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thewidowstanton · 5 years ago

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Stav Meishar, multi-disciplinary performer and creator – The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir

Stav Meishar – a stage artist who mixes theatre, circus, music, dance, poetry and puppetry – was born and raised in Tel Aviv in Israel. She attended the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts and has worked professionally as an actress since childhood, notably starring in Wicked’s original Israeli cast.

After moving to the US in 2008, Stav has performed internationally in Hebrew, English and Yiddish. In 2012 she founded Petit Mort Productions to provide an outlet for multi-disciplinary artists whose works are “innovative, unique and perhaps a bit strange”. In 2013, her play The Dreamer and the Acrobat ran at the NY Frigid Festival, and she made her circus debut on silks in the Off-Broadway revival of The Megile of Itzik Manger.

Stav is now based in Bristol and this month embarks on a UK tour of her solo show The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir, which is based on the life of Jewish-German circus artist Irene Danner. Stav chats to Liz Arratoon in the run-up to its UK premiere at Jacksons Lane in London on 23 September 2019.

The Widow Stanton: Is there any showbusiness in your background? Stav Meishar: Almost everybody in my family is in love with the arts but nobody else makes it. Everybody does other things around it. My mother is an arts critic, lecturer and guide. She knows everything there is to know about arts but when I asked her if she ever wanted to make any, she said: ��Heavens, no!” My dad owns a business he funded… it’s kind of hard to explain but it’s like an archive of Israeli folk dancing. So ever since I was little whenever a new Israeli folk dance would be created, he’d get the choreographer and a bunch of volunteer dancers and videotape it, with instructions, so that enthusiasts around the world can learn how to dance.

How did you start performing so young? I’ve always loved attention [laughs]. There’s video tapes of me when I’m two or three years old doing, like, hand puppetry. Not with actual puppets, just with my hands. I think it was a Mr and a Mrs who met at a movie theatre and fell in love. It was always something I wanted and I used to scour the newspapers when I was little for audition notices. So when there was one for an Israeli production of Oliver Twist I figured, why not be an orphan? [Laughs]

So you just auditioned and got the part? Yep! The production was first in Tel Aviv. There’s a big tradition in Israel on Hanukkah to have shows for the family because everyone’s off from school and the parents are going crazy trying to find something different for the kids. I was… 11, I think, and then the following year it toured all around Israel. I had a lovely time.

What happened about your schoolwork and all that boring stuff? If I remember correctly, the rehearsals were about a half-hour bus ride from my school and I had to get special permission to leave the last class a bit early, so that I could make it on time. All the kids were really mean to me about it: “Oh, you know, she’s hoity-toity with her rehearsals.” I’d rehearse every day and get home at about 7pm.

But being on tour… I think because Israel is so small it’s a bit different to what we think of as tours in the UK or US. There were about 50 kids in the cast so the production would hire a bus and I think there was at least one adult from the production with us.

Was the Thelma Yellin school like a Fame school or something? [Laughs] It’s pretty much what you imagine when you think of a performing arts school; a little bit like Fame. It’s a great school in Israel that still exists and has a great reputation. All the students have to be good at all the regular subjects. You can’t slack off in any of that but you also have to choose one of six artistic majors: theatre, classical music, jazz, cinema, visual arts and dance. So mine was theatre. I was there from 14 to 18.

Why did you move to the US? I always wanted to be in musical theatre, and originally the dream was London. I got accepted at a few schools here but none of them had international scholarships. There was a lot of crying and sadness around that [laughs] and then I picked myself up by the bootstraps and figured, ‘Well, I’ve got to come up with a plan B’, and I got accepted to a musical theatre programme in New York at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy that did have quite a generous international student scholarship.

I worked my arse off for about two years saving every shekel I could and got some help from my parents as well, God bless them, and yes, I moved to the States and studied musical theatre. I graduated and worked in professional musical theatre in New York for about a year and then one day I woke up and realised, ‘I hate it!’. Not musical theatre, I still love that, but the business around it; how mean everybody is and how soul-crunching open calls are. I couldn’t do it anymore.

This crisis was in about 2010 and I was in a really dark place for a while and decided, ‘I’m just going to see as much theatre and performing arts as I can and see if I can get inspired by any of it, and take as many classes as I can in all kinds of different things’. So I took yoga, and I took Pilates and all kinds of stuff… and I took a silks class and uh… well… yeah, fell in love. [Laughs]

Where did you learn your circus skills? I trained for a long time at the Circus Warehouse in New York, which is a fantastic space with really high-level professional training. It’s not a university, it’s not accredited, but the level is super high and the coaches are all fantastic.

I see also you play ukulele and do poi spinning… have you got anything else up your sleeve? I had a year or two of trying a bunch of different things. I still play the ukulele mostly for my own pleasure. I took a street show to the Edinburgh Fringe for a couple of years where I put together Shakepearean monologues with whatever was popular that day on MTV, on the ukulele. So Taming of the Shrew and how badly he treats her, how awful he is leading into Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. That was fun for a little while.

