Blog Archives - DinaDesveaux.com

Dear Prime Minister Harper

12/30/2012

by ~missdanger Photography / Street

Dear Prime Minister Harper

Two years ago, on New Year's Eve, I blogged my very first New Year's wish. I wrote about my own life, of how many mornings I looked up at the sky & my view of possibilities & dreams was obstructed by those little cages I'd created or 'inherited'.

I knew (intellectually) that letting those cages go was the greatest gift anyone, could give the world. And yet, so far all I'd managed (emotionally) was to identify a few key cage-dwellers and to keep a stern eye on them as they floated around.

READ THE REST OF THE LETTER HERE

Boxing Day with Hotel Chelsea Ghosts

12/26/2012

Source: news.discovery.com

Featuring my TOP 5:
Leonard Cohen, Edith Piaf, Dylan Thomas . . .

Click on their names below to hear them sing, recite, rejoice & lament:

Source: leonardcohen-prologues.com

1. Leonard Cohen

Also my favourite song & favourite interpretation of Cohen's Masterpiece Hallelujah by K.D. Lang

Source: charlespaolino.wordpress.com

2. Edith Piaf

You may also like the film version of Non, Je ne regrette rien

LISTEN TO MORE CHELSEA ARTISTS

SEASONS GREETINGS

12/19/2012

Here’s wishing you & your loved ones a safe, healthy & joy-filled holiday season!

May we all find the courage & strength to be trailblazers for children and for a better world in 2013.

May we create opportunities, synergies & collaborations with those who care for our planet and humanity's well-being.

May we address those challenging topics that will equip our communities to build citizenship values that reflect the dignity innate in every human being.

May your 2013 be filled with the spirit of this season!

Warmly,

TartanFrog
(aka Dina)

PS To my writerlies: May Santa bring you publishing contracts, bestseller lists and a synopsis for your next novel:)

Paris Excerpt: Au Chien Qui Fume

12/18/2012

In part 2 of my novel Papillon, Sabine (main character) flies to Paris. Each scene is grounded in places I've loved during my stays in the city that never stops tugging at my heart strings.

Here's a short scene from a favourite cafe Au Chien Qui Fume (pictured above):

Message of Hope

12/17/2012

Image: blogs.dunyanews.tv

Remaining hopeful during sad times like the aftermath of the tragedy at Sandy Hook isn't easy. But it's exactly what surviving parents, educators and youth must do.

We must dig deeper.

There is a saying that when all is at its darkest we may glimpse the light of the stars.

We have to keep the flame of hope alive to honour the memory of the children who lost their life. For them, we must fan the flames of all that is beautiful, good & hopeful in the world.

How? We must develop resilience (both in ourselves and our children).

I'd like to point again to my favourite teaching quotes in the blog below.

May we all do one thing today to make the world a better place for children.

I always advocate kindness, but this is also a time to show your outrage to anyone in the media who is such a heartless numbskull that they're still in a community where they DO NOT BELONG.

I'd also like to share a link to a childhood story about how a young girl felt about video cameras in her face & strangers with microphones asking stupid questions.

Please read Kim's story here.

Listen to W.H. Auden's famous poem read here by Matthew (John Hannah) in the movie 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'

Listen to Sylvia Plath's reading November Graveyard here

My Top 3 Teaching Quotes

12/11/2012

Image: autostraddle.com

When I was teaching, I started each unit with new learning outcomes & a quote to inspire the journey.

3 of my favourites:

1. “Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ”
― Paulo Freire

2. “No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true educator should be to unlock that treasure” − Emma Goldman

3. “Each person shines with his or her own light. No two flames are alike.
There are big flames and little flames, flames of every colour.
Some people’s flames are so still they don’t even flicker in the wind, while others have wild flames that fill the air with sparks.
Some foolish flames neither burn nor shed light, but others blaze with life so fiercely that you can't look at them without blinking, and if you approach you shine in the fire."
- Eduardo Hughes Galeano

Confessions about BullShit

12/10/2012

Nini, from France. Photo: Jean-Daniel Sudres/Hemis/Corbis

Get a group of writers together, and sooner or later, a story emerges (& laughter) about how most of us go through periods of writing bullshit.

Why not wait for that exquisite gem of inspiration? (you ask)

Well, for some of us 'the one' might not happen without 'the other'. No bullshit; no gems.

Call us truffle hunters:

We sniff through bullshit in order to arrive at a meaningful thread that hangs a whole thesis or poem, a novel, or I'd even argue, a community together.

If you're starting out & hoping to avoid those many (wasted?) hours. . .

Read my TOP 3 WAYS to cut through crap (which works 1/4 of the time:)

Wired Monk Writers tonight!

12/6/2012

Looking forward to seeing the writerlies ce soir!

This will be our last meet for 2012, then we break for the festive season! Of course, that means literary cocktails!!

Happy Scribing!
TartanFrog
(aka Dina)

The Best Commentary on 50 Shades Ever!

12/4/2012

Image: This Hour has 22 Minutes, CBC

Ms. Enid strolls in the Halifax Gardens thinking about 'hot' topics.

Anyone stressed out about holidays or anything at all, I promise this is one-minute+ video's worth a listen.

Have a good one,
TartanFrog
(aka Dina)

Another 'Stroem': Soirées lacking wit?? No Way!

12/3/2012

We've all heard of life's two certainties: Death and taxes.

In sizing up my life, I prefer to think of those certainties as writers' group and Sunday potlucks.

At last Sunday's gathering, one of the regulars observed that our soirées reminded him of the salons hosted by Gertrude Stein & AliceToklas. . .

. . .but with less wit?!

Really?? Well, something would have to be done about that!

So, I penned another stroem--this one's more story than poem--called OUTWIT to read at this Sunday's potluck gathering.

Now, I'm no Dorothy Parker, but if you've got a hankering for some wit, here's a 2-page tale about the fallout after a Newbie Visits a Sex Shop

Feel free to send your feedback. This is a first draft.

Here's to a witty week!
Cheers,
TartanFrog
(aka Dina)

Welcome to my Blog!

My name is Dina
(aka TartanFrog)
I'm a writer & educator.

More about me

More about the book I just finished

Why blog? Why write?
My dream: To see all children grow up with dignity, self-esteem and a passion for their dreams.

I've met many children and adults whose dreams and innocence were stolen.

I write for them; I write as one of them.

I try to blog weekly.
Blog topics:
Writing & publishing-related tips for my writerly friends; social justice issues that touch children, adults, trees or threaten our world of future wholesome communities; my experiences navigating the process of living & writing.

Spoiler Alert:
Some days, these may be rants:)

Why TartanFrog?
TartanFrog--a celebratory tip of the hat to the interweaving of my French Acadian roots with the Celtic culture of Cape Breton.

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