For Us First...

This short piece, written by Luis Poirot about Pablo Neruda, the renowned Chilean poet and political activist, is accompanied by a sepia-colored photograph of a large, white, sea-battered home surrounded by a rickety white picket fence high above the Pacific. I've read each of the short essays written in response to a photograph of the places and people in Neruda's life in the book, Pablo Neruda: Absence and Presence dozens of times. In each essay, Luis Poirot has studied the photograph with such precision, he writes as if he were present in the moment it was taken. He "knew" Neruda and the places he lived and died and he invites us in to his well-researched, but imaginary conversations with the poet. He asks us along as he runs his fingers over the worn planks of the fence surrounding Neruda's island home and he permits us to participate in the intimacy he shares with the object of his veneration. In this piece, he writes:

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Dear Friends,

I always find this a "strange" time of year……joyous and full of hope for many, lonely and sad for others. My seasonal wish for you is the joy of hopes fulfilled, both yours and others.

Cornerstone's offices will be closed from December 24 through January 4, fulfilling the "hopes" of the staff. When we re-engage on January 5, there will be a change in video conferences for first and second year sites. Conferences will take place between coaches and their literacy fellow. Our thinking is that it will allow coaches and fellows to "work on the work" with greater continuity. It will allow Lu to concentrate on mentoring the advanced sites and possibly take on new work with Sara Schwabacher involving parents.

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