## Life in Poetry reading, writing, reflecting

April showers bring May flowers

## Friday, 10 April 2020

### ⌗AtoZ Challenge, 10th April 2020, I is for Instituteur, school teacher.

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Quote of the Day : Science is the Poetry of the Intellect and Poetry the Science of the Heart's Affections.
Pursewarden in The Alexander Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

Welcome to the 2020 APRIL A to Z Challenge

if you would like to know more about the A to Z Challenge, founded 11 years ago by Arlee Bird at Tossing Out,  read here

for my theme revealed , go here on Blogger

Q will be a day to answer all your questions on my novel in progress, so feel free to write them down in your comment, on any day till then. On the 20th April, I will compile all the questions and answer each one on my Q post.

My Eighth extract features Bartolomé again when he is back in Yaoundé, after his trip North.

Brief synopsis of plot and characters :

Mathilda, my first main character, is American and lives in New York City. She is a student at NYU where she is preparing a thesis on the origins and developments of African American Music. She is a first person narrator. Her timeframe is 2005. In my previous extracts, Mathilda has travelled to New Orleans and Jekyll Island.

Bartolomé, my second main character, is Cameroonian and lives in Yaoundé. He is a professor of Mathematics at the University there. I will be using a third-person narrator for this character from his Point of View. His timeframe is the early '90's. In my previous extracts, Bartolomé has made a trip up North for his grand-father's funeral.

I is for Instituteur, primary school teacher.

Bartolomé looked up from his notes, glanced at the slide, observed the equation,

The maximum kinetic energy of an ejected electron from metal, where
is the Planck constant and  is the frequency of the incident photon,  is the threshold frequency for the metal.
The work function satisfies

" The key to all this is the symbol of the equation, beyond the mathematical and physical facts and theoretical aspects of the photoelectric effect. When you think about it with your gut feeling, you will open the door a crack, into a whole new world of possibilities. Options, choices, unfathomable questions, the mysteries of life itself. Although Einstein, in 1905, went a step further than Max Planck, he remained in the circle of those convinced that Black holes were a myth, unlike Karl Schwarzschild who provided him very early on with the exact solutions to his field equations on relativity and with whom he corresponded in length on both these subjects and others. "

The students were awake now and stared back at him, baffled by his words. What in God's name was he going on about ? Feet shuffled and pens scratched, chairs squeaked. Then the silence settled like the dying wind on the desert.
Bartolomé was looking intently at the Arbre à Pain in the courtyard where a professor was in deep discussion with a group of post-graduates, in the umbrella-shaped shade. His mind shifted and he travelled back to the case à palabres in Moloko, only four months ago yet as if in an alternate reality. he inhaled deeply and let go of a liberating sigh. He looked at the faces before him and saw the carefree grins of eight-year olds, wide-eyed, expectant, eager.

" That' all for today. Don't forget your papers due on the 13th, in my cubby hole."

No one stirred as he gathered his files and slipped them into his satchel. A stray laugh rose and dropped dead. A few scrapping of chairs, hushed murmurs later and he was alone with the framed tree.

That afternoon, he started drafting his letter of resignation, giving up his chair at the University. Then he phoned his cousin in Kirdissi. After the usual, familiar exchange of greetings enquiring into the health and well-being of dozens of relatives, Bartolomé asked,

" Tu ne m'avais pas dit la dernière fois que l'Instit. Amel Dogona était parti et qu' ils n'avaient toujours pas trouvé de remplaçant ? "
" Oui, pourquoi ? "
" Je crois  que j'ai une solution."

Didn't you say last time that Amel Dogona, the school teacher had left and that they still hadn't found his replacement ?
Yes, why ?
Because I think I have found a solution.

Two weeks later, he was back on the night train to N'gaoundéré,  with his crates packed and ready to be shipped up North, later. Bartolomé had crossed over the threshold to a new beginning.

Albert Einstein's Annus Mirabilis papers, learn all about them here
Black Holes, here

which reminds me to share some reflections/ideas for the 2020 IWSG Anthology theme .
And to announce that my little blue people will be back on the WEP, Antique Vase challenge this month.

Alien 2, 1986, written and directed by James Cameron, watch here
on my playlist for today : a cross between 2001 and Full Metal Jacket but eons away from the benevolent aliens of AVATAR.

Ah ! the '80s. Seem like dream years today but cradle to the AIDS pandemic during which half the world was condemning the sick for deserving to be ill and die as a punishment from God. Still the case in many communities around the world.
30 years later, the same is happening with Covid-19 in some circles with people thinking that by touching an Evangelist's screen or praying to a god (Christian, Muslim or other) s going to keep them safe from the virus.
The spiritual may come into it but not through simple prayer. I firmly believe that we can control a lot of things going on in our bodies with our reason if only with put our minds to it. Good Health is far more a matter of choices, actions and positive thinking than luck or faith. You don't have to agree, this is my opinion but I am not alone, see my post HEAL, February 2019, here on Blogger
and here on Wordpress

Into the Wild, Eddie Vedder, 2013, Hard Sun, here
Society, watch and listen here
Guaranteed, here
The End of the Road, here

The Adventures of Kimboo and Kita, village of Yampoupou, Ivory Coast, 1989, TV animated series by   Gilles Gay et Alain Jaspard, music Manu Dibongo, that I discovered and taped on VHS,  for my future children when I came back from Africa in 1989. They watched them all, over and over again, watch here  , here, and here and here .

AYA de Yopougon, 2013 film based on graphic novels (2005-2010, 6 volumes) of the same name by  Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie. Abidjan in the 70s.
watch here

Cycling path near l' Hers, the river in our village, April 2013

My mother's tulips, in my childhood village, Paris, April 2013

wild bluebells by her weeping-willow, April 2013

Easter sculpture garden, every year at an artist's house in my childhood village

First poppies, picked from the side of the road, April 2015

In the Sidobre, near the Montagne Noire, South-East of Toulouse
March 2015

Our meadow at Elie du Bois in the Dordogne, April 2013
where we should be working, Spring cleaning and mowing the grass this Easter week-end.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to comment. Like, dislike, disagree and I will be sure to reply.

After having polluted with his chemical-fossil-fuel barbecue ,  my sweet-wildflower-scented breeze that is drying my clean laundry, the neighbour is polluting my concentration with his annoying gardening tools. Sorry for the rant, can't always think positively. As Sartre used to say
" L'Enfer, c'est les Autres "