Oh, and poi spinning… I do a lot of things none of them in any way as professional as I do theatre. You can’t do too many things well. You do a lot, you end up being OK at most of them. I’m skilled in a lot of things but wouldn’t consider myself expert in all of them. Theatre is where I’m most confident… history, specifically World War II history is something I’m very confident in, and Jewish education is something I feel an expert on. Circus is always a tricky thing because I’ve been doing it long but I have never done it with enough… let’s put it that way, I started late and I’m lazy.

Have you done stuff at Circomedia, being in Bristol? Yeah, I just did one year full time there, basically shadowing their foundation degree students doing all the practical stuff but none of the academic stuff, because I already have my degree. It sounds much more than I’m capable of. Yes, I just graduated from a full-time programme; I’m still pretty shit at circus but I never intended, like, I don’t market myself as an acrobat. I’m a multidisciplinary artist who has a lot of tools and because this current project is about a circus artist, I had to have some circus skills thrown into the melting pot of the show, but I’ve been really adamant with everybody where I’m performing, don’t market it as circus show or people will be really disappointed. It’s a theatre show. It has puppetry, it has circus but I’m no more a circus acrobat than I am a puppet master.

So let’s talk about The Escape Act. How did it come about? It was completely random. I started my Jewish education company, Dreamcoat Experience, and our niche, so to speak, was teaching progressive Jewish education using performing arts: drama, music, puppets, thing like that, and I started weaving circus methods into our curriculum. I was curious if anyone had done that before and I went to Google and I typed in ‘Circus Jews’ and one of the first things to come up was the New York Times obituary for Adolf Althoff, the German circus owner who saved this Jewish family. I just remember reading it and my jaw dropping to the floor going, ‘How is there not a movie about this?’. It was incredible. I just started going into this Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole from which I never emerged.

You’ve written about Irene Danner’s story for Circus Talk, but give us a brief outline of her story. In seven years of research, I uncovered a lot and it’s a big story. The short of it is, Irene, born Danner, was a descendent of the Lorch family, Jewish Circus royalty; they were the most famous Risley act of their time. They performed with the Ringling Brothers in America, they went on tour with Circus Sarrasani in South America, they really were the celebs of their time. The circus closed when she was about seven years old; they went bankrupt around 1930 with the rise of anti-semitism and people not really wanting to see ‘the Jew circus’ anymore.

Irene trained as a acrobat from when she was little and got her first job when she was 13, with Circus Busch. She was the flyer for the horse-riding troupe The Carolis and was there for three years until the law changed and Jews weren’t allowed to work anymore. About three years later she went to see the Circus Althoff and fell in love with their clown, Peter Bento. Peter asked Adolf if he would give her a job. Adolf knew it wasn’t legal but he didn’t really give a shit, excuse the language. That’s his, not mine. She was not allowed to marry Peter because of the racial laws of the time but they had two kids during the war and three more afterwards.

At some point when the Jews were starting to get deported, she persuaded Mr Althoff to let her family join as well; so her sister and her parents, and all four of them survived the war. Other members of her family didn’t make it. If you visit their house there are a few stumbling stones outside for all those who perished. The idea is that you shouldn’t just be reminded of the Holocaust when you decide to be by going to a memorial, but that you stumble upon them.

The Escape Act is as faithful to the story as I could make it but I took some artistic liberties. For example, she joined the Althoff circus because she fell in love, but in the show I’ve made it that she joins because she misses performing and she wants to do what she loves. It’s a bit of a feminist twist; she’s making her own path.

So in the show, you’re doing a bit of trapeze and juggling but it’s a theatre show? It is definitely a theatre show. It’s quite text heavy.

How did you go about your research? I started at the Yad Vashem Museum – the big Holocaust museum in Israel – because the obit mentioned that Adolf Althoff and his wife Maria, had received the honour of the title ‘The Righteous Among the Nations’ from Yad Vashem, which is a special sort of order, I guess, for Gentiles who saved Jews during World War II. As they’d given them this honour I assumed they’d have files on them and indeed they had.

They had interviews with both Adolf and Irene… photos… and then I just started visiting museums, archives, libraries, just picking information wherever I could, speaking to whoever I could. I wish I spoke German; my research would have been so much better. A lot of my info came from a wonderful book called Jewish Identities in German Popular Entertainment. It’s the only English book available that talks about circus performers in Germany during that era. Of course I looked at the bibliography and saw where I could branch off from there.

One of the books I got in German is this tiny little book that’s all interviews and testimonies from Irene, her husband, Adolf, basically everybody involved. I crowd-sourced the translation. I just reached out on Facebook and got something like ten German speakers to translate two chapters each voluntarily. So I got the whole book translated out of the goodness of their hearts. One of my favourite things described was the friendship that Irene and her husband had with a Moroccan acrobat called Mohammed; Muslim, of course, and being Jewish, I was like, yes, Jewish/Muslim friendship, yay! He was their best friend during the war and he helped hide them, he protected them, they were really each other’s backbone.

Years later when I went to Irene’s town and interviewed her kids, who are now in their seventies, I asked them if they were still in touch with any of the saviours. Her eldest son was like: “Ja, ja, we still speak, Christmas cards, birthday cards, but the one we are really in touch with, we speak every week on the phone, is Uncle Momo.” It just took me a second… I’m like, ‘Do you mean Mohammed?’. He goes: “Yes, yes, he lives in Tangier now.” ‘I’m sorry, is he still alive?’. “Yes, he just celebrated his 94th birthday.”

