Words + Math + Seasons = Mathematickles!

Want to tickle your math bone? Try reading Mathematickles, a "collection of poems written in the form of mathematical problems and grouped according to seasonal themes." A few examples from the book:

crisp air

shadows tall

+ cat's thick coat

signs of fall

pumpkin - seeds + face = jack-o'-lantern

Using Betsy Franco's poems as models, today we wrote some of our own poems. We first composed these together:

cool air

birds sing

+ flower buds

signs of spring

hot weather

squirt gun

+ popsicle mustache

summer fun

To make the writing process more manageable for independent work, I set up a few templates.

For a poem describing a rainy day:

descriptive phrase

descriptive phrase that ends with ay

+ descriptive phrase

rainy day

Summer:

descriptive phrase

descriptive phrase that ends with un

+ descriptive phrase

summer fun

Or poems to "solve"...

children

-bedtime

(tell what this equals)

This would be a great book and activity to explore descriptive writing, poetry, seasons or math symbols. It would also make a nice "welcome summer" lesson!

Poetry Month: Celebrating Math in Poetry

Over at Brimful Curiosities, they are celebrating National Poetry Month. Each week, they are doing a blog link-up where children post illustrations of poems that they've read. I thought it would be fun to illustrate some math poems.

I recently purchased Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems. My 8yo chose to illustrate the title poem, "Marvelous Math." The first stanza:

"How fast does a New York taxi go?
What size is grandpa's attic?
How old is the oldest dinosaur?
The answer's in Mathematics!"

Looking for more ideas? Read the math poems that another homeschooling family wrote. You can also look through previous math poetry blog posts for additional ideas. Some of the Shel Silverstein poems would be particularly fun to illustrate.

If you'd like to read more on the topic, you can find several sections from the book Math Poetry: Linking Math and Language in a Fresh Way by Betsy Franco here. And here are Mr. R's Math Poems.  Or maybe you want to illustrate a math poem of the week or another poem from this massive list.

If you post your child's math poetry illustration in your blog, please comment with a link. I'd love to visit! Also link-up at Little Sprout Books (poetry books), Random Noodling (poetry Friday), Brimful Curiosities (poetry illustrations), and Learning All the Time (favorite resources.)


And here are some kids' poetry games and activities to try on-line!

More Snowflake Symmetry (3D paper!)

You'll recall that we did some snowflake symmetry earlier this fall. If you want to extend the lessons a bit, consider making a 3D paper snowflake. Does your snowflake have rotational symmetry? Line symmetry?

And before you leave the topic of snow, read Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. My older kids memorized this poem when they were little. Now I'm working on it with my younger two. The book itself is gorgeous and one that we pull out and read several times each winter.

Math Poems

Someone posted on the Sonlight Forum to say that her sister/nieces had written some math poetry. I wrote to the author, Belinda, and got permission to share them.  I think they're fantastic!!! ;)

Rectangle got butted by a ram

And now he's a parallelogram

Headless triangle gets annoyed

When everyone calls him trapezoid

A square that gets caught in a wind gust

Directly turns into a rhombus

Rectangular prism gets the blues

When people use him as a box for shoes

Aren't they awesome?!!!! Try making up some of your own. Illustrate them! And explore more MATH POETRY ideas.

Pattern Bugs (Hands-on Math)

Let's explore patterns. With a favorite book!

Begin by reading Pattern Bugs by Trudy Harris. (The activities that follow work with the book, Pattern Fish, as well.) Incredible books.

Book Information:
Pattern Bugs by Trudy Harris. [Brookfield, Connecticut; Millbrook Press, 2001.]

Various insects illustrate simple patterns. Rhyming text demonstrates the same pattern. For example, the bee page shows an AAAB pattern through text, “Buzz-buzz-buzz-sip,” the colors of the striped bees--yellow, yellow, yellow, black--and the colored border--orange, orange, orange, yellow.

Read the book through, leaving time for children to guess how each pattern will end. My 4yo happily anticipates the pattern and shouts out what is to come next (revealed on subsequent page.) 

Have students search for the numerous patterns represented on each page.  Read the book through a second time, making body movements to follow the pattern on each page. For example, the first page, AB AB, could be snap clap, snap clap. Or crouch down, jump up, crouch down, jump up. [Other patterns are: ABC ABC, AAAB AAAB, AABC AABC, ABB ABB, AAB AAB, ABCC ABCC.]

Next, walk through your home or classroom and discuss the patterns you see: stripes in a piece of candy (red, white, red, white), piano keys (white, black, white, black, white, white, black, white, black, white, black, repeat), colors on a checkerboard, stripes on an airmail envelope (white, blue, white, blue) or on a flag (red, white, red, white), etc…

Go back through the book (or look at patterns around the house), discussing how to label a pattern with letters. [For example, a red and white striped candy cane would be an AB AB AB pattern.] My 7yo tells us the letter pattern in the book after the 4yo tells us what comes next in the text pattern.

