Conversing about verse to high school sophomores

This column appeared in the Tri-Valley Herald on January 22, 2008.

I recently accepted an invitation to speak about poetry to several honors English classes at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton. I suppose my credentials as a past poet laureate of Pleasanton and my decade of teaching writing at Las Positas College helped assure English teacher Wendy Garner that I might have something interesting to say.

It also didn’t hurt that my 15-year-old daughter, Melissa, wanted me to address not only her class, but several other classes as well. It’s not every day a teenaged girl wants her dad around when other teens are present, so I was happy to take up the challenge.

While I’m used to talking about poetry with college students, I was initially uncertain at the thought of standing in front of sophomores.

What, exactly, would I say?

Ms. Garner had asked me via email to share some of my own poetry, as well as the process I use for writing poetry. But which poems would I select? Would the students relate to my work? Would teenagers even care about the poetry of a baby boomer?

The key, I knew, was to present whatever I said with passion, high energy, humor, and yes, technology.

So when I stepped in front of the first class, I did what any wise professor would do to capture the youngsters’ attention: I clicked on a video from YouTube.

Up came an animated poem by former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins. The students fell silent as the short video mixed visual images with Collins’ spoken poetic words. Next I showed a PowerPoint slide listing elements of good poetry. Another slide gave examples of haiku.

Then I transitioned into one of my own poems. Projected on the screen, the poem recounted the funeral after the shooting death of a young woman. The poem refers to a “dead sister” named Natalie.

Because I wrote the poem, the students assumed as I read the somber verses that I had lost my own sister to murder.

As I finished reading the poem, I noted that my sister’s name is Laurie and she lives in San Francisco "and is very much alive. This is a fictional poem.”

As the room instantly lightened, I described how poets have the ability to explore though words the common experience of what it means to be human. Even if we have not lost a sister to death, we can tap into that experience and examine it through our work.

Next I shared a lighter poem, a published sonnet I’d written about how great life would be to have an English accent.

“By the way, how many lines are in a sonnet?” I asked the kids.

The students muttered various numbers.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I expect to hear a clear answer, and it’s 14. So how many lines in a sonnet?”

“Fourteen!” the students recited back.

“Can there ever be 12?”

“No!” they said.

“So how many lines in a sonnet?” I asked again.

“Fourteen!”

Along with sharing two other poems I’d written, I recited a few famous poems I knew by heart during the 50-minute talks. I encouraged the students to memorize their favorite poems, and I pointed out that I’d recited Hamlet’s soliloquy so many times over the years that my daughter memorized the lines when she was a little girl, and knows them to this day.

As each presentation drew to a close, I encouraged the classes to consider registering for the upcoming Poetry, Prose, and Arts Festival (www.PleasantonArts.org) taking place in Pleasanton on April 5 and 6.

Now in its 7th year, the festival has been so successful that it has expanded to two days, offering workshops in poetry and prose for both adults and teens, poetry for younger kids, writing contests for all ages, book signings, performances by musical and dramatic groups, a fine arts exhibit, even a keynote address by award-winning poet and essayist Jane Hirshfield.

While I appreciated Ms. Garner’s enthusiasm and an invitation to return to the school next year, I felt I’d connected with students when a week later I received 67 handwritten notes.

While each note is wonderful, one from a young man echoed many other students' remarks, suggesting that I'd bridged the generation gap. He wrote quite simply, “I like your ink, Mr. O.”

2008 Arizona Rock 'N Roll Marathon

Seven friends from Pleasanton traveled to Arizona in January 2008 to run in the Rock N Roll Marathon. The marathon (26.2 miles) and half-marathon (13.1) started in Phoenix, and ended in Tempe, where we stayed. Pam and I ran the full 26.2 miles, and our friends ran the half-marathon.

Pam took this of me at the start of the marathon.















This is Bobby, from Colorado. I ended up running quite a few miles with him during the race. He's an ultra marathon runner, in training to run Leadville, which is a 100 mile run. This 26.2 mile marathon was just a short training run for him!

We had a great time getting away for a weekend of exercise, lots of eating (it seemed like we were always eating), and lots of relaxation -- of course, after running 13 or 26 miles, anything feels like relaxation!

Valley Humane Society teaches pets aren't toys

This column was published in the Tri-Valley Herald on January 8, 2008.

By the end of this year, Wendy McNelley will have stood before every second grader in Pleasanton and delivered to them a dog or a cat, along with its own carrying case.

With these pets come a profile that tells the animal’s name, age, what it eats, and some of the animal’s special traits.

Oh, it’s worth noting that the pets are plush stuffed animals.

McNelley, program director for Pleasanton’s Valley Humane Society, has already met this past December with 120 kids in their classrooms to introduce this new program, called Keeler’s Kids, that allows children to experience the level of commitment needed to care for a pet.

“It's just wonderful to have those light-bulb moments where you can see the students understand what a big responsibility it is to own a dog or cat,” McNelley said. “This is a hands-on lesson, so they take away so much more than if we just went in and lectured for 45 minutes.”

Named after Joyce Keeler, a 40-year educator in Livermore who left a significant donation to Valley Humane Society after her death in 2005, Keeler’s Kids teaches students about pet overpopulation and the importance of spaying and neutering. Then, through use of a workbook and catalogs, the children go to a pet store and to a veterinarian to learn what costs are involved.

“The kids are always shocked at the $300 to $400 price tag,” said McNelley, who shared a funny moment when the youngsters quietly totaled the expenses. One little boy finished his addition, smacked his forehead, and announced "Sheesh, this is getting expensive. And money doesn't grow on trees, you know!"

McNelley said such moments allow the children to see that pets require money, time and effort, and are not toys. In fact, when McNelley and her helper went back on a second day for another round of classes, two little girls from the previous day were carrying their pets to lunch with them.

“They didn't want to leave them at home where they would get lonely,” McNelley said. “One little girl had put a sweater on her dog because it was cold out. I loved that.”

The students are surprised to learn that in most cases they will have their animals until the children grow up and turn 26 or 27 years old. McNelley said most students are not able to fathom being that old.

Kids also learn that for every pet in this country to have a home, every person would have to adopt 15 dogs and 45 cats. This means that a home of four people would have 60 dogs and 180 cats.

“At first, the kids think this would be fun,” McNelley said, “but then we talk about all that poop. Yuck! They get the point.”

At the end of the presentation, students fill out an adoption application and contract, similar to the documents used at Valley Humane Society. At this point, if they don't think they’re ready for the responsibility, the children may choose not to adopt their animal.

“It’s a pivotal moment in the lesson when they really comprehend the amount of work ahead of them,” McNelley said.

McNelley hopes one day to expand Keeler’s Kids to other school districts, but needs to focus for now on Pleasanton. She would also like to adapt the program for high school students.

To make a donation or to learn more about Valley Humane Society and its many worthwhile programs, visit www.valleyhumane.org or call (925) 426-8656.