It was just incredible! So here I am in a living room in Germany, learning that there’s one person still alive from that era, and here’s the real amazing thing… this was in May and in June my husband and I were booked on our honeymoon, guess where? Morocco! That was incredibly random. It was meant to be. I told Irene’s son, ‘It so happens we’re going to Morocco. Will you please connect me with Mohammed?’. So a few weeks later, there we were in his living room in Tangier.

What does it mean to you to be performing the show in Germany on the anniversary of Kristallnacht? I think I’m actually more terrified than honoured, because her kids are probably going to be there and I’m so terrified that they’ll be angry at me for making changes. That’s my own demons and whatnot. I think as an artist it’s something of a trait to imagine a worst-case scenario. It’s something we do to ourselves but I’m sure it will a wonderful experience and hopefully her kids will love it. I did ask for their blessing and they gave it to me.

But just talking to you I get emotional about bringing the show on Kristallnacht because this is where it all took place. Even when I visited there last year it was really emotionally difficult to be in that synagogue where I know Kristallnacht happened, and to be in the family’s home where I know Irene saw her own grandmother being snatched away. In those places there’s a visceral element to being in the spot where it happened. Like visiting Auschwitz is different than reading about it. And there is a scene in the show that takes place on Kristallnacht, so to be at the synagogue where it actually happened, in the town where it actually happened, in front of that family, I mean, it’s… ahh! It’s an incredible gift that they’ve given me to invite me to do my show there.

Do you feel, with the rise of the far right, that your show is even more relevant now and it’s even more important that people should hear this story? Yes, absolutely. It’s been in my mind ever since I started researching this history, and every time I think it’s going to become less relevant, it has to get better from here, it doesn’t. It’s getting worse. Every historian has this feeling of helplessness where you see history repeating itself and yet people do it anyway. Even with Germany and all that history, when I talk politics to people, they’re like: “Oh, but it’s getting better now. Gays have the right to marry, trans people are accepted.” But if you look at history, the Weimar Republic happened right before the Nazi regime. They had, like, the biggest gay parties, they had cross-dressers, they had cabarets, they had this amazing period of artistic and sexual liberation and then this happened. I’m not sure that an improvement necessarily says an upward motion.

When I first starting working on the show the thing I really kept thinking about was how the Holocaust was taught to me. Growing up in Israel it’s a big subject in our curriculum. We study it, I dare say, a bit too early, but one of the most powerful experiences that I had growing up and that I saw as a Jewish educator in America is that schools would bring survivors to tell their stories first hand. And that’s always been for me and my students the most powerful experience, more than watching movies, more than seeing pictures of naked skinny bodies. Just having a person there telling you this is what happened, this is what they did to me, to my sister, to my parents, it’s different. And it’s a resource that’s not going to be available forever. Survivors are dying out and the thought that led me in this work is, ‘OK, what experience can I create that would get as close to a first-hand telling as possible?’.

I’d like to think this show is a good alternative. It’s not perfect, it’s never going to replicate that, but telling a story in the first person as if it were my story and taking those moments of stepping away from the character, and being myself and telling my own experiences, more about the after-effects it has, I think that’s powerful for everyone. What’s it like for someone who is descendent of refugees from a genocide? How does that affect you? Here’s this person who was never in the camps, who never starved and who had a pretty cushy, privileged life and yet there’s this scar that was her inheritance, and it’s never going to go away.

Would you say this show is the highlight of your career so far? It’s definitely the most ambitious project I’ve taken. I’ve been a performer for most of my life but I’ve always interpreted other people’s work. That’s what actors do, and this is not the first time I’m doing my own project but it’s the first time I’m doing, first of all a project that I’ve vested so much time and effort in, but it’s also the first project that has autobiographical elements. So the show I would say is 95 per cent Irene’s story but the rest is me and my history.

The way it’s structured is when there are points when her experiences sort of trigger my own memories growing up, I take a step out of Irene and become myself, the house lights go up and I talk to the audience about my own experiences. It’s a wonderful thing as an artist to be able to share that sort of vulnerability with an audience, and it’s absolutely terrifying and it’s difficult. It’s so raw and it’s weird because those things haven’t happened to me. I’m telling the stories of my ancestors and still, yeah, it’s right there in the really innermost parts.

vimeo

Stav Meishar performs The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir at Jacksons Lane in London on 23 and 24 September 2019, before a UK tour.

Picture credits: Michael Blase; Asaf Sagi; Kati Rapia: Shirin Tinati: Gilad Kfir

For Jacksons Lane tickets, click here

For tour dates, click here

Stav’s website

Twitter: @stavmeishar

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

#stav meishar #the escape act #holocaust #theatre interview #jacksons lane #circus #aerialist #jewish artist #yad vashem

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scarlettsabetlondongirl · 6 years ago

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Interview of Poet Scarlett Sabet in Hunger Magazine here or below

By Ryan Lanji

THE MUSE: MEET SCARLETT SABET, THE NEXT GEN POET TO DISCOVER

Hailed as one of the brightest new stars on the international poetry scene, Scarlett Sabet has become renowned for her beautiful prose and emotive poetry readings. Now, with the release of her fourth book ‘Camille,’ a book of love poems published this Valentine’s Day, and her upcoming headline slot at The Hoxton Hotel’s poetry gala ��Love in Other Words,’ we spoke to Sabet about poetry, performing and the meaning of love.

