#EveryDayinMay Soon, June.

Soon, June.

And a million new newnesses to explore.

In May I realized I love writing each day when my voice feels authentic. Imagine that.

I love the #WanderlustWednesday post that somehow materialized here, and the #TuesdayTen I stole from Crystal. #PoetryFriday will remain a constant favorite, because I just wouldn't be me without poetry. And I love sharing how I look at a poem and work with it in a writing lesson. I may add one more weekly post; something writerly related -- especially since the whole month of June I'll be in a writing class!

In March I wrote each day, but with the focus on sharing a slice of my life every day I somehow felt contained and struggled to find something worthwhile to share with each post. May was easier, and I feel as though I learned more from it.

And in June... well, June will see me in class, hopefully doing some swimming, visiting with my mom, trying some new recipes, and planning for my ever-evolving weeklong backpacking trip in July.

This year I chose light as my one little word, and the first five months have felt anything but light. 2014 has been overpacked with people and classes and projects and life and yes, even death. And there is so much more yet to discover in this year. Perhaps when I chose light, I didn't realize I was choosing not the breezy, airiness I hoped for, but the bold brilliance of a perfect sunrise. Because that's what this year has felt like so far; constant discovery, continual exploration.

And brilliant, every second of it.

#EveryDayinMay NatGeo Book of Animal Poetry

Due to a series of fortunate events, I was able to place an order with Follett for a stash of new fiction books to share with the readers on my 5th grade campus next year. We have many old and uninteresting books right now in our fiction collection, so I was super hyped to grab some books that these students can get excited about!

Maybe 25% of what I ordered fell into the nonfiction category, with the majority of those being graphic novels. The purpose of this order was to really amp up the way kids feel about reading. I hope they love the books I chose as much as I think they will!


One of my nonfiction prizes is the National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs that Squeak, Soar, and Roar! Not only am I positive our readers will love this book -- it's filled from cover to cover with stunning animal photography -- I'm also excited that it will get poetry into the hands of more students!

Photo Credit

Each photograph is paired with a poem from a great contemporary or classic poet. This book is just win-win, on repeat! I am eager to share it with teachers and students, and then watch as it never touches it's home in the library.

Because I'm always searching for poems to share with students, and ways to help them feel safe to try their own poetry, I thought I'd grab a poem from this book and use it as a mentor text to write my own poem - similar to how I share poetry in class.

Choosing a poem from this beautiful collection was not easy, but I thoroughly enjoyed perusing the pages as I searched for my "just right" (just write??) poem. I considered Graham Denton's What's a Caterpillar? poem, because I love how a question and response poem might sound in the hands of a child trying it out for the first time. In the end, however, I settled on Buffalo Dusk by Carl Sandburg, which instantly made me long to be back in the wilderness and also made me think of those empty halls and homes once the Senior class moves on.

Buffalo Dusk The buffaloes are gone. And those who saw the buffaloes are gone. Those who saw the buffaloes by the thousands and how they      Pawed the prairie sod into dust with their hoofs,      Their great heads down pawing on in a great pageant      Of dusk, Those who saw the buffaloes are gone. And the buffaloes are gone. -Carl Sandburg

Youth Stampede The graduates are gone. And those who love the graduates are weeping. Those who taught the graduates each day and how they      Danced a new dream into life with their hands and hearts,      Their wide eyes open dreaming big, bright, bold lives       Of brilliance, Those who love the graduates pause and smile. And the graduates are gone. -Kelly Mogk © 2014

So after a couple rereadings of Buffalo Dusk and about ten minutes to play with my own words, that is the result. Were I working with young writers, I'd think aloud through the process and brainstorm ideas, and eventually move further and further away from this patterned writing and closer to the heart of my own voice. But it's a good exercise to begin with when you aren't sure how to get kids writing, I think.

What do you think? Do you have favorite poems to use in the classroom? For more poetry, be sure to hop on over to Random Noodling, where this week's #PoetryFriday bloghop is being hosted!

#EveryDayinMay - O Selfie! My Selfie!

