May 3, 2024

photo: Cita Scott

Overview for this week.

1. This issue of The Flock marks our second anniversary. As we enter our third year, I'm going to change from sending the newsletter out weekly to a biweekly schedule for the summer vacation months. This week’s issue is a bit long, but just take in the sections that attract you. My choices: don't miss the reader submission from Jacques Servin, and the "goldfish family", the Baker clan, followed by tips for keeping your goldfish happy and healthy.

2. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I have included a sampling of content from the official AAPI month resource portal.

3. Next, we have our Religious Holiday Calendar for May 2024.

4. This Sunday, May 5th, Yom Ha Shoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day begins at sunset and continues until sunset on Monday, this also marks the beginning of the official observance of the weeklong Days of Remembrance here in the U.S.

5. I have a very special reader submission this week. The first excerpt from Jacques Servin who has been translating his father's memoirs of growing up in German occupied Belgium during World War II.

6. In the Kid's Corner, I have more resources for young authors to develop their craft and to get their writing published.

7. Sunday is Cinco de Mayo; we have a guide on things to do from Tucson Foodie.

8. Mother's Day is coming up in another week, and we have some suggestions on how to spend it in Tucson.

9. Continuing in the spirit of Mother's Day, we have a video of a stray cat that brings her adoptive mom flowers every day.

10. In the Pet's Corner I have a first for The Flock, pet goldfish. Like any other family pets, they are loved and the whole family pitches in on their care.

Now, to this week's Flock.

Tap to view past issues.

I sent out the very first issue of The Flock on May 6th, 2022. Since that first issue, the newsletter has gone out every week for the past two years with rare exceptions. As The Flock enters its third year, I'm going to change that up a bit and switch to sending the newsletter out biweekly for the summer vacation months. I apologize that we're a bit long this week, but the month is loaded with deserving cultural observances and we're not going to have another issue before Mother's Day, so I had to get everything in this week. I also intend to include more literary content in the newsletter, both classic works that are now in the public domain, and original submissions from our readers as we have been doing. To that end, I want to take this opportunity to solicit everyone reading this to send in poems, thoughts, short stories, essays and photographs, and content suggestions that you would like included in the newsletter. All submissions are greatly appreciated and often generate the most positive responses from the readership.

Regular readers of this newsletter know that I have a special affinity for the cultures of the Pacific Islands and the Asian continent. I spent ten years of my life living and working on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi, and have been fortunate enough to have experienced a sampling of South Asian culures as a traveler. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an official recognition of the cultral and historical contributions Americans of Asian and Pacific Island descent have made to this country. The official Asian/Pacific American heritage website is an intragovernmental collaboration that serves as a portal to AAPI month resources from participating government entities. The following items are a small sample of what can be found there.

The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants.

In the month of May we take time to reflect and celebrate the important role that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) have played in our shared history. Explore Smithsonian events happening online and in-person and find resources, podcasts, and collection items to learn more about AANHPI contributions.

Downtown Historic District (Chinatown) Washington, D.C.

As the nation’s storyteller, the National Park Service strives to tell the stories of ordinary and extraordinary Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders preserved in our nation’s parks, memorials, and historic sites.

Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Jeffrey Yoo Warren developed a toolkit for Asian Americans to reconstruct lost enclaves from Library collections and other sources. The toolkit features chapters on research, 3D modeling, atmosphere and soundscapes. Warren wants this work to support the creative possibilities of what it could have felt like – as an Asian American person – to walk down the street of a historic neighborhood and experience a sense of belonging at that moment in history.

This Teacher’s Guide offers a collection of lessons and resources for K-12 social studies, literature, and arts classrooms that center around the experiences, achievements, and perspectives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across U.S. history.

Olympic gold medal swimmer and famed surfer Duke Kahanamoku poses with Johnny Weissmuller at Waikiki, Hawaii, August 1927.

The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the Asian and Pacific Islander experience, and it highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.