Hey Scarlett. Okay, first things first, how did you find poetry?

It was whilst studying English A- level that certain poems really started to fascinate me. We were studying the classics, Coleridge, and W.B Yeats and then I was asked to attend Advanced English which was a great excuse to read even more and not leave the library. I really enjoyed analysing the written word, trying to work out its alchemy. I’ve always written a kind of diary, a non-linear, random lyrical documentation of my life, experience and perspective. My poems were rooted in that and crept out. Poetry just became the language that made the most sense.

Tell us about your new book CAMILLE and launching it at the iconic book shop Shakespeare & Co in Paris?

Well, I received a strong response to the love poems in my first three books, particularly from other women. It made sense to curate them into one big book, and I’m really excited to share it. It is always an honour to read at Shakespeare & Co – it is a fantasy bookshop made real, so iconic. It’s run by Sylvia Whitman who has been a champion of my work since the beginning. Also, it made sense to launch a collection of love poems in the city of love! And the name of the book “CAMILLE” is one of my middle names given to me by my mother who is French, so it’s got an emotional connection. Paris always feels like I’m returning home.

CAMILLE is about love and is truly complex in it’s methods of describing that through past relationships, heartbreak and euphoria can you tell us how these different versions of love inform your book?

The hunger of desire, love in its purest physical form, and my work seem to be what feed me the most. I felt it made sense to curate my love poems together in one book. Being in love, I continuously try to articulate it better, in a way elevated from the simple words “I love you”. I want to paint the most vivid, visceral portrait, but I feel like I will never be done, but I’ll try a thousand times. Having said that, I’m really proud of poems like “Feathers”, “Ocean”, “Lilith In The Midheaven” – they’re raw and honest, and they seem to resonate with people which I love. The book also has a lot of poems from darker, more challenging periods of my life, and it also has poems inspired by situations I’ve observed: people chasing someone that’s cheated on them, people who have a twisted fantasy that they want to make real by projecting it onto someone who is not interested. Destructive lust. A tired relationship that’s run its course. Poems like “Off”, “Love” and “Scorpio” will make you glad that you are not in a relationship. It’s better to be single and be true to yourself rather than be humiliated and put down. It really is a book with something for everyone.

Some of your poems are made using William Burroughs’ style of cutting and pasting, can you tell us more about being inspired by his method and the poem you created?

Well I have a huge respect for William Burroughs, Brion Gysion, Kerouac, Neal, Ginsberg… I feel those beat generation writers were truly courageous, and really living to their own principles. They upheld their art above all else, and were ravenous in their explorations socially, sexually, culturally. They have been so influential, and I feel perhaps that hasn’t been fully recognised. A poem in this book is a love letter, maybe a kind of eulogy, for Jack Kerouac, it’s called “For Jack”. I read it for the first-time last autumn in Kerouac’s birthplace in Massachusetts, at a festival I was asked to perform at and so I guess it’s infused with some of his hometown energy.

I find the cut-up method liberating. It’s both disciplined and random, and I think it’s a good exercise for writers. It makes you detach and broaden your horizons. Burroughs said “when you cut into the present the future leaks out” so that was something I had in mind. I used the cut-up method with a poem called “Hiding In Plain Sight”. I wrote out phrases from every other poem in the book, the poems that already existed, I added I think 4 additional phrases, turned them over so I couldn’t read them, arranged them, then turned them over to read the sequence it had formed. From the existing poems a new mutation had formed. And I always find that when you cut something up and rearrange it, it creates its own dark, random rhythm. Another poem in Camille was done using cut up, it’s called “And My Lungs Fill With Ecstatic Song”, that’s more of an ecstatic mantra, trying to capture this transcendental feeling, a reflection on a loving memory as I was walking in the countryside by a river, it was kind of an epiphany. Ginsberg and Burroughs both stayed at Shakespeare and Co in Paris too. Burroughs started writing Naked Lunch there.

Do you think poetry can change the world? If so, how?

I do. I think in a slow, subtle but effective way. It filters into our consciousness and our diets are so important, not just what we eat and drink, but what we watch, what we read, what we listen to, we gradually absorb. I think a poet’s responsibility is to be of service, and also hold up a mirror to our times, socially, politically, whilst incorporating the individual experience, the mundane, the disappointment, desire, reflection.

Do you think there is a resurgence of poetry through social media culture?

I think so. The internet makes everything so accessible. It’s easily to access artists and find them on social media, see how they present themselves. That can say just as much as their work, I think. I enjoy posting poems I’ve already published. Also, go on Youtube, you can hear Adrian Mitchell perform his poem “Tell Me Lies About Vietnam” at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, it’s a fantastically passionate performance, the poem still so relevant today. You can YouTube Sylvia Plath reading “Daddy”.

What are the similarities to meme culture and poetry? What are the differences?

