Tag: Costa Rica

Pelo de Gato and “The Golden Crucible”

JoAnne Tucker / / Personal Life

It is now the rainy season in Costa Rica and I am learning that the Ticos have lots of different names for rain.  My favorite is pelo de gato (Spanish for “cat’s hair”) and it is a very fine misty rain.  The first time I heard the phrase was one afternoon when a Tico friend/helper was here and asked me if I could see the very fine rain that was coming down. I couldn’t at first, but I could feel the gentle mist on my arms.  He playfully began “dancing” in the rain.  Smiling, I enjoyed the moment and then I began to remember a “rain dance” that I had been a part of years ago.

In 1959, Pittsburgh was celebrating the bicentennial of its incorporation. Among the different activities planned was a musical play, which would run for about 10 weeks during the summer, telling Pittsburgh’s history.  In February I saw an audition notice for dancers and went.  Much to my surprise I was called back for a second round of auditions and was selected to be one of the twelve dancers (6 women and 6 men). Rehearsals began June 1 and since I was just sixteen and would be missing most of the last 3 weeks of school, I needed a work permit and permission from the Pittsburgh Board of Education.  My parents were supportive, so it was no problem to get the permit and permission.  Since I was a fairly good student, teachers were flexible and I managed to attend enough classes to finish the semester.  In my scrapbook are the letter and contract I had to sign.  They asked for my Social Security number and I filled in that I was applying for it!!  I received $30 each week for the 3 rehearsal weeks and $60 each week for the 10 weeks of performances.

The choreographer was Bill Hooks. I remember three major dance sections. The first was a dance representing Native Americans, and this was the dance  we began to nickname our “rain dance.”  The pageant-like performance was done in a large amphitheater built for the summer at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.  Known as The Point, it is the beginning of the Ohio River.  The city had erected 3 floating stages on barges, with our dressing rooms underneath. 

From my scapebook. Picture from one of the main Pittsburgh papers, showing the building of the amphitheater and the barges.

After the performance the 2500-seat amphitheater was taken apart, and now there is a beautiful fountain in its place.  Since “The Golden Crucible” was running all summer long, there simply wasn’t enough interest to fill those 2500 seats regularly. Often we were performing for several hundred people with just the first few rows filled.  If it drizzled the performance continued but if there was a good solid rain the show would be cancelled at whatever point we were at.  So as the summer wore on, we would jokingly call this opening dance the “rain dance,” hoping it would be an early evening.

I think the low audience turnout and the fact we thought of this opening dance as a rain dance gives you an idea that the quality of “The Golden Crucible” left something to be desired.  For me it was a great experience with a few sour moments and I am glad I was a part of a cast of 70.  While there were several young children in the show, I was the youngest actual cast member and found myself socially very young compared with the other dancers who were in their 20’s. While there were a few college-aged members of the cast and crew, most of the chorus and actors were adults with many theatre credits to their name.  Several actors were also recruited from New York. Everyone played multiple roles in the piece.  

Following our Native American opening dance, our next big scene was a Polish polka.  I don’t remember the context of the dance – it might have been a wedding scene – but it was to honor the large Polish population of Pittsburgh.  Our final dance was in a party scene and had a kind of Charleston feel. It required partnering, something I had never done. I was glad that my partner was Walter Raines, a very kind and caring person who went on to become an important part of Dance Theatre of Harlem.  Not only was Walter a charter member of Dance Theatre of Harlem, he went on to be the director of their school.  A native of Pittsburgh, he was most likely a student of Carnegie-Mellon University during the time of “The Golden Crucible.” I felt safe and comfortable with Walter, something I didn’t feel with many of the other dancers and chorus members.  

From my scapebook. In the costume for the polka dance.
What a fun headdress I had to wear.

