Saturday 25 August 2012

translations (part two)


An ABC of Translating Poetry
continued
excerpts of the essay: follow the link to read in full
illustrations from the international exhibition ofcalligraphy
G
In the art of literature and scholarship, the Platonic good lies in tradition, a code word for theft. Translators are hardcore stealers, but unlike ordinary literary confidence men, the translator gets caught.


Give the art a name like paraphrase, imitation, or verse transfer, and the translation police will not arrest you. 

The best poet translators—the "original" authors of the Bible, Homer, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Saint John of the Cross—wear masks and have not been caught.
 


H Heaven is the instant of translation. The poet in hot anticipation, with all the skills and preparation for walking in paradise, creates.




I A translation aspires to independence,
yet even when apparently achieved,  the dream is false. Original work is never independent, nor even wholly original. 

Octavio Paz goes so far as to declare, "Every text is unique and, at the same time, is a translation of another text."



Chen Forng-shean, A Miniature book-The Taiwan Poetry

J

A good translation is a good joke. Reader, you are fooled.

Historically, the transformed words have no beginning, do not seek an original author, an original tongue, or first words. And good or bad, beauty or trash, ancient or modern, a joke lurks under the text. So the translator lacks the miracle of creation that served Yahweh when with the utterance of a syllables, yehi or, he translated chaos into light.

Whether wonderful or monstrous the version is always a version, another working and retelling. Even a recent reading of the source text constitutes one act of translation in an infinite series of prior acts, extending from childhood's acquisition of the first signs and sounds of words to that reading of the source text. Language incessantly transforms itself, slowly like rust, quickly like conquest, and never, along the endless way of self-translation, remains the same.

Instability—eternal transformation—may be uncomfortable, but it is best to live with it.

Chen Forng-shean, Miniature books 

 see also:


translations (part one): A ~ F


& http://calligraphy-expo.com/eng/Gallery.aspx 

Thursday 23 August 2012

a new blog commences... + some updates

Glen Eden Multimodal Centre blog is a new virtual home for community news and updates on the fates as they play like pussy cats with the lives of all involved with the suddenly homeless centre. As with my recent post (5 frogs on a log), there is no log! was a sudden revelation. [update: see note in comments section]

As scads of information now comes my way, and more to come, I will redirect relevant posts to that site, and share the past and future news of Glen Eden community altogether in one space, both for the general public, and for the families, friends and supporters of  students, staff, and admin of that multidimensional [visionary house]-- my neutral term for a fusion of services, coined in an effort to escape jurisdictional disputes of some funding agencies.



Feel free to visit us at that new virtual location, pore over Glen Eden's official website, write letters to Ministers, critics and editors, and share creative solutions as they arise.

Meantime, this blog will continue as was, a whimsical meander somewhere between current events and poetry, the state of my house, and the places curiosity leads... a general arts + politics rag for the many. A little housekeeping: the ever-growing right-hand column has prompted me to do a little re-arranging, and so, the list of Ingredients (eg subjects or themes), Other Links, Indigenous Artists in Canada have all been moved from the right-hand column to the bottom of the page. All the resources and links are still available, but now form a long tail tale to each new post, instead of an endless thorax/flagpole effect.

Above
images by Jules when he was in preschool, he's now nine years old and anticipating a new year in public school. For more about Glen Eden and my particular family, visit my previous two days' posts, and follow links shared above + in those spaces.

best,
joanne

Wednesday 22 August 2012

GEM + Christy Clark

In 2002, Christy Clark, as Minister of Education and Deputy Premier communicated by letter that MCFD would continue to support Glen Eden with annual funding.  

In our Premier’s own words, “We aim to strive towards the goal of ensuring that all students in British Columbia receive the best quality education possible.  Hopefully, by working together, we can achieve this goal.”

My thought: after ten years of aiming to strive toward a thing, isn't it time to arrive at the goal, and ensure stability through an inter-ministerial agreement?
Global BC | Special school for autistic children forced to close its doors   Global News

 
PRESS RELEASE
Glen Eden Multimodal Centre
604-267-0394
glenedenschool@gleneden.org
www.gleneden.org

Glen Eden Multimodal Centre provides combined educational and clinical programs to students with complex special needs.  In recognition of the highly specialized and unique clinical services that Glen Eden offers, a grant was established for the school by the Ministry of Children and Family Development in July 2000.  This funding was provided for “counselling, implementation of individualized behavioural intervention strategies, and life skills training”. This CommunityLINK funding continued to be administered by MCFD until May 2004 when it was transferred to the Ministry of Education.  In the fall of 2009, we were informed that this funding was going to be reduced by half for the 2009-2010 school year and would be eliminated completely in the following school year.  The reason given was that, as an independent school, we were not eligible for this funding.  However, we serve students who have been excluded from all public educational environments due to their severe and challenging behaviours, as well as associated safety concerns.  As all children in the province of British Columbia have the right to a quality education, Glen Eden has continued to provide these essential services to our students despite the loss of this funding. 

The Ministry of Education provides a standardized way of calculating special needs funding; in the 2011-2012 school year, Glen Eden applied for and received approximately $400,000 in special education funding based on the number and diagnoses of the students in our care.  However, this funding, which is available to all special needs students in British Columbia, is not sufficient to cover the cost of one-on-one services, which is what our population requires.  When we were informed in 2009 that the CommunityLINK funding would be discontinued, we immediately approached the Ministry of Education to discuss possible solutions.  Despite numerous attempts, we received little to no response over the following two years.  When the Ministry of Education finally evaluated Glen Eden`s program and funding situation in September 2011, they reported that MCFD may be a more appropriate agency to fund the clinical component of the program and that the Ministry of Education would facilitate these discussions.  To our knowledge, no such discussion between these ministries has yet taken place. 

MCFD provides funding to Glen Eden for residential care for a small number of our students.  While these students require consistent care and treatment 24 hours a day, 12 months of the year, summer day programming was not considered in these original contracts.  Prior to the summer of 2009, we requested that these services be funded or that alternate arrangements be made.  We received no response to these requests until the following September, at which time a review of our existing contracts was denied.  In the absence of instructions from MCFD as to alternate arrangements and due to safety concerns that prevent the children from returning to their families` homes, Glen Eden continued providing day programming for these students through the summers of 2009 to 2011.  Our expectation was that MCFD would provide payment for services rendered.  In June of 2012, MCFD approved funding for summer programming for our residential clients; however, payment for previous summers is still not forthcoming. 

We ask that the ministries adhere to their stated goal of providing integrated health, education and social services to all individuals throughout the province.  As Glen Eden provides a fully integrated service in these three areas, we ask that an inter-ministerial agreement be reached with regard to funding for the needs of these children.  Time has run out – immediate funding is necessary for our program to continue.  In 2002, Christy Clark, as Minister of Education and Deputy Premier communicated by letter that MCFD would continue to support Glen Eden with annual funding.  In our Premier’s own words, “We aim to strive towards the goal of ensuring that all students in British Columbia receive the best quality education possible.  Hopefully, by working together, we can achieve this goal.”

                                                       -30-