The only memes I know about are astrology memes. I’d say poetry and memes are separate. Read “Howl” if you disagree.

How can we keep meme culture – in regards to the spreading of word via imagery – and poetry separate?

Well a meme is about three sentences at most with a picture. Unless it’s a haiku you are hard pressed to call that a poem.

Who are the poets who inspire you and who are you looking to inspire?

Jack Kerouac, Emily Dickinson, Bob Dylan, Sylvia Plath. I’m really inspired by Ted Hughes. He was very human in his flaws, he became notorious and he was a lightning rod for controversy, but I find his work astounding. He committed his whole life to his poetry and to nature and was poet laureate. His love poems are achingly raw and carnal and knowing. He published “Birthday Letters” in 1998 not long before he died, and they were all of his love poems to Sylvia Plath. Had he published them decades earlier perhaps things might have been easier in some respects. I suppose, I’d like my work to be of service to people., perhaps validate their own feelings. And really, I’m an outsider on the inside, so I hope that perhaps I could inspire someone to use their own voice, or pursue their life’s great work, even if those around them are doubtful.

Many people find poetry to be beautiful when they come upon it (usually by chance) but what advice would you give someone who wanted more of it in their life?

Go to a poetry reading. I get so much from performing my work, I put everything into it and the audience and I are living it together. I also love sitting in a packed basement, watching other people getting up, hearing someone lay down their words. I absorb the poetry better when it’s read aloud.

Poetry has become quite fashionable recently and fashion is considered visual poetry what do you think about this relationship?

I think it’s a relationship that makes sense. Good tailoring is like a well-structured poem, it looks and feels effortless, it flows in a beautiful way that catches and keeps the attention of the audience, but it’s been created by a craftsman with love.

Where would you like to be in 20 years with your poetry?

My life has broadened in such unpredictable ways these last few years it’s hard to predict. I imagine I will still be just as obsessed with writing and poetry and pushing myself further – I’m sure certain magical things will have manifested by then though.

Camille can be purchased here

Photo: Photographer David Brolan

#scarlett sabet #jimmy page #jimmy page girlfriend #led zeppelin #poet #poetry #poem #Love poem #Love Poetry #camille

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fluentlanguage · 6 years ago

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#clearthelist August 2018: The German Retreat!!

Welcome to my latest language learning update through #clearthelist, which is a language learning round-up sharing monthly language learning goals, support, and accountability.

I’m writing this a few days into August after a week fully focused on the first German language retreat - more about that later!

What Happened In July?

As ever, lots of stuff happened! July is a long month packed with travel and events that took me out of my routine as a learner, but gave me new growth and motivation as a professional.

Earlier in the month I attended Shout Out Live, a podcast festival in London. I met a wonderful community of supportive and unique people who are killing it with their podcasts, and picked up some tips for the Fluent Show. After that it was time to prep for 2 weeks spent in Germany, some of it with my family and the second half on the first Fluent German Retreat.

The German Retreat

The German Retreat was a very small, all-inclusive language trip to Munich.We welcomed three motivated learners at level B2/C1, and for 5 days the motto was to learn, live, and speak only German.

I taught a custom German class focused around speaking German independently, and each participant was challenged every day. One attendee told me she’d been worried her language level was not good enough for speaking German only for so many days, but she certainly surprised herself. At the end, she told me “I have grown in confidence so much over the last week, I didn’t think I can do this and now I know I can. I am so motivated to continue and speak German.” As a teacher, the retreat experience was second to none, and I cannot wait to repeat it.

Every day of this trip offered something special, including a guided tour by a retired American history professor, a visit to the (non air conditioned 🚒) Deutsches Museum, and of course a huge giant pretzel and a beer in the beer garden. In other words, the perfect combination of a good week out and a language “level-up”.

Oh, and because I am me….we also cooled ourselves off in a river.

Our next German retreats are already scheduled in the diary, so watch this space and register on my retreat list if you want to experience a trip like this.

The Fluent Show

My favourite episode this month was our discussion on language bias, and whether our hidden prejudice holds us back from learning certain languages. As Lindsay concluded at the end, we might not have answered the question but we had a great conversation about it.

In August, the show is hitting a milestone: We’re celebrating our 100th episode with a live broadcast full of games and special guests. Every language lover is invited! If you want to join us, click here for more information.

Language Goals and Progress

All right, all right. I bet you didn’t come here for a diary entry, so let’s get to the goods. How did I learn languages in July 2018?

¡Oye! ¡Español!

My moments with languages apart from my beloved Welsh continued. Checking out an upcoming Fluent Show sponsor’s wares, I decided to see what they’ve got to offer in the Spanish department…and found myself in an online lesson speaking Spanish for a full 60 minutes!

I learnt Spanish during my foreign language training in 2001-2003, and got to a level of B1/B2 for conversation and business letters. Thing is, after the end of the course I never had another formal lesson. And after 15 years, turns out I’m still good enough to function in Spanish!

Here’s my tutor’s assessment:

Moral of the story: Don’t worry if you do have an ex-language somewhere (see podcast episode 98). Your brain has way more skill stashed somewhere up there than you imagine possible.

Chinese

Still dabbling!! I spent an hour or two practicing what I already learnt and adding a few question words. At this pace, I’m on track to be “officially learning” by 2020 and fluent by the year 3000. I like it!