Often, as we made our way to the dressing room in the lower level of the barge,  we had to walk across a backstage crossing,  where chorus members and actors hung out.  We women dancers were targets for not-so-nice remarks and pinches and “wandering hands.” Some of the other dancers thought this was fun and flirted.  I didn’t like it and just wanted to get to the dressing room as quickly as I could. That summer was my first taste of dancers being thought of as “easy women.” A publicity shot in the newspaper (showing the dancers hanging onto a train) printed our names, and then I had rather obnoxious phone calls at our house. Some of the comments that were made to me on the phone were sexual references I didn’t understand and my mother had to explain what they meant and how inappropriate they were for a 16-year-old.  Calls soon were screened for me, which I appreciated. 

Another memory I have from that summer is of a high school friend coming to see the performance on his day off from his job as a summer counselor at a nearby sleepaway camp.  He was so sweet and expressed how fond he was of me and how he loved seeing me dance.  Then he wanted me to take his high school ring and be his girlfriend.  I think I was totally surprised and shocked and hopefully told him in as nice a way as I could that while I liked him I was not ready to be anyone’s girlfriend.  I am not sure he understood, and he had a hard time looking at me after that.

I also got cast as an understudy to one of the actresses, which meant I had to do a short love scene with a mature actor.  I learned how to do a theatre kiss where we really didn’t kiss.  We would rehearse understudy scenes one night a week.  I never got to perform it but it was another experience to add to the summer of seeing dance and theatre in a new professional light.  This wasn’t exactly summer stock but it did give me the experience of performing six nights a week and working with seasoned professionals.  I liked it and continued to feel very devoted to developing my dance career.  And what a surprise to have these memories come flooding back to me after acknowledging a gentle rain, “pelo de gato,” here in Costa Rica.  

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Working with our Emotions

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Costa Rica, Movement Workshops, Personal Life

When we planned on moving to Costa Rica, we had no idea of all the challenges we would face within the first 6 months of living here.  I’m not talking about the adjustments to a new country, which we would have had moving at any time, or the surprise fire and earthquake.  What I mean is COVID 19 and the heart failure that Murray is going through. Those are two things that are dominating day-to-day life and could not have been predicted back in November when we made the decision to move.  A year ago this time, Murray and I were in the Tetons at Jenny Lake Lodge, and while we couldn’t do long hikes, Murray could do short hikes of a mile or so.  Sometimes it is a challenge now for Murray just to walk from room to room and or spend 10 minutes walking in the garden.  

View in our garden behind a tree that Murray walks to slowly.

And then there is COVID which has made it impossible for family and friends to visit.  The borders are closed and it is unlikely that people from the U.S. will be allowed in anytime soon. We have no plans to return to the United States, as we feel safer here.  So there is a real appreciation that we are able to communicate via FaceTime and Zoom, because no one knows when we will be able to do so “in person.” 

Nearly every day here in Costa Rica, I find myself experiencing the four basic emotions that I sometimes explored when I led movement workshops. Sometimes one dominates more than another but generally in the course of any day I experience all four.  They are: happy, sad, angry, scared. Dance and sometimes art have been wonderful vehicles for me to work through my feelings and in the process find appropriate outlets for my emotions. As I write this I am challenging myself to see what I can do here particularly using art as my means. 

A few hours after writing these first two paragraphs a strong emotion began to surface so I got my watercolor pencils out and began expressing my feeling on paper.  Soon the emotion began to pass and instead a deep fascination with the design elements dominated.  Over the next day or so I totally enjoyed creating a small abstract design that had started with strong emotional feeling. 

Watercolor exploring an emotion, June 20, 2020. Created by first using watercolor pencils and then adding water and other watercolors.

For years when I led movement workshops, exploring emotions through dance was often an important part of the program. The activities were carefully structured so that everyone in the group was safe both from getting caught up in the emotion and from interacting with another person in an unsafe way. 

Confining space is a good tool to use.  Ask each person to draw an imaginary circle around themself that gives them about three feet to move.  For the duration of the exercise they are to stay inside their personal circle. Give them the following instructions, one at a time, giving them several minutes to improvise each one: 1) They are frustrated and angry at being confined to the space; 2)  They have retreated to this space because they are afraid during a thunder and lightning storm; 3) They are very sad and this small space is safe play to express their sadness; and 4) It is during COVID 19 time and they have just received great news on their cell phone while outside with a friend practicing social distancing.