During the next several days, encourage students to make their own patterns. Do one activity each day or set up stations and allow students to make choices.

Pattern Activity #1
Materials: stamp pens or rubber stamps, strips of paper (approx. 1.5” x 8”)
Activity: children use stamp pens to create patterns on strips of paper. They can challenge others to figure out what picture would come next in the pattern. Challenge older children to develop difficult patterns. The best ones can stump adults!

Pattern Activity #2
Materials: unifix cubes, pattern blocks, cuisenaire rods or other colored/patterned math manipulatives or colored paper squares, strips of paper (approx. 1.5” x 8”)
Activity: use colored unifix cubes (ideal because they hook together; could also use other math manipulatives) to create your own patterns. Use crayons or markers to record the pattern on paper strips.

Pattern Activity #3
Materials: musical instruments (homemade bean shakers or rubberband instruments are great), strips of paper (approx. 1.5” x 8”)
Activity: use instruments to create patterns in music. Record the pattern on paper strips by drawing pictures of the instruments used. Children who can read music may search for patterns in songs. They may also decide to create their own note patterns.

Pattern Activity #4
Ask the children to create movements to demonstrate a pattern. [Jump, squat, jump, squat.]

Writing Activity
Write an additional page of text for Pattern Bugs. Type up the new text and provide a copy to each student, allowing him to illustrate the new verse with patterns that follow the same pattern as the text.

Art Activity
The bug eyes on the last page of Pattern Bugs are wonderful. Give children an opportunity to practice drawing these eyes and challenge them to make their own, unique eyes. They may even choose to make a pattern of various bug eyes.

Additional Resource:
You can download a pdf of a pattern coloring page (bug and fish) at the author's website.


My 4-year-old says, "I have a good idea. Red shape, blue shape, red shape, blue shape!" I can hear him in the other room saying, "Yellow, green, yellow, green, yellow, green," and then going "shake, shake" with the bean shaker as I write this. ;)

Please comment with your experience with the lessons! We'd love to hear from you!

"Smart" by Shel Silverstein (math, poetry, drama)

Math, money, and poetry. Inspired by this video, in class today, we combined the three in a little rendition of Shel Silverstein's poem, "Smart."



"Smart" can be found in Shel Silverstein's book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. You can also purchase/download the MP3 of "Smart" for less than $1.

More money lesson ideas.

More poetry/math lesson ideas.

Math and Poetry ("Smart" by Shel Silverstein, money lessons)

Have you ever considered combining math and poetry? You might join a friend and read Math Talk: Mathematical Ideas in Poems for Two Voices. You could read "Shapes," by Shel Silverstein in his book, A Light in the Attic. Or you might consider using the hilarious poem, "Smart," (also by Silverstein in Where the Sidewalk Ends) and combine math (money), poetry, and drama.

(Note: you can purchase just the MP3 of "Smart" on Amazon, cheap. I own the audio recording of the books, available on CD: Where the Sidewalk Ends CD, A Light in the Attic CD.)

Today, Little Student and I read "Smart" aloud. We then used real money to demonstrate each of the exchanges that take place in the poem. As we made each exchange, my student (in the role of the son) told me how much money he lost in that step. He cut out coins and a dollar bill from printouts to represent the money used in the poem and glued them onto a 5-flap book. He read the poem again, pointing to each visual representation of the money as he went. Finally, he wrote number sentences to demonstrate what happened in each exchange; he wrote subtraction problems with blanks to fill in (see photo) to show how much money was lost each time.



He also played some money games on-line, selected from the following...

On-line Money Games:

Cash Out--Player becomes the cashier at a store and must give change. Varying levels of difficult.

Making Change--Pet store worker must make change with fewest possible coins.

Moneyville--fun, on-line role plays from the Moneyville touring exhibit. Become a neighborhood lemonade tycoon!

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives--(look under "money" by grade level)--Count the money and enter the correct amount.

Practice Counting Money--Player has to click and drag coins to equal the total amount shown.

Scottie Nickel-- Change money into the smallest number of coins possible.


Additional Teaching Resources on Money
Mathwire also has some fabulous lessons on money.

Additional Math Poetry Resources
Math Poems--from Math Mama's Poetry Challenge. Thanks, Sue, for the link!
A blog: Intersections--Poetry with Mathematics. Thanks, Maria, at Natural Math.