Holiday Dates from: Drexel University

Good Friday (Orthodox)

May 3, 2024

Orthodox Good Friday is celebrated Friday before Easter according to the Julian calendar and falls on May 3 this year. While many Western churches follow the Gregorian calendar while celebrating events, Orthodox Churches retained the Julian calendar. Thus, they observe Good Friday and celebrate Easter at a much later date than the Western churches. This day is also known as Great Friday, Holy Friday, and Holy and Great Friday.

Affiliation: Eastern Orthodox

Source: National Today

Easter (Orthodox)

May 5, 2024

The date for Orthodox Easter comes from following the Julian calendar, which differs from the Gregorian calendar used by most Western countries and Christian denominations. Consequently, Orthodox Easter often occurs a week later, closer to the March equinox.

Affiliation: Eastern Orthodox

Source: Christianity.com

Yom HaShoah

May 5 - May 6, 2024

Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah, known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is observed as Israel's day of commemoration

Affiliation: Jewish

Source: Wikipedia

Feast of Ascension

May 9, 2024

The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It is one of the ecumenical feasts of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion and Pentecost.

Affiliation: Christian/Catholic

Source: Wikipedia

Yom HaZikaron

May 12 - May 13, 2024

Yom HaZikaron, in full Yom HaZikaron LeHalelei Ma'arkhot Yisrael ul'Nifge'ei Pe'ulot HaEivah, is Israel's official remembrance day, enacted into law in 1963. While Yom HaZikaron has been traditionally dedicated to fallen soldiers, commemoration has also been extended to civilian victims of terrorism.

Affiliation: Jewish

Source: Wikipedia

Yom HaAtzma'ut

May 13 - May 14, 2024

Yom Ha'atzmaut is Israel's national day, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948. It is marked by a variety of official and unofficial ceremonies and observances.

Affiliation: Jewish

Source: Wikipedia

Pentecost

May 19, 2024

Pentecost is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary, mother of Jesus and the Apostles of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.

Affiliation: Christian/Catholic

Source: Wikipedia

Declaration of the Bab

May 22, 2024

On the day of the annual celebration of the Bab’s Declaration, held on Mount Carmel, when representatives of all different religions, such as Jewish, Zoroastrian, Christian and Mohammedan Baha’is were seated around the table and Abdul-Baha was serving them all personally:

Affiliation: Baháʼí

Source: Baháʼís of the United States

Vesak

May 23, 2024

Vesak, also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Tibet and Mongolia. It is the most important Buddhist festival.

Affiliation: Buddhist

Source: Wikipedia

LagB'Omer

May25 - May 26, 2024

Lag BaOmer, also Lag B'Omer, or Lag LaOmer, is a Jewish religious holiday celebrated on the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer, which occurs on the 18th day of the Hebrew month of Iyar. According to some of the Rishonim, it is the day on which the plague that killed Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples came to an end, and for this reason the mourning period of the Counting of the Omer concludes on Lag BaOmer in many communities.

Affiliation: Jewish

Source: Wikipedia

Trinity Sunday

May 26, 2024

Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Affiliation: Christian/Catholic

Source: Wikipedia

Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh

May 27 - May 28, 2024

On 29 May 1892, after four decades of bountiful radiance, from the first intimation of its rising glory in the Siyah-Chal and Baghdad to its midday splendour in Adrianople and ‘Akka, the Sun of Baha—as ‘Abdu’l-Baha memorably relayed in His telegram informing Sulṭan ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamid of the ascension of Baha’u’llah—had set. Yet the setting of that Sun was not followed by the dark of night but by the reflection of its glory in the Moon of the Covenant, lighting the path ahead, towards the attainment of Baha’u’llah’s ultimate purpose: the unification of humanity.

Affiliation: Baháʼí

Source: Baháʼís of the United States

Corpus Christi Sunday

May 30, 2024

The Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a Christian liturgical solemnity celebrating the Real Presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus in the elements of the Eucharist.

Affiliation: Christian/Catholic

Source: Wikipedia

The Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah, begins at sundown this coming Sunday, May 5th and is observed until sundown on Monday May 6th this year. In the United States Yom HaShoa is observed as Holocaust Remembrance Day and the week between Yom HaShoa and Yom HaZikron (Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers) is observed as the Days of Remembrance.