With an adult or teenage group, start by making a large circle.  One person goes into the center of the circle and makes a shape (with their body) that expresses one of the four emotions.  They hold that pose, while another person goes into the circle making a complimentary shape (relating to but without touching the first person) that also illustrates that same emotion.  The first person leaves and the next person comes in making a shape of the same emotion, and so it continues with one person entering and another person leaving.  This activity can be expanded by having the participants still enter the circle one at a time, but allowing a few participants to remain in place in the center at once, thus creating a larger “sculpture” of the given emotion.  (If doing this, make sure participants take positions that can be held comfortably for a few moments.)  

And of course exploring emotions can be taken to a whole different level as it was in the composition class that I took from Pearl Lang at Connecticut College Summer Program in 1960, where for the six weeks I created an anger study and a laughter study.  Working from gestures, much as I had done in my first composition class with Helen Tamiris, the gestures were expanded into phrases and the phrases built into sections with Pearl coaching and insisting everything be believable.  I remember being very excited to perform one of the studies in a Saturday workshop.

Recently we included exploring emotions as part of a film we made with women from a domestic violence program in Santa Fe.  The film includes both leaders with a dance background and women who are exploring movement improvisation for the first time.  Here’s a link to view it.

I feel so fortunate to have had practice in finding ways to express my emotions and not become overwhelmed by them.  Indeed we are in very challenging times and we need to use all the resources we can!  

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Transition: News, Art and Personal Life

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

There is no way of escaping the use of the word “transition” when you turn on the news.  It is extremely disturbing how there simply is not the normal process of one President passing the baton to the next. The citizens of the U.S. are left in a state of suspension, a most uncomfortable feeling. And yet in a way that is its own form of transition. An abrupt sudden change.  And with this kind of transition in the midst of a pandemic the potential is there for unnecessary deaths and much pain.

As a choreographer my goal was to make a piece in which the transitions were seamless.  One section flowed appropriately into the next.  2020 is a year of major transitions for me with each one challenging me in a new way.  They are not seamless like a good piece of choreography nor are they sudden and abrupt.  Hints of what comes next have helped prepare me.  In reflecting I have had three major personal transitions and experienced a fourth, worldwide transition.   I share some of my thoughts on each of these. 

The first major transition, which I have already written about, was when Murray and I decided to sell our house in Santa Fe and move to Costa Rica, buying a house in Atenas.  Learning how to live in a new country, run a house with a beautiful garden and learn Spanish are indeed challenges in themselves.  Things got more complicated when Murray’s health problems continued to surface after we had been here just two weeks.  And they continued, except for the month of April, until the end of October when he passed. Now I am transitioning to being on my own. In the midst of all of this, COVID-19 changed all of our lives and we all made a rapid transition to learning how to use FaceTime and Zoom as our major ways of connecting with each other.  

Murray and I were very fortunate that neither of us had a major illness that required much caretaking of the other during the 56 years we were together.  While Murray had been diagnosed with heart issues quite a few years ago he did not have a serious incident until just a few weeks before we were due to leave for Costa Rica.  The doctors OK’d our plans to continue our move to Costa Rica after Murray responded well to a pacemaker.  

From mid-February to mid-July I gradually transitioned into my role of caretaking.  It was challenging for both of us because Murray loved his independence and it was very hard for him to be in a wheelchair needing help to get around. We had help during the day with our full-time house manager/driver/cook who developed a wonderful relationship with Murray (which will be a separate blog). We also had a nurse’s help for a few hours several days a week.  But from 4 pm to 9 am and on the weekend we were on our own and often liked that quiet time together.  Since Murray needed help to and from the bathroom at night I learned how to function on interrupted night-time sleep.  A conscious decision was made by Murray that he did not want to go back to the hospital and I supported that 100%.  In Costa Rica, doctors still make house calls and lab technicians come to the house too so that made things so much easier. 