Next week, a group of my students will be dramatizing "Smart." Check back here for results. This is going to be FUN! :)

Celebrating National Poetry Month with Poetry Reviews

April is National Poetry Month and SMS Book Reviews is participating in a National Poetry Month Blog Tour. The Poetry Tour is being hosted at Savvy Verse & Wit, a great blog for poetry enthusiasts and book lovers.

If you've been following the tour you'll recoginize the first book I'm reviewing but after you read that, check out my second review.

The Tighty Whitey Spider and More Wacky Animal Poems I Totally Made Up by Kenn Nesbitt
Stars: *****

May I just say, this is the BEST poetry book for kids I've EVER seen. No they didn't pay me to say that, it's true!

I'm not a big fan of poetry. I never have been. I don't like short stories either so to me, most poetry is like even shorter stories. I've read (and reviewed) a few poetry books but I'm quite picky. This poetry book is full of animal poems.

Some are short and some are a bit longer but none are very long at all. They have all kinds of new words but they aren't over the head too much. My niece is going to just love this book. You can hear the author read from some of his poems on the web. The poems you can hear online are marked and a few of the poems can be sung to popular tunes.

When I say the poems were funny, I'm not kidding. I was laughing out loud and I'm a an adult. I was telling the poems to everyone in my house whether they wanted to hear them or not. My brother enjoyed them too and wants a copy of the book (he's 32.) The drawings that accompany the poems are line art and they are so cute. I just want to colour the whole book in! I don't believe in drawing in books but it's so hard not to. They look like colouring pages.

I highly recommend this book to ALL children, whether they normally like poetry or not. 

You can read Kenn Nesbitt's first book My Hippo Has the Hiccups online (or download it if you'd like) at http://www.zinio.com/kennNesbitt until the end of April!

Links of Interest: My Hippo has the Hiccups Online (as mentioned above), Poetry 4 Kids (website run by author), 

Other Reviews: Jenn's Bookshelves, Booking Mama,

Buy The Tighty Whitey Spider at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

Teahouse of the Almighty: Poems by Patricia Smith
Stars: ***

Coffee House Press 2006
National Poetry Series Winner

On a completely opposite end of the spectrum from the above poem book is this one. This one is for adults only and is full of longer, harder to comprehend poems. I won this book from the readathon a few years back. It seems like a good book but is not one I'd pick up on my own. The main reason I don't like poetry is I find it hard to understand most of the time. However for someone who appreciates poetry more and has no trouble understanding most poetry, I'm sure they'd like this book.

I must caution that the book has strong language and sexual terms and acts in it as I know some people are turned off by that.  On the plus side, the poems were creative. A few times, a news report was listed and a poem was created based on that. There's even a poem crafted from a funny title of a spam email. There's one long one titled 10 Ways to get Ray Charles and Ronald Reagan into the Same Poem.

Links of Interest: Patricia Smith,

Other Reviews: So Many Books,

Buy Teahouse of the Almighty at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Be sure to check Savvy Verse & Wit for the rest of the tour stops.

Sunday Tanka: At Embassy Port of Spain

At Embassy PortOf Spain, it rained with migraine,Complaints and hard rain;

And five DCMs stayed saneChanging zip codes and domains.

Embassy Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago(ISP-I-09-40A) July 09 | DOS/OIG: 07/29/09

Rocking the Boat is a Dangerous Thing, No?

The Consuls’ Files: Missing since 10/02/2009

Yellow butterflyRocks the old, wooden boat – splat!No more butterfly

The blog has been missing for 11 days now. Folks are still looking and asking questions. We now think that the somebodies got Madam le Consul and her blog; no, no, definitely not the aliens from space.

The cache files of her blog posts have now been posted in a zip folder at cryptome. Nathan Hodge of Danger Room has posted about her here and also put in a query with the State Department media desk last Friday. NDS at Calling a Spade a Spade calls her “a shooting star” and asks, “Where in the world is MLC???” The Consular Corner writes: "The Consuls' Files" - probably the best visa blog in the universe -- has disappeared from our screens. Over a relatively short period of time, 'Madam le Consul' provided more consular education to more people than any of us ...would have thought possible. ”The hunt is still on, the speculations are still coming in. Now, if she was shut down by the Consular Affairs bureau, and I say if, because I have not seen the paper trail yet -- my sense is that this is not for one single thing she wrote but the whole notion of an active, experienced senior consular officer blogging outside the “reservation” so to speak. That is -- that the expensive bureaucratic white out pen had not been put to good use and no one had been able to “edit” or “tighten” her thoughts for “clarity” prior to every posting. That and well, she must have caused some ulcers ... who knows what she was going to write about next ...

