Friday, June 20, 2008

I Love You, Raffi

I love you, Raffi. When I was a little girl, your songs were some of my favorites. Yup, I am a proud "Beluga Grad." I remember singing Down by the Bay until I just about drove everyone around me nuts. Even as an adult, I still think your songs are charming and fun. And that, dear Raffi, is why I am now falling back on you as a teacher. The verdict over here in Korea? Kids love your songs just as much here as they do everywhere else! Raffi, you're my hero. You can quiet a class of insane four-year-olds in seconds. You can entertain fidgety seven-year-olds. Your lyrics are clear and easy to understand for foreign children, unlike many other children's performers. Someday, I'm sure you'll be the favorite singer of my own children.

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"Passage—immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins! Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!
Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!
Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
Have we not grovell’d here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with books long enough?

Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! Are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!"

~Walt Whitman, "Passage to India"