Learning Welsh

Yes, I’m still learning Welsh. In fact, I’m volunteering for a few days at the National Eisteddfod Cymru next week. If you’re coming and spot me speaking Welsh in a high-viz, dyweduch s’mae os gwelwch chi’n dad! Having said that, I didn’t reach all July goals. Let’s take a look.

Listening

I wanted to listen to Welsh for 90 minutes every week. This started off well with radio and television, but while I was in Germany it dropped to zero.

Reading

I wanted to try and finish the book Sgwp!…and then I didn’t touch it all month. My Welsh reading really took a dip and I’m not too proud to tell this to the internet. Luckily, there’s always another month to improve.

Speaking

The goal was to have 1 long lesson and 3 conversations, and I did have a fab lesson with my tutor. It helped me lots with that yes/no issue in the grammar. Conversationally, things were quiet though I did chat in Welsh on social media. Good job I have a trip coming up!

Writing

The goal was “write one poem, any kind”. That one got done, one sleepy morning when I put my thoughts down on the Notes app in my phone.

You might not think this is much, but sometimes it’s necessary to set the goal at “more than zero” and then move from there. After all, a small goal achieved feels better than a big goal missed.

Monthly Contact Goal

Every month, I log my “daily contact” with the Welsh language. In July, I logged 12 days of contact. I know there was more but being in Germany meant my tracking habit was off. Still, it shows that when the daily contact drops, everything drops.

Goals For August 2018

Cannot wait for this month - it’s going to be very Welsh!

Listening and Speaking

These two areas are grouped together for the National Eisteddfod, where I’m going to be from 8-11 August. Although I’m getting organised very late (my airbnb fell through), my plan is to stay on the Maes Camping and hear and say everything in Welsh while I’m there.

I also plan to volunteer for a bunch of hours. This is all organised in Welsh, so I’ll get plenty of input.

Reading

Guess what….I’m gonna whip out Sgwp once again! I’m also due a new issue of Lingo Newydd. Let’s say I’ll get halfway in this book!

Writing

I’m not entirely sure what to do for writing practice this month! I might sacrifice that writing time, not set a goal, and instead spend a little extra time on Chinese. That sounds good to me!

So there we have it, my new goals for August 2018 are set and I’m ready to go visit my target language country.

How Was Your Month?

Have you ever visited a language retreat? Do you write bad poetry in Welsh? Are you setting goals?

Leave a comment below to tell me all about it!

I would love to read about what you’re up to in the comments below!

If you want to write your own goals and join the #clearthelist linkup and share your own goals for the month, hop on to Clear The List hosted by Lindsay Williams and Shannon Kennedy.

#clearthelist #go #goal setting #accountability

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mtmeventsplanner · 6 years ago

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7 significant points to remember for a Dazzling Dinner and Dance Event

Being a party host is a pretty thankless job. A dinner and dance in Singapore is especially one of the most preferred means of celebrating any major festival or a new year. But then the whole process seems quite straightforward on the surface, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Although anyone can actually host a dinner and dinner party (including your pet dog Charlie) but what about a dazzling event?

Here are 7 significant tips you need to remember.

Know your audience: You as the party host have the responsibility to know your guests as in their personalities, occupation and likes or dislikes and have them treated accordingly.

The last thing you want is for a middle-aged Paper company worker seated next to a youngster who works as a software developer in an IT firm. That way you reward them for attending your dinner party with awkward silence and a forced smile every 37 seconds.

The best thing to do here is to make a list of the guests and people accompanying them, provide acquaintance to solitarily arriving guests and that should let you start the proceedings with an exciting response.

Serve a Signature Cocktail: The first thing your guests usually look for at a dance party is the drink that you would be serving.

Now you don’t want your guests to get wasted and smashed out of their senses on the occasion, so rather offer them Red wine before serving dinner and then some other signature cocktail ( a lemon Mojito or something) when it’s time to turn the party up a few notches. A dance party depends on whether people actually are able to dance and aren’t passed out on couches.

Entertainment: It is usually a recipe for disaster if no thought is spared for things other than ‘Dinner’ and ‘Dance’ at a party. Your guest will run out of enthusiasm very quickly if your event doesn’t offer any means of entertainment.

Fortunately, there are millions of games and activities you can introduce in the middle of everything to keep everyone engaged. Some legit entertainment choices are things like-

Who Am I

Bowling

charades

Karaoke

Treasure hunt

Poetry

Mashup reading and more

With a little more budget, you can arrange to have a local band, comedian or a magician booked for the event.

You are what you eat: Choosing what food to serve your guests is a thing you invest the majority of your thought process into. Guess what, at least a minority of your guest base is going to label your cuisines as ‘far too fancy’ or ‘not fancy enough’.

So what you can rather do is not give too much unnecessary thought into it. ‘Beauty in Simplicity’ should be the mantra here, and with that in mind, you can offer canapés, fish fingers, French fries etc as your pre-event menu and later offer light cuisine without too much pungency. Sure, go for exotic tasting items but just don’t think of overdoing it, it just leaves more room for someone feeling underwhelmed.