From: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

There are many ways to recognize Days of Remembrance in your city, school, workplace, or religious institution. The resources provided here are for the most common types of remembrance activities. However you plan to commemorate, it is important to ensure the activity is respectful of Holocaust survivors and victims and their suffering.

Flock reader and family friend, Jacques Servin, has kindly shared an excerpt from a translation of his father’s memoir of his boyhood in Belgium during the German occupation in the early 1940's. I found the story to be riveting and endearing and can't wait to include additional excerpts in future issues of The Flock. I am so thankful for this submission from Jacques!

Submitted by Jacques Servin

Ici Londres. “London here.” At the time, that call sign summoned us every evening to a ritual, not to be missed, a reverent ceremony, where each of us imagined ourselves playing a dangerous and very important role, one that would surely bring better days. In some segments the meaning of the words was of necessity unknown to us or, better yet – a most paradoxical situation – the words seemed to belong to a different language, but they made sense because of the context that was familiar to us. Because really, these broadcasts were addressed to us, we believed, to us personally. Sentences followed each other, clear, distinct, like an endless succession of fragments that aimed to be convincing, and where each word held out a promise.

It's raining nearby

The white flowers are blooming

The marquise left at five

The roads are sunny

We knew these phrases were coded, and that only others could decipher them. To keep the volume as low as possible, we pressed our ears to the thin fabric behind which could be discerned the little circle of the loudspeaker, camouflaged well enough within the "T.S.F.," as we called it. At the slightest noise from outside the house, Monsieur would click off the radio and run to make sure the curtains were fully drawn. We'd then strain our ears, impatient to get back to the unintelligible, sibylline, impenetrable phrases, which nonetheless lulled us into believing we could make out, through the metaphors, simple, clear messages that might be able to calm our anxieties. But fear nonetheless gripped us by the throat.

The tulips are white

The snow keeps on falling

The cinema opens at one

"Ici Londres." Powered by hope, it was impossible not to connect these snippets to situations we had no trouble imagining, or rather inventing. In truth we were letting ourselves be lulled by their rhythm. Apparently, the underground these messages were addressed to were fighting for our eventual freedom. Of course we were interested in the news of bombardments and always-spectacular enemy losses, but what really held our attention was the secrecy of these messages, which enabled us to believe that, just because we were listening, we were active participants in the creation of an imminent destiny. Every evening I would try to remember the previous evening's phrases in order to connect them to this one's, as if I could thus find their meaning. In any case, we were each dreaming of little corners of freedom where everything would be just like before but in a future that, sadly, we had a hard time imagining.

Most often it was just the two of us, Monsieur Ninove and I, listening to these clandestine shortwave-radio broadcasts. Alfred, the nephew who'd sometimes spend a few days at the farm, would then join us. Monsieur would from time to time look over at us with a nod, as if approving what had just been said, and I would nod back without quite knowing why, or maybe just to be polite. As for Alfred, he didn't take part in this private little game of ours, absorbed as he was in thinking about a thousand other things, and probably about girls, as he often admitted to me.

I encourage all of my readers to use the link below and share your poems, memories, stories, photos, and suggestions so that I can present them in The Flock. 

In last year's June 2nd issue of The Flock we looked at some writing retreats and camps for kids. This year I'm presenting an updated list of online writing camps and classes directed at writers ranging in age from as young as six years old to young adults in their teens. The courses are taught by qualified instructors an include live video meetings between students and instructors. I'm also including a resource to help your young writer find contest and publication opportunities to share their writing.

From: Outschool

Outschool is an innovative education platform that offers a variety of engaging, small-group classes online. Unlike traditional classes, Outschool classes give kids the unique opportunity to explore their interests in-depth via interactive, live video by experienced, independent educators.

From: NewPages

The NewPages Young Writers Guide is a great guide for teachers, parents, and students from elementary through high school to find publications to read and submit to as well as vetted, no-fee contests.

Safety Matters! We expect sites listed in this guide to adhere to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act so parents, guardians, and teachers can rely on our guides to be safe for their young writers.

