Danielle Badra’s first full-length collection is beautifully heartbreaking as she writes candidly about the loss of her sister. “The Short Way,” in particular, brings tears to my eyes as the image reminds me of my own mother’s last day on earth in ICU. I also love the lyrical beauty in “Pianissimo.” Furthermore, Badra received an MFA from George Mason University.
Replacing the dead headlight bulb is super easy. Once again, YouTube rocks for these type of DIY. I followed this short video. I bought a new bulb from Toyota dealer for $38. I should have bought the two-pack from Amazon for $24. Oh well, lesson learned.
She died
within a week.
Over her bed
in the ICU we prayed.
We sang the body plastic.
We who loved her,
we watched her tremble,
we dabbed her dry mouth.
We waited
for her eyes
to open again.
For her to see us
holding her,
saying, it’s ok.
Danielle Badra
Hands inclined
ascending along lines where
notes fall inside a sanctuary.
Love
a nervous staccato
nearing atonement.
Leaning away
from an epic étude
she improvised cacophony
escaping into decrescendo.
Her ear
an effortless tempo
solely her own.
Her illness was graceful
as Rutter’s Requiem
yet she offered no harmony.
Danielle Badra
The real reason behind the acquisition of Parler falling through is that Ye is broke as fuck. As his divorce settled, he has to pay $200,000 per month in child support. There goes his deposit for the conservative social media platform. Thanks Kim!
Amy Qin, writing for The New York Times:
Many families still seek out professional advice. In interviews, college admissions consultants spoke about trying to steer their Asian American clients away from so-called typically Asian activities such as Chinese language school, piano and Indian classical instruments like the venu flute.
Maybe we should save money by not sending our kids to piano private lesson. Qin writes:
Many consultants said that, when it came to elite college admissions, it was not enough to just be a well-rounded student. Differentiation is the name of the game, regardless of race.
Part of the problem, some college consultants say, is that there are kernels of truth in the stereotypes of Asian applicants. Within the communities, violin and piano are, in fact, oversubscribed activities, the consultants say, making it difficult for most students to stand out.
“I often tell families that instead of playing violin or piano, which is something almost every Chinese American can check off on their profile, try a different instrument,” said Shin Wei, the founder and chief executive of IvyMax, an admissions counseling company based in California.
Sure, how about trying different sports like rollerblading or skateboarding. Qin reports:
Lap Nguyen, 20, a junior at Harvard, had also leaned into generational themes, writing about his love for the language of his birth country, Vietnam, and his experience teaching that language to his little brother.
I am glad Lập Nguyễn wrote about his love for Vietnamese and was accepted to Harvard.
I must admit. I enjoyed reading Stevenson’s Human Resources even though I didn’t understand everything she has written. Her poems are modern, lyrical, and accessible. I appreciate “Work From Home” and many more if I re-read them again, which I will since it is a slim collection.
It seems as if the top has determined to migrate off MODX to a CMS that would provide a live editing capability. MODX has been great to work with for over a decade and has proven to be a solid content manage system. If I were to make the decision, I would not switch it to anything else. The decision, however, is not for me to make; therefore, I will let it go.
On the positive side, I will no longer have to maintain the system, which was part of my responsibilities carried over from when I was still a web developer. I won’t have to worry if the site needs upgrade, goes down, or gets hacked. Until we migrated over to MODX Cloud several years ago, I lost countless nights of sleep worrying about the website. I was stressed out because it was on my mind the whole time. I still bear the responsibility of the website, but I feel less stress because the site is now managed and secured on MODX Cloud.
When we move off MODX, I will focus my attention on being director of design and web services without having to be hands-on like I am doing now. So yes, let’s bring on a new CMS to replace MODX. I am all in.
Before the morning chill burns off
I’m in front of my computer screen
and somebody on the internet needs me
to look at them. Working from home
is just like working in outer space, I imagine.
I go to the bathroom
just to go somewhere. I hear my neighbors
through the wall, and my heart jumps—
there are others. Their faucet runs.
They’re in there together, laughing.
I return to my workspace and my coffee needs to be reheated
again. Because my mother raised me
to outlive her, I used to stand in another room,
away from the microwave, but now that I’ve taken
to the practice of mindfulness
I leave my hand on its door handle
and pay attention, like my niece when she plays
Microwave, zapping soda cans
in her plastic appliance labeled Just Like Home.
The waves pass through me—
my soft tissue lighting up like phantom vibrations
in a dead landline. Until the sun goes down I orbit
between my workspace, bathroom, kitchen, bed,
taking conference calls about artificial intelligence.
First order of business is to define what intelligence is,
then how to avoid a dystopian eventuality.
We hold our phones away from our ears,
speakers on high, because we all read
the same headline about radiation.
When somebody’s dog barks near the phone
somebody else’s dog barks back.
This is the best part of my day.
Ryann Stevenson
Professor Dana Y. Nakano, writing for The Rafu Shimpo:
The persistent visible racial difference of Asian Americans and its associated assumptions of forever foreignness, disloyalty, and non-belonging can so easily become an outward trigger for violence and hate at any moment. Anti-Asian sentiment and violence are racism. Knowing our history helps put this into perspective.
The entire article is a must-read.