The theme of the Team: A party is nothing without a visual to behold. Theme based events are gaining traction everyday and a whole bunch of theme ideas exists today that make you party, well Dazzling. You can add your imagination into choosing a theme while some suggestions are also mentioned here-

Masquerade

Hollywood (Harry Potter, Star Wars, POTC, Avengers etc)

Victorian Era

Futuristic world

Alien party

Wild Wild West

Christmas and more

Hire an Emcee: don’t just hire an emcee, invite an actually good one. Your Master of Ceremony will serve the purpose of glue that binds your audience together.

The Professionals in this regard have oozing charisma, unmatched enthusiasm, and out of the box thinking. They induce humor with their witty lines and are on the spot thinkers. A great Emcee will make your party that much more dazzling by changing the whole scene from an event to a rock concert-like atmosphere.

A Perfect Goodbye: You don’t necessarily have to end the night with pyrotechnics or firecracker exhibitions to make it memorable (although it’s definitely kinda cool).

You can still be a perfect host by offering something like a box of chocolates to all the guests, and then later following it up with a photo booth session (although it can also be carried out in the beginning, but have it in the end when people are a little woozy). It serves as a perfect goodbye to a perfect event that your guests will have engraved for years in their memory.

Are you in need of an able party planner to assist you with organising an event in Singapore?

We at MTM Events retain a core of expert in event management in Singapore’s party planning personnel who offer personal attention to every aspect of your event. Our extensive range of services incorporate all types of events and parties including-

CORPORATE EXHIBITIONS

CONFERENCES

ROADSHOWS

TEAM BUILDING

GALA DINNERS

AWARDS CELEBRATION

PRODUCT LAUNCHES

THEME DINNER FUNCTIONS

LIVE CONCERTS

PRIVATE FUNCTIONS/PARTIES

WEDDINGS

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edc-creations-blog · 6 years ago

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Yasmin Lewis finds herself in love with a married man but not your ordinary married man. He is Pastor Sidney Teal, a fine and prominent leader of the megachurch, Holy Word Holiness, with a membership of thousands. Pastor Teal treats her well in and out of bed. However, Yasmin knows he will never be hers, and she longs for more.

More comes in the form of sexy, successful, and single Ambrose Hunter, a man who’s willing and able to give her the kind of life she knows she deserves. Yasmin’s sins catch up with her when Ambrose finds out she is not only seeing another man behind his back but a man of the cloth at that.

Now Yasmin’s world spins out of control. Will she be able to redeem herself and find forgiveness in When The Vows Break?

When The Vows Break Book Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding The storyline throughout this story was very realistic and should be read in every women’s group. Women that read and share this story can talk about how easy judgments are perceived in the church, which often results in division, where true believers would understand the importance of forgiveness of self and one another, just as Christ forgave us from the cross, what better example can one follow.

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed this book! This story was so realistic I feel like I know these people. Sidney and Yazmin were both selfish and wrong, they both got what they deserved. Off to find other books by this author, another one added to my favorites list!

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book great writing kept my interest what I … I love this book great writing kept my interest what I would say though is this can happen to any man, not only Pastors, I don’t like the constant attack on Pastors. Real life situations highlighted, however.

EXCERPTS FOR WHEN THE VOWS BREAK

“Will you be coming to the festival tomorrow,” asked Vanessa Stacey, who was no more than fourteen or fifteen years but could have easily past for eighteen or nineteen, especially with the tight t-shirt she wore, emblazoned with the logo of some urban fashion designer. Sidney sighed, remembering what he’d said to Brother Goodings earlier. Girls these days were far too well-developed for their own good.

“Of course Olivia and I will be there,” he answered smoothly, knowing that naming his wife would quell any ideas some of the ladies might have had concerning his marital state. “My children haven’t talked about anything else nearly all week.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw another young woman stride over to them as Sister Margie waved her over. He coughed, tried to hide his sudden discomfort.

Dark molasses skin glowed, set off perfectly by a fiery-colored form-fitting sheath dress that accentuated every curve. Sidney took in her short but well-shaped legs that would have given Tina Turner a run for her money. Sidney’s heart skipped a beat as the distance closed between them.

“Pastor Sidney, this is my niece Yasmin Lewis”, Sister Margie introduced proudly. “She’s planning to attend business school here and recently moved from South Carolina. I told her that I’d be getting her into this fine church the minute she arrived.”

Yasmin extended a slender hand and Sidney gently took it. Her skin felt like soft rose petals. The heady floral perfume she wore teased his nostrils.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Pastor Teal. Auntie Margie’s always talking about you.” Yasmin replied in a honey-sweet drawl, her smile warm, sincere and almost innocently sexy.

He didn’t understand it. No other woman had affected him the way Yasmin Lewis had. In less than a minute, something had happened.

“Likewise, Miss Lewis,” Sidney said, outwardly composed and inwardly a turbulent storm of emotion. “You will be at the Youth Festival tomorrow?”

Again that innocent smile that he was reading far too much into. “I sure will. I think what Auntie Margie’s doing with the children is just wonderful and I wish more churches would do the same.”

Sidney couldn’t help noticing the beam of approval from Sister Margie’s eyes. He should rebuke her for the sin of pride, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything negative in front of her niece.