So many times we expressed our joy and relief to be in Costa Rica and not the U.S. at this time with COVID changing things so much in the U.S. and not so much here.  We were very careful.  Murray did not go out of the house at all after mid-July and I only went to the grocery, pharmacy or bank.  Most of all Murray was able to continue enjoying our beautiful garden here.  And when he was indoors all the rooms have large windows treating his eye to one beautiful section of the property after another.  One of our favorite views was (and still is mine) looking out to the butterfly/hummingbird garden we put in where there had been a non-functioning Jacuzzi.  In particular, the butterflies were very regular visitors.  A gradual transition was progressing as Murray’s concentration and strength weakened and I had more caretaking roles. Given the option of having the nurse here more, especially on the weekend or after 4, I chose not to take it for several reasons. There was a peacefulness of just us being here together and I could keep things more normal.  That’s not to say there weren’t frustrating moments for both of us or that I didn’t sometimes feel overwhelmed.  

View from the bedroom window of the broken Jacuzzi that we turned into a garden.

We really missed family and loved the group Zoom calls with our daughters and grandchildren.  Murray so cherished and looked forward to them.  Yes… it would have been super if family could have been here but, like all the world, we were and are adapting to new ways of living because of the pandemic.  And over and over I felt and feel deep gratitude that Murray could transition in our home in a setting of sheer beauty.   

 Via Zoom we were able to have a meaningful memorial for him.  It was organized by our daughters and granddaughter, with a slideshow that brought both smiles and tears to me.  Led by my next-door neighbor growing up, who shared playing in the Allderdice High School Orchestra with Murray, the memorial had a very personal touch.  Although alone in Costa Rica, I felt so much love and warmth during the service and from feedback afterwards.  I am very grateful that our daughters and granddaughter went forward with this at a time I was just plain exhausted.

Now it is a month later and I am making another transition.  It is filled with a combination of missing Murray and the grief that goes with that, along with lots of questions. Most of the questions are just that… open questions which will take time to explore and for me to figure out.  They center around how I want to structure my daily life, from when to eat, what to eat, and what my body rhythm is.  How do I want to structure my creative activities?  Except for writing this blog (and not as regularly as I wanted to; I love and want to get back to the once-a-week schedule), I haven’t painted much [or done other creative work] at all.  So much time is spent with paperwork after a person dies, and while a lot has been accomplished there is much more to do.  That too is a major part of the transition.  

Some things are becoming clearer.  Meditation is playing a bigger role each day and I am finding it very meaningful to start each day with a half hour of meditation followed by some journal writing.  Being part of a Buddhist book group has also become important.  When asked whether I plan to return to the U.S., the answer is I have no plans [to move back] at this time, but down the road when perhaps there is a closer-to-normal lifestyle I will look forward to some visits.  I will keep a legal address in the U.S., and maintaining the ability to vote and stay connected is important to me.  I am glad to be continuing to work on a film begun nearly two years ago, on men’s experience of domestic violence and what services are available to them.  There is still much to be done related to domestic violence, and our film company Healing Voices – Personal Stories is very important to me.

The haunting question with no answer is why I feel so connected to being here in Costa Rica and what my purpose is here.  I feel so fortunate to be living in such a beautiful setting that Murray and I fell in love with a year ago.  His presence is very much here, from the papaya tree he planted from seed in March, which is now producing papaya,  to our careful selection of just some minimal furnishings.  For right now I am settling in and the answers will emerge.

The Papaya tree that Murray planted from a seed in March.
A close up of the papayas forming on the tree.
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Reaction to the Inauguration as a U.S. Citizen in Costa Rica

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

As I write this blog it is with a lighter heart and a sense of joy, filled with so many poignant memories of Wednesday’s inauguration. With COVID and security concerns the day was beautifully choreographed and the inaugural committee is to be commended. As a United States citizen now living abroad in Costa Rica, my connection to the democratic ideals of the United States remains deep, as do my concerns and hope that healing of long-time wounds will be addressed.  I am also very interested in how other countries react to what is happening in the United States.

