Reflections

https://www.amazon.com/reflections-journey-transformation-Afarin-Rava-ebook/dp/B0B33RN2Z4

 

Pirouz

My Guest Book
à la Rumi

February 28, 2023
Despair

 

Iran

Dear Twelve-Year Old Me...

(rare photo of Noosha at 12)

Iran - circa 1982

Book Review

 

Caterwaul

As I checked today's Word of the Day on Merriam-Webster's site, https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day, I discovered a word I'm familiar with — meaning I've seen it in written form and/or heard it spoken — but have never used in my own speaking or writing: caterwaul

Cat lovers might find this Did You Know? part interesting:

"Though the most familiar sense of caterwaul, “to protest or complain loudly,” is not specific to our feline friends, we still think it’s the cat’s meow, and not without good reason. Caterwaul first appeared in English in the 1300s as a verb applied to the wailing sounds made by cats when on the prowl for a mate. The word comes from the Middle English word caterwawen (also caterwrawen), but its origins beyond that are obscure. The cater part is thought to be connected to the cat, but scholars disagree about whether it traces to the Middle Dutch word cāter, meaning “tomcat,” or if it is merely cat with an “-er” added. Wawen is probably imitative in origin, approximating one of the domestic kitty’s many vocalizations. By the 1600s caterwaul was also being used for similar non-cat noises and later as a noun referring to noisy people or things." 

(quoted from https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day on February 25, 2024)

Anais Nin

“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.”
Anais Nin

Paul Spalding-Mulcock

Dear Margaret,

“One may as well begin with” the reason for this missive…to thank you for entering my life.
...

Read Paul Spalding-Mulcock's letter to Margaret Schlegel in Dearest Devised Darling: Anthology.

Frances Hodgson Burnett

"Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... 

"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine..."

Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Child's Perspective...

Sometimes, children use different words to designate animals they come across. 
For example, when toddlers see a dog:

(English) dog ----------------------------- doggy
(French) chien ---------------------------- toutou (tootoo)
(Persian) سگ (pronounced sag) -------- هاپو  (hoppoo)*

*I've named one of my dogs "Hoppoo"...

Meet Hoppoo:

To What End?

two years of war between Russia and Ukraine...
all this loss... to what end?

Les Brown

“You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.”
Les Brown

My Guest Book

 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Afarin-Rava/author/B0BRJSMJH5

Rachel Carson

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
Rachel Carson

Never Say Never

I've already posted this on my other blog
(nooshasblog.blogspot.com, which my fellow English teachers often visit),
but I'm sharing it here too because it might help some writers.

My students taught me the most valuable lessons I learned as an ESL teacher — my students, not any book or professor or training or university. Everything I learned about teaching, I learned from my interactions with my students.

For example, during my earlier years as an ESL teacher, decades ago, I learned never to use "never" (or "always") when teaching grammar.

One day, while teaching adjective clauses, specifically restrictive versus descriptive clauses, I told my students that we never put a comma before the relative pronoun "that" in adjective clauses.

At the next class meeting, someone brought me a sentence with a comma before "that" and asked me why a comma appeared before the word "that" in the grammar book. I immediately understood the student's confusion and explained that what I said was about adjective clauses and didn't apply to the sentence he had brought to my attention in the grammar book because it was not an adjective clause — it was a noun clause connector in a series separated by commas. 

Another time, during a lesson on modal verbs, after teaching could have, should have, and would have, I told them that the "have" may sound like "of" and explained that these get misspelled quite often because of how they sound: could of, should of, and would of... even by some American writers.

It's important to teach ESL students the correct structure and warn them about what they might encounter (just so they don't doubt themselves and their own abilities, which can easily happen when they are faced with a person they believe should master the language). 

Shortly after I taught my students to pay attention to the spelling of past modals and that it's never could "of," I came across a correct sentence with "... could of..." and thought of my students and the lesson I had just taught them. I don't remember what that sentence was years ago, but I recently came across another sentence like that, which brought this memory back.

That day all those years ago, I learned to never use "never" or "always" in my grammar classes. Why? Because some students may lack the knowledge to distinguish structures, clauses, etc., and the misunderstanding created as a result of this might confuse the students or make them lose their trust in their teacher, which can be extremely frustrating to new learners.

In case you're wondering what the sentence was, here's the one I recently saw while editing a book:

"He reached down, picked up what he could of the brown bag, and walked on home." 

(Of course, the could and the of are not together (meaning they don't form a phrase), but the two words are close enough in the sentence to confuse English learners who have just learned modal verbs.)

Book Review

 

The Most Rewarding

I don't know why others write. 
My daily writing helps me in various ways:
It helps me organize my thoughts.
It helps me check my feelings.
It's therapeutic.
I enjoy writing, especially in the morning.
...

I don't publish all my writing.
When I do publish a book (or a blog post), I hope it will help another in some small way:

I just hope to add a perspective...
or solve a problem...
or simply let another person know they're not alone...

So when someone tells me my book has helped them (even a tiny bit), I am suddenly filled with gratitude and the motivation to continue what I'm doing. 

I recently received this message about my latest memoir, My Guest Book:
"I wanted to let you know how your book helped redirect me to see the bigger picture. It set me straight—in a good way."

And it was the most rewarding feeling in the world.

On this Valentine's Day, I want to send love to all my readers. 💗

Clarissa Pinkola Estés

“Dogs are the magicians of the universe.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Divine

Dog

Dear 
Darling 

Dainty

Delicate 
Dappled

Dazzling 
Delightful

Daffy 
Devilish 
Defiant 
Disobedient 
Disorderly 
Daring 
Dauntless

Domestic 
Docile 
Dedicated
Doting 
Devoted 
Decent

Distinctive 
Determined 
Defensive 
Dependable

Divine 

Most Popular

Reflections: A Journey of Transformation is somehow still my most popular book...

available on #Amazon in various formats
&
#free on #KindleUnlimited

https://www.amazon.com/reflections-journey-transformation-Afarin-Rava-ebook/dp/B0B33RN2Z4

Jean Little

“Your only responsibility as a writer is to be true to the story that has chosen you as its writer.”
Jean Little

Torment

a page from My Guest Book: à la Rumi

Dear Torment,

Thank you for visiting my guesthouse and ...

Book Review

 

Diane Riley's Letter

 

Margaret Mead

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead

Book Review

 

A New Collaboration

I'm excited to announce that a new collaboration is in the works! 
I will share the details in about forty days.

Road Verge

A while back, I saw a post — I don't remember on which social media platform — that made me wonder what the word was for the strip of green between the sidewalk and the street. A Google search gave me a link to Wikipedia, which, to my surprise, had dedicated an entire page to road verges, the phrase used to designate that strip of green, as public properties, their maintenance, their benefits, etc.

This morning, I couldn't remember the phrase, so I looked it up again. This time I happened to scroll a bit farther down the page and saw a section titled "Terminology"... and I just had to share it with all the word lovers out there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_verge#Terminology

Groundhog Day 2024

Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring!

February 2024