But see -- consular work is hard, grinding work and some people are exceptionally good at it; but it is oftentimes, a misunderstood trade. (No, these officers cannot get you out of jail and yes, they have been known to buy a hamburger or two out of their own pocket for the amcits in the jailhouse). Yes, despite the grunt work, consular officers can be smart, funny, witty and even quite fearless in their jobs. And here is one smart, funny, witty consular officer who has not been emasculated despite years in the bureaucracy. You’d think that the Recruitment Office at the State Department should have been happy to point to a blog like hers, especially in light of the persistent staffing need in the consular cone. For Madam le Consul did bring humanity, common sense, realism and humor to her blog. But with that authenticity comes less control, and control is the central issue, isn’t it?

I understand that some office at State is looking at updating the official guidance on blogs, social networking and such. The problem I’m afraid is that whatever decision will be written in stone will be arrived at by a few folks at the top of the chain who have no desire to blog or just want to keep the status quo of keeping everything but the fine nuggets under wraps ...

It is no wonder that the general public still thinks of diplomats as insulares, pampered cookie pushers, stripped pants ivy-leaguers working the cocktail circuits in cushy capitals around the globe. That is far from the truth, of course, but not being able to see and hear what Foreign Service employees think and do except in the vetted sphere of the official channels, not being able to understand their challenges working overseas, and seeing only a splice of a “self-flattering operation” in the official mag or blog -- why should the American public have a different view otherwise?

In the new era of Gov 2.0 and Diplomacy 3.0, the traditional notion that only the nice things get said and written about is still quite prevalent. It’s as if the price of admission to the club is to say just enough so they know you’re smart, but not too much that they want to throw you out club for being too smart. I supposed it helps us order our complex world if we know exactly what everyone says at any given day, which is -- not much. But this train has left the station a long time ago; the State Department has just not quite caught up with the train yet, or figured out how to put this into effective use.

I recognize, of course, that there are sensitive matters that are not appropriate to this medium. But as I’ve written previously, there has to be a smarter way around this without getting choked under the limitations of that great Muse of “official concern.” The trick, I think is finding the right balance between an authentic voice and a level of tolerance for less control.

As the first Federal agency created under our Constitution, the State Department has been around since 1789. This is an old, traditional, hierarchical bureaucracy. This is not to say that it has not tried to change or tried to examine itself in years past…it’s just that it’s stiff on the ankles, and used to its old ways….and it gets mighty cranky of anyone trying to hurry it into the next century…

In 1967 there was Chris Argyris’ report on organizational ineffectiveness within the State Department. Prior to its publication, Robert Peck of the Department of State's Office of Operations objected and argued that it presented “a rather dismal picture” of the Department and would incur publicity that would affect it adversely. I think this is an argument that lives on every single day in every department of a bureaucracy (not just at State, but more so at State), and newcomers will be schooled quickly that “transparency” and “openness” can only go so far … or it will come back and bite your silly arse.The disappearance of Madam le Consul's blog is a lesson; the question is -- are we being taught the right lesson or the wrong one?

* * *Here's something from the diplomatic memory lane:

In January 1967 the Department of State published Some Causes of Organizational Ineffectiveness Within the Department of State by Professor Chris Argyris of Yale University. A condensed version appeared in the January 1967 issue of the Foreign Service Journal under the title, “Do You Recognize Yourself?” Argyris based his report on tape recordings he made of three Airlie House management conferences held by the Department in 1965. Attended primarily by Career Ministers and Class I Foreign Service Officers, their purpose, according to Argyris, “was to help the participants enhance their competence in dealing with people and managing systems (such as embassies, regional bureaus, functional departments). During the discussions the men diagnosed with earnestness and commitment their personal limitations as leaders of people, as well as the problems of the Department of State as an organization.” Argyris concluded that the Department's interpersonal milieu, its “living system,” predisposed it to ineffectiveness and destined reform efforts to mediocre success at best and failure at worst. Among the system's norms, according to Argyris, were “withdrawal from interpersonal difficulties and conflict, minimum interpersonal openness and trust, [and] mistrust of one's own aggressiveness, and aggressiveness of others.” The result was a Foreign Service culture that discouraged forthrightness and risk-taking and encouraged those who played it safe and did “not make waves” either in their behavior or their writing. Argyris offered a series of recommendations for altering the living system so that it would reward risk taking and initiative. (Ibid., pages 21–26) Readers' reaction to Argyris' report was printed in the March, April, and May issues of the Foreign Service Journal.