On Thursday morning I read with delight an article in the Tico Times which I want to share with you, as it gives insight into how Costa Rica views the U.S. inauguration.   The headline itself says a lot:  “‘Multilateralism is back!’ How Costa Rica’s leaders celebrated U.S. inauguration.”  The article mentions that in a Tweet President Carlos Alvarado thanked President Biden for rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement, and that he also assured cooperation with the U.S. in “pursuit of ‘shared principles.’”  

What was most meaningful in the Tico Times article was what I learned about the Vice President of Costa Rica.  Her name is Epsy Campbell and she was elected in 2018.  An article by Brendan O’Boyle in Americas Quarterly (Oct. 19, 2020) notes:

Epsy Campbell Barr became the first Black woman in Latin America to be elected vice president – despite the fact that Afro-descendant women comprise up to 17% of the region’s populations. . . . [She] began her career as a human rights and environmental activist and an economist researching women’s inclusion.  As vice president, she has led a working group to try to close the gender pay gap, and also launched a program offering credit to rural women working in conservation.  

The Tico Times article reported that Campbell “shared a letter she had sent to Vice President Kamala Harris”:

In the communication, Campbell referenced her Afro-descendant grandmother, who “did not live to see her dream made reality,” but who worked to ensure “her daughters and her granddaughters could enjoy the rights she always wanted but never had.” 

“As Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica, and as a Black woman, I have joined the celebration of Afro-descendent towns and communities across the world that appropriate this accomplishment as an example to advance on the path to equality,” Vice President Campbell wrote.

Photo by Stefano Martin of Epsy Campbell from the Americas Quarterly

Costa Rica’s Foreign Ministry is also quoted as saying: 

Costa Rica celebrates the solid ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, which have cemented its 170 years of diplomatic relations. In this sense, we will work actively and constructively together with the Government of President Biden and Vice President Harris and their teams, to strengthen the recovery process in the face of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, and energize the bilateral, regional and multilateral agendas, promoting political dialogue, cooperative actions, and the promotion of commerce and attraction of investments.

So today I not only celebrate the inauguration but I have learned more about the country I am living in and its relationship with the U.S.  Murray and I were always aware of the good relationship that existed between the two countries when we decided to move here although we knew that Trump was damaging and isolating the U.S. relationships with many places.  So it is with delight I read the Tico Times article and learned about Vice President Epsy Campbell.

For as long as I can remember I have always been interested in traveling both in the United States and internationallybecause not only is it about sightseeing but it is about what we learn about ourselves and our relationship to others. Sometimes I’ve traveled alone, sometimes with the dance company and sometimes with Murray.  In our international travel we were both fascinated with how citizens of other countries viewed the United States both positively and negatively.  I remember seeing negative things written on walls on a trip to a university town in Germany back in 1987. Traveling during the George Bush administration between 2005-2008 we heard and saw negative things.  (Now, of course, the Bush administration is looking amazingly good, after what we have just experienced with Trump.)  Living now for nearly a year in Costa Rica I was well aware of the negative attitude toward Trump and the disappointment that Ticos felt for what was happening in the U.S. 

I was particularly made aware of that on January 7th when the young man from a restaurant/bakery that I regularly order from made a delivery to the house.  The young man asked me how I was doing.  I told him that I felt very sad and upset about what had happened at the Capitol in the U.S. the day before. He shared that he was upset too and that it was very troubling what had been happening in the U.S. since Trump had been elected, as he and most Costa Ricans looked to the U.S. as a model and since Trump that wasn’t possible.  He hoped it would be possible again.  Luckily the young man spoke English very well because while I am progressing in learning Spanish a detailed conversation like this would not have been possible.  

