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Peter, Björn and John: Young Folks

Posted by Anne on January 6th, 2010

Young Folks
If I told you things I did before
Told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me
If you knew my story word for word
Had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me
I did before and had my share
It didn’t lead nowhere
I would go along with someone like [...]

Z is for zen

Posted by Anne on December 26th, 2009

Lovely snowflakes, they fall nowhere else!
No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.
Two Zen sayings, or two translations of one saying?
When I was a little girl, taking ballet lessons at St. Mark’s, my parents would take me to see the Nutcracker around this time of year. And like most girls, I would go home pretending [...]

X is for exult

Posted by Anne on December 24th, 2009

Kiri Te Kanawa sings Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate with the Royal Opera House Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Barlow, in Greenwich.
I grew up in the joyful German Christmas Eve tradition, thanks to my mother, who brought her beliefs and practices to the US. Whatever your religion and practice, peace, joy and love to you this evening and [...]

W is for who

Posted by Anne on December 23rd, 2009

2 little whos — ee cummings
2 little whos
(he and she)
under are this
wonderful tree
smiling stand
(all realms of where
and when beyond)
now and here
(far from a grown
-up i&you-
ful world of known)
who and who
(2 little ams
and over them this
aflame with dreams
incredible is)
Have a laugh on me: I made a Christmas quiz about what can go wrong at Christmas.

V is for violin

Posted by Anne on December 22nd, 2009

Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. — Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
Here is virtuoso Itzak Perlman finding his way into Klezmer with the Klezmatics (don’t miss magic minute 7):

I did a fun Christmas exercise for Spotlight: A Great Christmas

U is for understand

Posted by Anne on December 21st, 2009

I understand. — Empathy, part 2: an effective active-listening phrase when you don’t really want to listen to somebody (”too much information”), but don’t want to sound rude. Laughs c/o sitcom Two and a Half Men, 1st season, 7th episode.

I put together tips and a language exercise on active listening here.

T is for thee

Posted by Anne on December 20th, 2009

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is the beginning of possibly the most beautiful love poem ever written, of William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.
Pity that there is no “Du” in English. The intimacy of “thou, thee, thine”, the “du, dich, dein” we have lost in English, is one of the things that makes German [...]