Oh, the selfie. Or should I say #selfie? Truly, the self portrait has been around for as long as art has existed, although The Public Domain Review says the first ever photographic selfie was taken by a rather dapper looking young man by the name of Robert Cornelius. It wasn't until social media exploded that what we know as today's selfie became popular.

I mean, let's face it -- it's a thing.

Even the Oxford Dictionary says so. And seriously, the beloved selfie even has its own song.

I've been thinking a lot about selfies lately, and what their prevalence means for society. When I read Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis, she talked briefly about how after spending four months on the trail with nary a mirror in sight, her definition of herself changed. Beauty became less about her appearance and more about her strength.

I don't know about you, but that's the kind of beauty by which I want to define myself.

Earlier this week, musician (and Neil Gaiman's wife), Amanda Palmer posted a link on FaceBook that deepened my thoughts on how this selfie culture is changing the value we place on beauty. It seems some women are actually having their left hands re-beautified. I shared this little tidbit of pop culture with The Husband and he couldn't figure out why on earth anyone would have their left hand worked on. Then I held up my hand and waggled my ring finger in his face.

"Because," I said, "how can any proper lady possibly take engagement ring selfies if they've got mangled up fingers?"

He just shook his head.

And more and more, that's what I seem to be doing as well. There was also research conducted recently on the disease of the selfie. Thinking about young people falling into depression and becoming suicidal because of body image makes me ill. No one should ever have to feel that way. Granted, most people that fall victim to this degree of body dysmorphia are typically already suffering from other mental illnesses as well, but I don't think we need much more proof that narcissism is on the rise.

Top all of that off with the tragedy that happened earlier this week in California, when Elliot Rodger killed 6 people and then himself, decreeing in his manifesto that he was troubled (among other things) by his lack of success with women. Then add the fact that he was highly visible on social media with a large number of his own selfies.

If I hadn't already decided to go on a selfie-free, mirror-free challenge, all of these things combined would have sealed my thinking on it. I just have to wonder -- how differently might I view myself if I wasn't primping in front of a mirror each morning? If I didn't check my reflection in the window or take those selfies -- the ones I only seem to take when my hair and makeup is just right? So be on the lookout for some posts about how I will accomplish this vanity-banning challenge. Maybe you'll even want to join me!

I guess that's why I took my final selfie and posted it on Instagram the morning I left for my overnight backpacking trip. It was, I believe, the first picture I've ever posted of myself completely sans makeup. I could be wrong, but I can't think of another one. At the very least, it was the first intentional picture I've taken of myself not all glammed up. It felt like a turning point. I don't want to be defined by what I look like.

I want to be defined by who I am.

#EveryDayinMay - Challenge Accepted!

It's Wanderlust Wednesday! This is quickly becoming my favorite post of the week. Today it's especially fun, because I'm sharing a little about my trip to the Ouachita National Forest from last weekend. There is so much to share about this trip; I'll be posting about it for the rest of the week I think -- today I'm focusing on gear and being prepared.

Let's be honest -- once I stepped foot on the Horse Thief Springs Trail, it became wildly obvious that I had no idea what I was doing. Because I have been so busy with work, The Husband packed most of my gear into my backpack for me. The only things I added myself were my clothes, some toiletries, and my food. I tested out the weight the night before we left, and since The Husband had already weighed it, I knew I was grabbing 25 pounds when I hefted it up and onto my shoulders.

The Husband's pack looks like a monster compared to mine!

The thing is, in my head 25 pounds sounded like carrying around a kid, which I've done plenty of times. Or lifting weights, with I'm also very familiar with. But 25 pounds in a backpack is nothing like hoisting a child onto your hip or deadlifting a barbell. When I first went to grab my pack, it didn't move. It just sat there staring up at me, silently laughing at my ignorance.

Fortunately, once the pack was snugly on my back, with my belt tightened and my sternum strap snapped, it was amazing how much lighter it felt. Having the right pack for your body and knowing how to adjust the billionty different straps may be every bit as crucial as wearing proper fitting hiking boots -- or trail runners, though I have no idea how I would have survived the rocky paths we were on if I hadn't been wearing my super-light space-age boots!