Prior to publication of the report, Robert Peck of the Department of State's Office of Operations objected to a number of quotations in the report by Foreign Service Officers. He argued in a December 30, 1966, memorandum to Deputy Under Secretary of State Crockett that they presented “a rather dismal picture” of the Department and would incur publicity that would affect it adversely. Therefore they should be deleted. (Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 75–45, Argyris Report, 1966–67) Crockett decided not to delete any material, however, noting in his preface to Argyris' report that the decision “to publish it without censoring the quotations was not taken lightly” but that “being honest and open about the problems dealt with in this study offers the best beginning for dealing with them effectively and constructively.” (Some Causes of Organizational Ineffectiveness, page iv)

From Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968Volume XXXIII, Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; United Nations, Document 112

¹ Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, S/S-Katzenbach Files: Lot 74 D 271, Administrative & Personnel. No classification marking.

² Before leaving office, Crockett prepared for publication a manuscript of approximately 240 typed pages entitled “Management in the Department of State and the Foreign Service.” In his introduction Crockett wrote that the “Department of State and the Foreign Service, although they may have been late in joining it, are now in the forefront of the management revolution” and thus he prepared the manuscript “in order to give to the public, and to our own people, a description in layman's language of what the management of the Department and the Foreign Service consists.” Crockett circulated the 13 chapters among members of his office for review, comment, and approval. The manuscript was never published. A copy is in the Kennedy Library, Crockett Papers, MS 74–28, Book-Personal, W.J. Crockett.

³ President Kennedy called the State Department a “bowl of jelly” in 1961. (John Franklin Campbell, The Foreign Affairs Fudge Factory. New York, Basic Books, Inc., 1971, p. 6) Joseph Kraft called the Department a “fudge factory” in a May 20, 1966, Washington Post column that stated: “The fact is that the Department has not been run primarily as a decision-making instrument. It has been run as a fudge factory. The aim has been to make everybody happy, to conciliate interests, to avoid giving offense and rocking the boat.”

There is no electronic copy of Argyris’ paper but you can read it in the State Department’s library. I’ve also been trying to find a copy of Crockett’s “Management in the Department of State and the Foreign Service.” If you know where I can find one short of visiting the Kennedy Library, please drop me a note.

Related Items:

• Diplomatic Bloggers: No Blanket Ban but Better Guidelines Needed/3
• Diplomatic Bloggers: To Blog or Not to Blog/2
• Diplomatic Bloggers: That “Official Concern” Thingy – The Rules/1
• Diplomatic Bloggers: Official Blogs, Art Thou Here to Stay?
• Diplomatic Bloggers: Web 2.0 Door Opens

The Promotion Season Needs a Poem ...

Image by joiseyshowaa via Flickr

... because this is a tricky season. Not everyone will get a promotion. The folks who get it will spend the next couple of days responding to congratulatory emails and phone calls from their friends spread across the globe. Folks who do not get it, spend the next couple of days writing congratulatory emails to their colleagues spread across the globe who just got promoted. Happy, glad, sad, bad ... all in one season. Others may feel worse than bad about being skipped over and spouses had to bear watching their partners feel worse than bad about not getting that promotion ...it is a happy-sad season ...here is the poem I've been wrestling with for weeks... if only I had Billy Collin's craft...

Promotion Season

Here now comes the promotion seasonPretty much like the flu seasonIt comes bearing aches, once every yearIt comes bearing chills and headaches

Still –

It’s a season you warmly embraceEach year, and you don’t mind at allThe heavy chills and body achesAs long as it gets you on that list

Unlike the flu season there are noShots, no vaccine or codeine to helpGet rid of that bothersome pain, a painThat is worth all if you get on that list

But –

If you do not, well –just rememberYou cannot get it from sneezingOr from kissing and getting depressAbout it won’t make it any easier

Yes –

As A-100 mates embrace the seasonAnd all you get are the snifflesWhy, bear the discomfort within reasonFor each season holds a mission –

Like the flu season, this one won'tHang around like pigeons, but same timeNext year a brand new season returnsOnce more like a born-again inspiration

It's That Time of Year

If you know folks in the Foreign Service, you know that they have their ears on the ground for a few weeks now listening for promotion news. The Senior Foreign Service list came out in late September, the FS-03 to FS-02 mid-level list came out late last week (thanks Digger!), the rest should come out any day now. (I'll add the links here once AFSA post the lists online).

Congratulations to Ambassador Christopher Dell (formerly DCM at US Embassy Kabul and most recently confirmed as US Ambassador to Kosovo) for his promotion to Career-Minister (that's equivalent to a 3-star general). Also promoted to the rank of Career-Minister are: Ambassador David Pearce, currently of US Embassy Algeria and Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, currently of US Embassy Kenya. Stephen Mull, currently Acting Assistant Secretary for Political Military and Marcie Ries, currently the DAS at the VCI Bureau were also promoted to the same rank.

