This spring Adriana’s 3^rd grade class held a poetry workshop for parents. In addition to composing a poetry book, she has performed in several class plays including Theseus and the Minotaur. She also performed Bach’s Minuet 1 for a violin recital.

Adriana is in Spain and France with my parents.Therefore I picked this poem from her book.

Marvelous Mountain
Out in the desert
Under the great Blue sky
Near my house
Towering over the yard
Amazing land of beauty
In Tucson Arizona
Never will I leave

The 3^rd grade students taught their parents about the different types of poetry.Then the parents had 30 minutes to write 3 haikus. Here is one of Helene’s:

“Sonoran Monsoon”

fast moving grey clouds
pungent creosote odor
mountain thunder claps

Will’s latest big achievement is learning to ride a bike. He is very proud.He has become quite proficient at Twinkle Twinkle which he preformed for the violin recital. And he loves a good knock knock joke. This is a poem Will performed 2 years ago at a competition at the University of Arizona’s Language Fair:

“Yo Quiero Reir”, Antonio Garcia Tejeiro

Yo quiero reir.
No quiero llorar.
Yo quiero sentir
el verde del mar.

El verde del mar
y azul del cielo.
Yo quiero, yo quiero
tal vez navegar.

Sí, sí, navegar
arriba, en el cielo.
Tratar de volar
de espaldas al suelo.

Un pájaro, un pez,
yo quisiera ser
y poder cruzar
las nubes y el mar.

A final haiku from Helene:

desert marigolds
roughly yanked from sandy soil
how strong are their roots?

From: The Tatums

To start, a submission for the Haiku contest of Zellie M. and Jack C. The Management is awaiting yours!

Moone Athy Magic?
A hocus pocus hodge podge ?
Ashes cast their spell…

Jack Robinson was present this past Memorial Day when the Skinner branch of the Chambers’ clan arrived from all over the map to celebrate old and create new memories at The Farm – from D.C., Virginia, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, Maine, Chicago, New York, Connecticut, and, of course, St Louis/Augusta. There were Bar-B-Q’s, fried chicken picnics, horseback rides, donkey carting, dining in Augusta, birthday celebrations, wagon rides, fishing in the pond, old movies, and of course Hocus Pocus. But, more importantly, everyone had a chance to re-connect and reminisce.

Here is a brief video which attempts to capture the spell:

Next feature: The Polk-Mahaffey Reunion

The Chamberlain

As you may be aware, we have several ongoing projects in the hopper, including our Poetry Challenge by Zel and Jack Cromie, and our upcoming Skinner and Polk-Mahaffey Reunion coverage. But before we do anything else, we must acknowledge the accomplishments of several of the next generation. There’s much to be proud of as you will see.

Bill Pentland: As he completes his course work at Columbia University School of Journalism (founded by Joseph Pulitzer I), Bill has landed a position with Forbes as a freelance writer covering developments in the energy sector. His avatar on the left dates back to when he was embedded with the Kingsbury Corps…

Some of his recent publications are listed here, and as you will note, they have received high ratings:

The Greening of Brown, Green Giants: the World’s Biggest Clean-Energy Projects, Competing To Fuel The Future, Uranium Market Glowing Green

It would be great if we could keep the family informed of new articles by Bill, either via the Chambers email list or via OurRumpus.

Suzanne Skinner: Suzanne Skinner has just received her JD degree from University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She has landed a position with the prestigious New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Law school obviously agreed with Suzanne – it would appear from her graduation photo that she’s either grown to be as tall as her brother Will, or is wearing some pretty amazing shoes!

Mary Dunn: Mary has just been awarded her PhD from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Dept of Religious Studies, at Harvard University. Mary has been hired at St Louis University as an assistant professor of early modern Christianity in the department of theological studies and will be teaching both graduate students (a survey course in the history of Christianity, 1500-1750) and undergraduates (a course on biblical women, called Mary and her Sisters).

Sophie Skinner: Sophie has just graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in San Francisco, and will be attending Oberlin College this fall, having won a merit scholarship.

Here is a more current photo of Sophie (aka “Madame Kimiko”) taken during meditation while in New Mexico.

Powell Kalish: Powell just graduated from Indiana University with a BS in Sport Communication with a concentration in Sport Marketing and Management. He currently is in on-going talks with the Cardinal’s minor league team in Springfield about a marketing position with them. In addition, he is in the early stages exploring jobs with the Minnesota Vikings (NFL) and a few other marketing firms in both Chicago and St. Louis. Another possibility for Powell which he is discussing with George Judy is working for Enterprise either in Wisconsin or St. Louis.

BTW, if Aunt Eleanor has any more age appropriate Avatars of Powell (to match those of our other honorees), we’d appreciate receiving them!

The Clan wishes the best to this new wave of impressive graduates. Congratulations from all of us in the Chamber!

Please inform the Chamberlain@OurRumpus.com of errors of omission or commission in these pages.

The Chamberlain