I was glad I watched the inauguration with my Costa Rican friend and helper.  First of all, I missed sharing this with Murray as he would have been thrilled to witness Biden and Harris sworn in and so I was glad not to be alone.  And second it was wonderful to know how a Tico was experiencing the transfer of power.  We both had tears in our eyes when Vice President Harris was sworn in, as I did later during the beautiful poem written and read elegantly by 22-year-old American Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. 

I loved the images of both Biden and Harris immediately going to work.  Maybe eliminating Inauguration Balls is even a good option for the future. 

Here’s a link to the article in the Tico Times: https://ticotimes.net/2021/01/20/multilateralism-is-back-how-costa-ricas-leaders-celebrated-u-s-inauguration

Here’s a link to the article in Americas Quarterly https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/aq-top-5-champions-of-gender-equality-epsy-campbell-barr/

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An Experiment: Writing Haiku with Accompanying Watercolor

JoAnne Tucker / / Art, Costa Rica, Personal Life

I have always been fascinated with the short poetic form of Haiku and how much meaning can be put into just 17 syllables.  During the pandemic I took a weekend Haiku workshop at Upaya  Zen Center via Zoom.  I had fun exploring the form and enjoyed reading Natalie Goldberg’s Three Simple Lines. However, it wasn’t until we began the Atenas Writers’ Group in Costa Rica that I was motivated to write Haiku on a regular basis.   At the same time, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review was offering a six-week online Haiku course, “Learn to Write Haiku: Mastering the Ancient Art of Serious Play,” taught by Clark Strand.  I quickly signed up.  Most sessions were prerecorded but a few were live sessions where we could ask questions.  Clark encouraged us to have a daily practice and to write lots each day!  What a great opportunity to learn from Clark, as he is totally dedicated to Haiku, with a big commitment to write Haiku himself, translate classical and contemporary Japanese Haiku and to encourage others to write Haiku.  Here is the bio that Tricycle has online:

Clark Strand is a former senior editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. His books include Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey and The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary, which was co-authored with his wife, Perdita Finn. He teaches the popular group “Weekly Haiku Challenges with Clark Strand” on Facebook and leads Tricycle’s monthly haiku challenge, as well as the Tricycle Haiku Challenge Facebook group.  (From Tricyle.org ‘s website)

The medium of watercolor has always both challenged and fascinated me so I decided I would choose the best Haikus that I wrote each week and do small watercolor paintings including the text in the painting.  Since mid-August I have completed 35 painted Haiku ranging in size from 6” x 8” to 9” x 12”.

I also made the decision that the Haiku had to be inspired by what I saw in my own backyard.  Living in Costa Rica, that’s not a problem.  My husband used to say that we were living in our own National Park.  In Clark’s course we were not only to follow the form of 3 lines with 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second and 5 in the last, but also to include a seasonal word.  I decided to follow the traditional style as much as I could, including a seasonal word as it related to Costa Rica.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the different samples of classical Haiku that we were exposed to.

It has been great fun to do this practice, and I have been quite consistent until recently, when I started writing prose to share with the Writers’ Group.  I look forward to getting back to my Haiku/watercolor practice on a regular basis.  Meanwhile, here are eight favorites. To see more, visit my Facebook page – JoAnne Tucker Art – where you can see all 35.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chopping in the Kitchen

JoAnne Tucker / / Costa Rica, Personal Life

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you might have noticed that I haven’t been writing as much as usual. The last two blogs were a review of a book, and they took a lot longer to write than other blogs.  The second reason is that I have been doing a lot of dancing in the kitchen!  Chopping, sauteing, spinning around and chopping some more.  The chopping seems to go on and on forever.  The reason behind this is I am now eating a totally plant-based diet.

Here are some bowls of chopped veggies and beans ready for an eggplant recipe.

In March I noticed some swelling in my ankles, and I decided to do some research on the best way to eat in order to keep my health good and strong.  Everything I read led me to a vegan way of eating.  I did that for about a month with some help from an English-speaking general nutritionist here in Costa Rica, who had only some idea of what a good vegan diet is. I decided to get my blood tested.  I wasn’t pleased with the results and soon began to realize I was eating too many processed vegan products. So I searched for a doctor either here in Costa Rica or online who could help me with the proper way to go on a vegan diet.