Unlike the private sector, promotion in the FS does not come immediately with a top floor office or a new position. It does allow you to bid for higher rank-jobs when you rotate to a new assignment. Those bidding now most probably have two bid lists, one if they get promoted, the other one if they don't. And with promotion you get bigger responsibilities (and bigger headaches) and more people to supervise as you go up the career ladder. If you break into the mid-level or the Senior Foreign Service, it also means larger square footage in assigned housing (based on position rank and family size). If you are the Ambassador, DCM, or principal officer, you get an official Pickard China fine china dining set, an official residence expense reimbursable account and at least 12-14 dining room seating. (I can't tell if the embassy china is embossed with the Great Seal eagle crest in 24 karat gold like the presidential grade china).

In any case, in the competitive nature of the diplomatic service, we have yet to hear of anyone turn down a position because it carries a bigger headache. With that in mind, a promotion tanka ….

with this promotiona top floor office—quietlymy crowded inboxwaves a flag, two aspirinson my desk, makes a fun wag

Related Items:

Rank Tiers and Grade Equivalents 15 FAM 260: Guidelines for Allocating Residential Space

Space Standards Charts 15 FAM 230: Allocating Residential Space

Fortress Embassies: A Tanka or Two

Image by Moto Pony via Flickr

Two blog friends, TSB of The Skeptical Bureaucrat and Digger of Life After Jerusalem have both written on the recent dancing in a tide pool about fortress embassies by an outgoing ambassador. After a weekend reading the OIG report on US Embassy Croatia, a very good report I must say, except for questionable staff morale attributed to the location of its new fortress office -- I feel I must wade into the tide pool with a tanka or two…

But first, the OIG on that fortress Embassy in rural Croatia:

In 2003, Embassy Zagreb moved into a new embassy compound (NEC) whose fortress-like exterior and remote location are seen by many employees as a source of irritation and an impediment to conducting efficient, open relations with Croatia. Falling staff levels mean that current occupancy is 20 percent lower than the level for which the building was built. […]

US Embassy Zagreb via Wikipedia

Despite unanimous high regard for the Ambassador among the embassy staff and the Ambassador’s and DCM’s attention to the community, staff morale is not quite as high as expected for an operation so well run, in a pleasant and pro-American country. The principal reason appears to be the location of the NEC. This facility, which opened in 2003, has a very attractive, spacious, and well-designed interior, but it lies amid farmland and industrial warehouses, well outside the urban or even suburban reaches of Zagreb. Consequently, Croatians and third-country interlocutors rarely visit the Embassy; every meeting with a government official or other contact requires a bracket of up to an hour before and after in transit time; and the distance factor inevitably reduces the number of such meetings. In addition, the morning and evening commute consumes almost as much time as in cities with 15 times the population of Zagreb. Housing U.S. employees near the Embassy, as is planned, will reduce the commute but isolate them from the life of the country. In 20 years, Zagreb may sprawl outward to reach the Embassy; meanwhile, the NEC’s location thwarts the primary purpose for its existence. Embassy Zagreb is paying for its safety with two decades or more of unnecessary staff transit time and aggravation. In addition to the location issue, the building is at least 20 percent larger than necessary for the staff now required in Croatia.

Second, I did not realize that an OIG report can be quite inspiring as a muse. A tanka or two below:

the new embassyfortress-like, aggravationan impedimentto open air relationsa beauty obscured, secured

~ * ~

the new embassyfortress-like irritationone big obstructionto candid conversationan eyesore for sure, secure

Related articles by Zemanta

• U.S. embassies too fortress-like, says American ambassador (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Towards Understanding by Lillian Brummet

Stars: ****

If you are a frequent visitor here, you may remember that I reviewed (and gave away) a book title Trash Talk by Dave and Lillian Brummet. This is a poetry book by just Lillian.

Summary: Follow the author as she battles her past demons, raises her voice in anger, discovers self-awareness and recovers from an intense relationship bordering on obsession. You will witness the healing, as she becomes aware of the value of her life and falls deeply in love with a wholesome man. Finally, able to see beyond herself, she starts to question society and endeavors to understand others. She discovers a love for nature and a dedication to the health of the Earth.

I don't read poetry often. I usually find it hard to follow or understand and I'd much rather read a full story. Towards Understanding, while a book of many poems, is almost like a short story as most of the poems relate to each other. Just like the summary says, the poems follow the author's life through hell and back and you can see the healing, even just in the way the poems are written, even without looking at the words.

Very few are more than one page, most are half a page or so. This was a good thing for me as the longer the poem, the harder I find it to follow. Each poem is dated and if it's about someone or dedicated to someone, that is mentioned. Some of the earlier poems are a bit simple, but then she wrote those when she was a teenager.