“Have you attended service yet?” For some reason, he’d know if she had.

“I will this Sunday, I promise,” she said, warm brown eyes smiling. “Aunt Margie says you preach so good you could get the devil to change his ways.”

“Whatever,” muttered Vanessa from the side, obviously upset at being put in the shade.

Sidney laughed. “Oh, I don’t know about all that. I just let the Lord fill me with His spirit and the words just come. I don’t take any credit for it.”

“You’re too modest, Pastor Sidney,” added Sister Margie. “Remember that article in Ebony Magazine about the One-Hundred Most Influential Ministers in America. You were number fifty-seven.”

Yasmin’s eyes widened. “Oh my goodness, I saw that article when I was getting my hair done! That picture didn’t do you justice.”

Was the look in her eyes and her words sending him a silent message, or was it just his imagination running wild at the sight of the vivacious young woman?

Before he made a bigger fool out of himself, Sidney graciously bowed. “Ladies, I was on my way home for lunch. I hope to see you all tomorrow.” Especially you, Miss Yasmin Lewis, was the rest of the unspoken thought.

Once inside his SUV, he turned the air on full blast and closed his eyes. The divine vision of the woman he just met came into sharp focus. Something about her intrigued him. She touched him in a way that made his whole body respond in a totally inappropriate manner. He couldn’t wait to see her again.

Reaching down to switch off the air, his conscience raged at him. What in heavens name was he thinking? Just minutes ago he was counseling Brother Goodings about infidelity and giving into temptation. He needed to take heed of his own advice and stay well clear of Yasmin Lewis until he could make sense of his feelings.

( Continued… )

© 2018 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Janie De Coster. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author’s written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.

Purchase When The Vows Break by Janie De Coster Genre: Contemporary Christion Fiction https://www.amazon.com/When-Vows-Break-Janie-Coster/dp/1983428639/

Black Pearls Magazine Intimate Conversation with Janie De Coster

Janie De Coster’s love of writing began in her high school years with poetry. It wasn’t until many years later she heard a spiritual voice instructing her to write a book. Having no idea as to what genre it would be, she just put pen to paper. Janie De Coster writes not only to entertain but to educate as her topics shine a light on today’s society such as Mental Illness, Domestic Violence, Infidelity, and Self-Esteem. In her spare time, she loves to travel, shop and spend quality time with her family.

You can contact Janie De Coster by: Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanieDeCoster Website: https://sweetsmells2003.wixsite.com/janie-decoster Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Janie-De-Coster-192088097478061/

BPM: It is such a pleasure to have you join us to discuss When The Vows Break. Describe yourself in three words. Passionate, Spiritual, and Witty.

BPM: What drove you to publish your first book? How long have you been writing? What drove me to write my first novel, believe it or not, was God’s voice telling me to do so. I’ve always read romance novels but I never imagined that I could have written one myself. I had no idea how to begin let alone what to write. But the Holy Spirit led me and several books later here I am. I’ve been on this writing journey for over thirteen years.

BPM: Introduce us to the people in this new book, When The Vows Break! Give us some insight into your main speakers. This novel When the Vows Break was a pleasure to write. I grew up in the church and we all know there’s more going on sometimes than the word of God. The main characters are Pastor Sidney Teal, his lovely wife First Lady Olivia and young and beautiful Jasmine Lewis who will test the strength of the Teal’s marriage.

BPM: What’s so unique about their story-line or voice in the story? What makes each one so special? I wanted to give each character a strong voice with raw emotions. I wanted the readers to be able to actually feel the characters deposition and be able to relate to what the character is going through. What makes these characters so special is at the end of the day they all love God in spite of their transgressions.

BPM: Share one specific point in your book that resonated with your present situation or journey. The one point in my book I would want the younger readers to capture especially females which resonated with me is searching for love in the wrong places. They tend to make bad decisions based on immaturity. It is so easy to be pulled into a fantasy world especially when it comes with money and status. They also fail to see the consequences that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

BPM: Do you ever have days when writing is a struggle? Yes, especially when it is a complex storyline.

BPM: Have you written any other books that are not published? Yes, I have one that I wrote years ago and it has been collecting dust in my desk drawer. But I’m thinking about pulling it out soon and perhaps bring it to light.

BPM: What projects are you working on at the present? I just finished a book that has been re-released called FRIENEMIES. It’s available now on Amazon.com

BPM: What legacy do you hope to leave future generations of readers with your writing? I want my children, grandchildren, and others to know that with God you can do all things. It’s not going to be easy. You may have to put in a lot of prayer, sweat, and tears. But the race is not given to the swift but to the one who perseveres.

BPM: What is your preferred method to have readers get in touch with or follow you? You can contact me through my website: https://sweetsmells2003.wixsite.com/janie-decoster

BPM: How can readers discover more about you and your work? Check out my novels on my Janie De Coster Amazon Page https://www.amazon.com/Janie-De-Coster/e/B00547Y2DA

When The Vows Break by Janie De Coster Yasmin Lewis finds herself in love with a married man but not your ordinary married man. He is Pastor Sidney Teal, a fine and prominent leader of the megachurch, Holy Word Holiness, with a membership of thousands.

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