From: Tucson Foodie, By: Matt Sterner, April 29, 2024

The holiday, which is sometimes considered a minor holiday in Mexico, has become widely celebrated here in the U.S. over the years, making for a fun time at bars and restaurants around Tucson. If you’re not sure how to celebrate it this year, there’s plenty of food, beer, bloody marys, and good old-fashioned family fun happening on Sunday, May 5.

Mother's Day is next Sunday, May 12th. Here are some Mother's Day suggestions for Tucson.

From: Reid Park Zoo

Celebrate Mom and support your Zoo by giving a unique and wild gift - a symbolic adoption of a favorite Zoo animal. Now through Mother's Day, enjoy $5 off adoptions at the Parent Partner level or $20 off adoptions at the Keeper's Korner adoption level when you use code LOVEMOM24 online through May 12.

NEW Limited Edition Mother's Day adoptions available!

Through May 12, 2024 only celebrate babies Moyo and Meru and their moms when you choose our adopt giraffes 'Penny and Moyo' or elephants 'Semba and Meru' packages! You will receive specialized adoption materials about Moyo and Meru!

From: Tohono Chul Gardens • Bistro • Gallery

Treat the special mothers, stepmoms, and grandmothers in your life to a memorable day surrounded by nature’s beauty. Join us at Tohono Chul on Mother’s Day, where all varieties of moms are honored with free admission!

Explore the gardens, stroll through captivating exhibits, and enjoy the tranquility of our desert oasis.

We can’t wait to welcome you and your family!

From: Tucson Museum of Art

Bring your mom to celebrate Mother’s Day at Second SundAZe with a day filled with family- friendly activities. Stop by and enjoy family yoga with Yoga Oasis at 11:30am and then a “Mommy & Me” dance class provided by the Tucson Ballet at 12pm. Drop by the art-making stations between 11am-2pm to create paper flowers, a “Mommy & Me” self-portraits, and a photo frame with an instax picture provided by the museum.

Beyoncé and Blue Ivy Carter Set to Play Mother and Daughter In

'The Lion King' Prequel

Family bonding through shared time. Beyoncé and Blue Ivy setting the example.

Cat Brings Her New Mom Flowers Every Single Day | The Dodo

Orange Juice (left) and Taylor Fish (right)

This week I have a first for the Pet's Corner, the Bakers' pet goldfish Orange Juice and Taylor Fish.

These are the Bakers; dad is a doctor, and mom is simply an angel. Their three children: Claire (age 8), Hannah (age 5), and Dean (age 3) share the joy and responsibility of taking care of the family pets by keeping the tank clean and feeding the fish independently. Orange Juice and Taylor Fish have been part of the family for about five months. They swim next to each other and play in their tank. When the kids enter the room, the fish go to the top of the tank to ask to be fed. The kids say, "They like each other and are siblings just like us."

If you're interested in keeping goldfish of your own, here's a helpful guide.

Goldfish Care Guide

If you're interested in keeping goldfish of your own, here's a helpful guide.

These Flock regulars are always here for you:

• Dr. Hayward M. Fox, Ph. D. and The Institute of Personal and Transpersonal Knowledge

• Kimberly Gomer of Body Beautiful Miami, our body shaper and fee-based nutritionist. 

• Kyria Sabin of Body Works Fletcher Pilates, she's the best.

• Where in the World is Zoe

• Sarah Smallhouse & Make Elections Fair Arizona - Sign the petition here!

• The Fabric Jeanie! Tap to learn more.



• Cita Scott for paintings, photography, and culinary art.

• Sensitive & Specific: The Testing Newsletter by Mara G. Aspinall and Liz Ruark.

In coming weeks: we'll be sharing more investigative articles from our roving reporter William George, original writing from Flock favorite Dino DeConcini, and an update on the Marolt brothers' coming expedition to Argentina.

photo: Cita Scott

Don't Be Shy: Share Your Stories!

I'm looking forward to sharing more of your personal stories - oral, written, or otherwise, as we enter our third year. I'd so love to present them to The Flock, hit a mailbox below to share your story.

Holualoa Ed Fit Wellness & Culture 2

520-818-4433

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