Here is one of the shortest (if not THE shortest) poem in the book for a sample:

A THOUGHT

Most of us are mixed of heart.
Most of us have been torn apart.
How much pain can one endure,
And still retain some innocence?
Is it just me, or do others see,
This comical, sadistic error of confusion
That we are pleased to call human.
(1991)
- Copyright 2005 Lillian Brummet

If you are into poetry that speaks from deep within, that reeks of emotion, then Lillian's poems are the kind of poetry you should read.

Hall of Shame: Song for the Traveling Bribery Men

Hey, hey … there’s nowhere to run

The SAD's sensitive air operations
Is sad, sad and swept up in a fraud

Hey, hey … there’s nowhere to run

Conspiracy, conspiracy, had no mercy
But gov’s $40 million is no controversy
Cuz it’s all classified information, anyway.

Okay … I'm too tired to hunt for more rhymes and I’m sleep-deprived today but I did want to post this quickly …

This one on Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo, the disgraced former No. 3 official at the CIA from Marcus Stern of ProPublica (February 25, 2009) “Corruption Touched CIA’s Covert Operations.” Excerpts below, read the full report here.

According to prosecutors and testimony included in the filing, Foggo arranged for his family to remain in Europe at taxpayer expense while he moved to Langley. He then arranged a CIA job for his mistress, identified only by the initials ER. At first the CIA ruled that ER was ineligible for employment because a background check found that she had an improper relationship with a superior in her previous government position and had destroyed evidence being sought by the inspector general of that agency.

"Instead of being receptive to her supervisor's critiques and suggestions, ER made it clear that she had influence with Foggo. Indeed, she did," the prosecutors' sentencing memo [2] states. "Her supervisor had been an attorney with the (CIA's Office of General Counsel) for 20 years, during which time she received numerous performance awards and even the Career Intelligence Medal, which rewards 'exceptional achievements that substantially contributed to the mission of the Agency' over the course of her career. Within months of crossing Foggo's mistress, however, she suffered a humiliating firing by Foggo."

The government's 24-page reply [1] to Foggo's sentencing memorandum, 31-page sentencing memo [2] and 82-page appendix [3] are full of such previously undisclosed material.

But here is the great part – Foggo is asking for the court’s consideration because he is a family man (p.17).

In the Government’s Sentencing Memorandum, the Acting US Attorney writes: "The Court will see that, despite his effectiveness as an administrator, Foggo was never a truly honest public servant. His charm and guile took him to the highest ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he was finally exposed. For his crime, which spanned more than three years, and for the public he deprived of his honest services when they needed them most, Foggo deserves to be imprisoned for over three years."

And then here’s the other one.

AP reports that Michael John O'Keefe, Sr. who was formerly the deputy nonimmigrant visa chief at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, Canada, has pleaded guilty to accepting an illegal gratuity, a felony that carries up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. It also reports that O'Keefe is to be sentenced on June 19 so he can finish the semester at Southern New Hampshire University, where he is now a professor.


The Union Leader however, reports that officials at Southern New Hampshire University, where Michael O'Keefe had worked as a part-time instructor since fall were stunned and said O'Keefe would no longer teach at the school. "Obviously, we will immediately remove him from the classroom," said Paul LeBlanc, the school's president. "We had no idea."

Hey, hey…there’s nowhere to run…

Update: The wires is reporting that it's a 37-month sentence for Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, which matched the prosecutors' recommendations. He pleaded guilty to a single count of fraud.

Video of the Week: Papergirl's Love Poem

love poem
by Mary Fons

State Department's Email Storm as Muse

Consul-At-Arms on the email storm that recently hit the State Department:

A lot of knuckleheads can't seem to resist hitting "reply-all" to an e-mail whose addressees run to six or seven pages, and those aren't individual addressees, they're distribution lists!

It's still happening as people seem to be returning from leave and finding their own in-boxes clogged and cluttered with this nonsense. The responses tend to say stuff like "take me off this address list" or "stop hitting reply-all!" (which I find pretty funny in a dopey sort of way) or even one "I'm important, stop wasting my time" from a certain unnamed ambassador.

Steve at Dead Men Working also has his take on the same storm with the cyber-security/DS angle here.

I have to say I like the haiku contributed from SA-27:

"STATE workers helpless
Captive to this email worm
Tech guys please save us"

I won’t add another haiku but I’ll contribute a couple of tanka poems (ancient cousin of the haiku) to mark this episode. Tanka poems are short, lyrical poetry structured in 31 syllables arranged in groups of 5, 7, 5, 7 and 7, syllables, in a two-part form with the first part in 5, 7, 5, and the second part in 7 and 7.

Email Surge

Roaring storm crashes
“Reply to all” swells and floods
Mail surge? Whatisit?

Stop wasting my time, I am
Ambassador – important!

