What Are You Reading Today?

Joo is reading The Noonday Demon -An Anatomy of Depression by Andrew Solomon

Dhanya is reading a book of poetry in Tamil

Aradhia is reading Mal and Chad -The Biggest, Bestest Time Ever by Stephen McCranie

Sarah is reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Josephine is reading Puss In Boots - The Last Wish

Megan refuses to read anything (maybe that's why she looks so unhappy...She likes to draw though, and is a bit of a bird whisperer.

Mikayla is fascinated by the Yeti in Whiz, while Jocelyn and Saana are amused by the cover of What was Pompeii?

Josephine loves this book so much she is reading it a second time.

Aria is reading The World's Worst Parents by David Walliams

Adeena is reading Under Suspicion by R.A. Spratt

Adeena's sister Aaliyah is reading not 1 of the Geronimo Stilton books, but 2.

Coolest Kid in School

Who is the coolest kid in school? 

Poo can wait

 

I made this little story into a song.

face

I did these paintings yesterday. They were all improvised.  I painted whatever came to my mind and reacted to each colour and stroke until it felt 'right and 'true' to me at that instant. In other words,  nothing here is permanent.

suit

eyes

skin

movie actor

Kitty

cat

cat

face

face

Josephine's Keys

 an improvisation on the baritone ukulele.

girl with cat

 

Girl with Cat, acrylic on paper

O my stars

 I made some water colours for my cover of Michael Hurley's O My Stars.

Josephine's keys

Nurse

Words

Josephine's key

we are all animals

I was raining. I played my ebony baritone ukulele and sang this song by Kimya Dawson. Laurie added harmonies over. I made the drawings in a cold room that smelled of disinfectant. When I looked in the mirror later, I saw an eyelash on my face.

There's Someone Outside My Door

I got inspired to write this song after reading a short story about an old lady who kept hearing voices outside her flat, often to find out that there was no one there. This started to happen after the death of her husband. One day, however, there WAS someone outside her door....

There's Someone Outside My Door by Sia Joo Hiang, 2015 

There' someone outside my door 

There's someone outside my door 

Always at night, since my baby's gone. 

I can hear his heavy footfalls 

I can hear his heavy footfalls 

There's someone outside my door. 

My neighbours, they like to whisper 

My neighbours like to whisper 

They say: There's no one outside her door. 

The police boy gave me a look 

The police boy gave me a look 

It said: It must be DEMENTIA. 

My children, they all think that I am mad 

My children all think that I am mad 

They say: It's time to call the doctor! 

I may be old, but I am not mad. 

All my teeth have fallen out, but I am not mad. 

I am telling you, there's someone outside my door! 

There's someone outside my door 

There's someone outside my door 

Right now, outside my door! 

I played concert ukulele and sang, and made the illustrations using ink with brush, and pen.

nothing

 

maggie and milly and molly and may

I was thinking about partings and loss today. While reading, I came across this poem by E. E Cummings. It describes what I feel about loss and partings. I put it to music and made the drawings. i used a plastic uke to make that beat. 

here is the poem: 

maggie and milly and molly and may 

went down to the beach(to play one day) 

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,

and milly befriended a stranded star 

whose rays five languid fingers were; 

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:

and may came home with a smooth round stone 

as small as a world and as large as alone. 

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 

it's always ourselves we find in the sea.

an imaginary bird + an English ballad