day. It's wonderful having spent time with you even if we couldn't do it in real time and at a real place.
Blessings on you and your families,
Caroline July 16 Addendum to I'm It!!Well, I've been tagged by the the Lizard. Curses! I'm going to have to think about this. So do all y'all want superficials or deep dark secrets? (Like that's really going to happen!)
Caroline
July 22 So here goes:
1. Each person tagged posts the rules before their list.
2. The tagee lists eight things about themselves
3. At the end of the post the tagee tags and links to eight other people.
4. Then visits those peoples' sites and comments letting them know they've been tagged and have to come to the tagee's post and
read the instructions so they know what to do.
My list:
1. I love to garden and read for pleasure (not at the same time).
2. My research has become fascinating rather than a chore (I should be submitting my proposal by Sept. 1)
3. I love classical music and bluegrass equally (love that five string banjo).
4. I was considered a brainiac as a kid and hated it. I wanted to be beautiful like my sister.
5. Last year I drove 68 miles roundtrip to take an injured young bird (Cardinal)
to the only wild songbird rehabber within driving distance.
6. One of my pet peeves is people who always have to make themselves the
center of every conversation no matter what is being discussed.
7. My other pet peeve is people who use wikipedia as a citation when it is
absolutely the most unreliable source of information available on the
internet. When I see 'wikipedia' I hear fingernails on a blackboard and stop reading.
8. I have OCD about accuracy and credibility. Blame my profs.
9. I'm only tagging people I think won't mind. Also, I think a lot of people have already been tagged.
So Kathryn Magendie, Just Linda, and Jay, you're it.
Cheers,
Caroline
June 25 Help, I'm sinking!Does anyone remember how to play 'Battleship'? The set belonged to my sons and why I kept it all these years is beyond me. I couldn't believe all the ships and pegs were still present and accounted for. I recently resurrected it and thought I would use it in play therapy with a little girl who is quite competitive.
Please help me out as there are no instructions and I have a fuzzy idea how to play it but I'm not sure.
Thanks,
Blessings on all of you,
Caroline May 20 Re: FriendsHi, All,
I want to address the 'friends' subject. I have recently turned down a couple of requests. It's not personal and I hope you didn't take it personally. I just don't see the need for it. Unless a space is restricted, one can comment on anyone's space. I have commented regularly on certain posts and have received return comments regularly and we're not even 'friends'. On the other hand, I have 'friends' listed who never comment on my post. That's OK. It just validates my position that 'friends' is a rather meaningless concept in the world of weblogs. If you're interested in what I have to say, you'll comment. If not, you won't. If I find your posts interesting, I'll comment, if not, I won't. We don't need a special designation called 'friends' to do that.
Cheers,
Caroline
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Invite as friend
now im really going to miss you!