What if this was a soft cyber-attack generated by malicious individuals or frenemies of the United States? Sorry, I’m not a tech person but I have a healthy gene of paranoia. In any case, in honor of the unspecified disciplinary actions for all those who could not find their “delete” buttons next time:

Save Us

Evil email worm
Takes State’s fine workers hostage
Distress, they need help.

Disciplinary actions
In the works, people watch out!

Video of the Week: What I Want

Nora York starts off with Sir Thomas Wyatt’s (The elder) poem “I Find No Peace” to introduce her song:

I FIND no peace, and all my war is done ;
I fear and hope,
I burn, and freeze like ice ;
I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise ;
And nought I have, and all the world I seize upon.

Then it’s off to a spectacular ride with her performance of “What I Want” (music and lyrics here)

I want what I can't have;
Need what I can't want;
Have, but I don't have
what I want.

Can you find the place where your mind won’t stop and your heart says go?

~ ~ ~

Video from ted.com licensed under the cc license "attribution -- noncommercial -- nonderivative."

Related Item:
Nora York's Website

Video of the Week: Forgetfulness

View poetry in an entirely new and innovative way. Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Forgetfulness" with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear.

Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY.


- - - -

The Poem:

The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Return of the Fallen: No More Photos of the Hidden Cost

Dover AFB Photo from memoryhole.org



For The Fallen
(excerpt)
Robert Laurence Binyon

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

I just watched the Highway of Heroes Canada in NBC News. Kevin Tibbles, the NBC correspondent writing about the clip says that "Each time a Canadian soldier dies in Afghanistan, fighting alongside Americans in the war on terror, people simply gather on the bridges out of respect. They stand, maybe salute, maybe wave a flag, to show the fallen combatants family they are not alone. It isn't political. It isn't organized. It doesn't cost a cent. And yet hundreds of ordinary people come to stand and say 'thanks' each time the body of a soldier comes by. I think it is hard for anyone not to cry or be touched by this grassroots efforts sprouting like clouds, proclaiming somberly under sun or snow, "we will remember them."

Until recently, we have not been allowed to see much of the return of our own fallen soldiers. A historical note on this restriction from the National Security Archive:

The ban on media coverage of returning casualties was imposed by Defense Secretary Cheney after an embarrassing incident in which three television networks broadcast live, split-screen images in December, 1989, as the first U.S. casualties were returning from an American assault on Panama. In that incident, President Bush was seen on television joking at a White House news conference while somber images of flag-draped coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base moved across viewers' screens. The ban on war casualty images was continued during the Clinton administration, which made several exceptions to allow publication and broadcast upon the return of victims of attacks against U.S. personnel abroad, including the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000. President George W. Bush continued the ban following the start of the Afghanistan war in October, 2001 and the Iraq invasion in March, 2003.

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Henry Shelton, coined the phrase "the Dover Test" to describe the impact of images of flag-draped coffins returning from a battlefield to the military mortuary at Dover, potentially affecting public support for a war. Images of casualties have played significant roles in many previous conflicts, beginning with the Civil War in the 1860's and continuing through World Wars I and II and the Vietnam conflict in the 1960's. In 1991, President Bush asserted that the U.S. had "kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all," but later in the 1990's, deployments of U.S. troops in Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo were influenced by memories of the images of Vietnam-era casualties.

An initial release of 361 images was provided by the Pentagon in April, 2004 in response to a Freedom of Information Act appeal by Russ Kick, who maintains the web site thememoryhole.org. The Pentagon later declared that release to have been a mistake and refused to release further images, which prompted Ralph Begleiter and the National Security Archive to challenge the policy.

In its April 28, 2005 release, the Archive says: In response to Freedom of Information Act requests and a lawsuit, the Pentagon this week released hundreds of previously secret images of casualties returning to honor guard ceremonies from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and other conflicts, confirming that images of their flag-draped coffins are rightfully part of the public record, despite its earlier insistence that such images should be kept secret. More photos here from the National Security Archive.


The release came one year after the start of a series of Freedom of Information Act requests filed by University of Delaware Professor Ralph Begleiter with the assistance of the National Security Archive, and six months after a lawsuit charging the Pentagon with failing to comply with the Act. The Pentagon made public more than 700 images of the return of American casualties to Dover Air Force Base and other U.S. military facilities, where the fallen troops received honor guard ceremonies.


After a lawsuit forced its hand to release these photos in 2004, the Pentagon has stopped documenting the return of our dead. I'm trying to get this straight in my head. The ban was originally put in place to avoid a repeat of an embarrassing moment. After confirming that these images belong to the public, they just stop taking photos to what -- permanently ban embarrassing moments? What about marking the passing of heroes? Secretary Gates, are you there?


Read more about the return of the fallen here.