Much to my delight I found an excellent doctor, Dr. Miranda Graham, who calls herself a VeganMD and lives less than an hour from my house.  I have learned so much from her.  My first visit was in person.  She suggested using Cronometer, which is a website for a computer (or there is an app for the phone).  I am under her account, where I log in, and she monitors what I am eating and makes suggestions. There is a free version one can use on their own.  It has been very helpful.  For example, I love it when she says my Vitamin A is too low, so make sure I add some carrots to my daily diet.  I am now at the point where I can look at my food page and see the kind of foods I need to add in my diet for dinner to make sure I am getting all the nutrients that I need for the day.

The result is that my blood work has improved, I have more energy and I weigh less.  I don’t think of this as a diet.  Rather I think of this as my new lifestyle.  I am enjoying finding new recipes and trying different foods.  There are so many wonderful resources on the Internet.  My favorites are https://foodrevolution.org,  https://www.drfuhrman.com, and https://www.forksoverknives.com.

Living in Costa Rica makes plant based eating easy, as there are always lots of fresh fruits and vegetables available.  Each Thursday I enjoy going to the Feria (Farmer’s Market), and as a regular, I always get a friendly greeting from the various vendors.

Shopping at the Feria del Agricultor de Atenas. Photo by Manrique

Here I am, with energy and a slimmer look, leading some guests on a walk on the labyrinth. Photo by Ed Needham

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A Sijo Poem for the Winter Solstice

JoAnne Tucker / / movement rituals, Personal Life, Poetry

I was introduced to the Korean sijo in a recent poetry class I took.   The teacher mentioned it along with haiku and invited us to explore one of the forms.  Since I spent some time last year writing haiku and creating watercolors to accompany text, I was intrigued to delve into this new form I was hearing about for the first time.

What is sijo?  The Poetry Foundation provides a place to start:

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five.

While the form is not as well-known as haiku, a little more research found some treasured classics translated into the English.  This one by Yun Seon Do (1587 – 1671) particularly caught my attention.

You ask how many friends I have? Water and stone, bamboo and pine,
The moon rising over the eastern hill is a joyful comrade.
Besides these five companions, what other pleasure should I ask?

There are regular writing contests for haiku and groups that meet in both the United States and Japan writing and sharing haiku.  There is not as much activity happening with sijo although I did discover that the Sejong Cultural Society has a writing competition.  The Sejong Cultural Society’s purpose is to “advance awareness and understanding of Korea’s cultural heritage among people in the United States by reaching out to the younger generation through contemporary creative and fine arts.”

In the past few weeks I have written several sijo.  I liked the fact that sijo were often shared as songs, sometimes with drum accompaniment.  Soon I was thinking of simple choreography that might fit one of the poems I had written.  Why not explore writing sijo and creating dance movements to accompany the words?  I had fun doing just that.

This sijo is for the winter solstice.

 December darkness descends: fewer hours of sunlight.

Energy emerges from friendships — reach out to each other —

Recognize your inner light: open your heart with joyful love!

And here is a link where you can see the movement.  I invite you to do the simple movement with me.  https://vimeo.com/895910726

When I shared my sijo and movement with the poetry class, one of the members asked if she might share it with her church group.  I was very touched by the request, and that was part of my motivation for figuring out how to video it to share with others.

When I was working with haiku, I created over thirty haiku with watercolor illustration and selected some to share online in this blog.  https://mostlydance.com/2023/03/24/an-experiment-writing-haiku-with-accompanying-watercolor/   While I haven’t decided yet whether to create a series of sijo with accompanying movement, I am intrigued by the idea.

In Costa Rica, being so close to the equator, we only experience a small change in the balance of light and dark each day.  This particular year I am feeling the darkness more.  Let’s light candles and call forth our inner light to remind ourselves that each day after the winter solstice there will be a bit more light. 

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