Poems by Diane Jarvi, published at Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology.
For me birds are symbols of how to cheat gravity and ride with angels. They are symbols of our simplest desires to be giddy and find love, to possess power, but also symbols of adaptability, delicacy and rebirth. In life and in death, these two birds showed me just that. [read more…]
This past year I had the great joy and wonder of teaching the 5-string kantele to thirty students that ranged in age from 5 years old to 81 in the town of Cokato, Minnesota. I came to them as a recipient of a grant written together with the New Bohemian Arts Cooperative and funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. As a performer of ethnic music for many years I have had numerous opportunities to share the music of Finland and to teach the kantele, but never for an extended period of time. It had always been a dream of mine to find a teaching experience where I could join a Finnish-American community for more than a weekend and make some music together. [read more…]