So by the time we made it to the trail, I thought I was familiar enough with my pack to avoid chaffing and blisters on my shoulders and hips. I knew how to use my camelbak, although not being able to see how much water I consumed made me a little nervous. But I had played with all the straps and gizmos, knew were the most important gear in the pack was, and had adjusted everything so that the pack was snug around my hips and I barely had any pressure on my shoulders.

The Husband was using an old Eberlestock Gunslinger II pack of his own, and because his pack alone weighs 10 pounds, his total pack weight ended up at 35 pounds.

Of course, we realized later that both of us had added a few items after weighing that probably upped each of our pack weights by around 5 pounds each.

Some of the gear was weighed individually, but most of it we just weighed once it was all in the pack for a final weight. Here's what we carried in each of our packs:

Me (25lb)

The Husband (35lb)

Water bladder (2.5 L) Gallon bag trail mix Protein bar Protein shake mix 1 L gyote canteen 12oz Green sleeping bag 36oz Q core air mattress 21oz Kelty 2 man tent 26oz Kelty tent poles 2 26oz Stanley camp cup 8oz MSR cook pot 9oz MSR bowl 2oz X2 MSR fork/spoon 1oz X2 Primus stove 12oz First aid kit Small Shovel The Eleventh Draft book Journal Pen Headlamp Flashlight Whistle Knife Gallon bag toiletries Shorts Shirt Buff Hair Band Socks (1 pair)

Water bladder (3 L) Gallon bag Trail mix 1 L gyote canteen 12oz Sleeping bag Thermarest foam air mattress 23oz Kelty rain fly 23oz Fuel Fuel bottle (empty) 9oz MSR water pump 17oz Dog food Dinners – (2 mountain house freeze dried meals) Oatmeal Coffee packets Dog water bowl Map Compass Headlight GSI camp cup 6oz Stakes Long sleeve shirt Pants Socks TP Fire kit Tourniquet Iodine crystals 5oz

I ended up ditching the book in the truck before we ever stepped foot on the trail, and I'm glad I did. I never would have had time to read it. The journal and pen came along, but also went unused. As did, sad to say, most of my precious toiletries. I braided back the sides of my hair, popped it into two little ponytails, and that is how it stayed for the two days. Very fancy.

Lunch. Yay.

We learned a lot on this trip about what not to take next time -- some of our cooking gear never got used, for instance. But we also realized some things we definitely want for next time. At the top of my list is moar food! Oh my gosh. While breakfast and dinner were amazing -- those Mountain House Freeze Dried meals are the bomb-diggity, and for just $7.00 a pop, I felt they were worth the price. But lunch was a self-made trail mix of freeze dried fruits, nuts, and granola. Had we actually seen a bear, I would have eaten it by lunch time. Or probably not. I'm sure that's against some backpacker rules, and there's always the fact that bears aren't much interested in being eaten by weak, ravenous humans.

Mmm, oatmeal! With strawberries! And... cashews?
Whatever. Food is food, people.

Because we started so late on Saturday, we only made it three hours into our hike before it was beginning to get dark. Those first three hours were intense -- I was moving as fast as my legs would carry me, but there was no way we were going to make it to Cedar Lake in time to set up camp. I won't lie, I was crushed. Before I got too far into my mental beatdown, The Husband reminded me how amazing it was just to be out there -- and he was right. I had a goal that I didn't meet (not my favorite thing!), but I also had a much larger goal that I was right in the middle of living -- backpacking overnight with only the gear on my back to help me along. And guys, it was so much bigger and wilder and harder than I could have imagined. And so much more precious. Every step on that trail was worth it.

More on the first half of our trip tomorrow! Because when we first arrived, this is the sign I saw, and it was not how I wanted to start my adventure:

Click the link below if you'd like to join up and add your own #WanderlustWednesday blog post! This is my first time to attempt this linky business, so let me know if something isn't working by commenting on this post. And feel free to grab the little graphic I made above for your own wanderlust post!

An InLinkz Link-up