Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Red Tail Hawk Sighting

Yesterday, while walking Manly and Biela in Corona Heights Park, we were graced with a red-tail hawk soaring in the wind. It was dusk and the fog was descending and covering the base of Twin Peaks. The fog hadn't reached the park yet, and she was flying in the air right underneath the space between the fog and a patch of late afternoon sun. She was just breath-taking, gliding so effortlessly, low to the ground and then up and away where our eyes couldn't follow her.


It reminded me of the last time I saw a red-tail hawk in the red flowering gum tree in front of our house, just a year ago. She inspired me to write the following:

What is it that you want
to do in your Life?
To be among pigeons
or soar like a hawk?





By Mai Brehaut



File:Red-tailed Hawk Buteo  jamaicensis Full Body 1880px.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Red-tailed_hawk_in_flight.jpg





Tony Judt Interview on Fresh Air

Powerful interview yesterday about historian Tony Judt battling Lou Gehrig's disease. Paralyzed from the neck down and relying on a respirator to breathe, Tony reminds us all of all the things we are so able to do and not the things we can't do. Praise.

Listen to the Story

[39 min 19 sec]

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Some more Coco please!

Yesterday, I checked out the new Shanghai Exhibit at the Asian Art Museum. Definitely nice to get lost in Shanghai in the 1920s. It was here that I discovered the sweet jazzy sounds of Coco Zhao. Can't wait to check him out live:

April 1 : Shanghai Jazz

Coco
Dubbed “the boy Billie Holiday,” Coco Zhao will perform an intimate set of original works and Shanghai jazz favorites in conjunction with special exhibition Shanghai. Jazz thrived in Shanghai’s colorful cabarets and dance halls during the ‘20s and ’30s. Suppressed during the Cultural Revolution, it’s enjoyed a renaissance thanks to a new generation of young jazz musicians. Zhao cross-pollinates Mandarin vocals with the distinct sounds of contemporary American jazz; a unique heritage (both parents were in traditional Chinese opera) is infused his with youthful interpretations. Zhao’s distinctive style transcends cultures, as evidenced by his sensational reception at the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival and his performance at the Kennedy Center.
There will also be art activities (make your own print), cash bar specials, and docent conversations in special exhibition Shanghai. Don't miss a talk on the birth of jazz in Asia by Cory Combs, Director of Education at SF Jazz.
Click below to hear a Coco Zhao song.
Please click here for details.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Will You Remember Me? (Poem for Bill's Bday)

Will you remember the brown curve of
my shoulders where the Wind exposed it last?
or the distant spectre of blue and silver
Mountains, the night you arrived?


Did you witness the symphonic dance of
Snowflakes – small, fat
tumbling up and down
then backwards
like the curious girls and boys
bundled in pagan pink and green
rushing down Park City
shouting : “Excuse me” and “Wee!”


Did your eyes draw in the majestic tops
of Christmas trees dusted with white coats
on branches, the proud, naked aspens, or
the forgetful wooded mouse who thought,
“Has Spring already arrived?”


Did you feel my arms push and hold you straight
when you were ready to surrender off of that lift,
or in between impossibly tight trees ? –
the sight of a sacred summit surrounding you.


Did you taste the dry mountain air
on your lips, filling your toasty insides,
greeting you in the morning or the passing rays of Sun,
just at the right moment
caressing a deserved cheek?


I watched you from the window,
outside, in
mix ancient Aphrodisiacs with cream,
peel and harvest the slices of golden deliciousness
and when no one looked,
lick those sweet fingers of roasted chicken meat.


I watched you light each rainbow birthday candle
And I watched you
Blow each one out –
whispering silent wishes that would make them come true
and I watched you break into each yoke
to weave the fabric of a silken omelet.


I put your heavy lids to bed after
a long day of sore legs and I helped you open each
curtain crease
waiting to pour in a new day.


Will you remember me
after you’ve prepared to leave?
Como se dice adios? How to say goodbye?
Will you take a piece of me, revisit me
in the dimensions of “déjà-vu” or through the portals of taste
like a good asparagus soup,
sage stuffing
or how the champagne bubbles slid
comme sable, like sand,
down the slopes of your tongue.


Perhaps I will surprise you, and in the end
allow you to carry me away with you
as salt – on the soles of your shoes
that was once Snow.


By Mai Brehaut
Deer Valley, Utah
~3/14/10

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