Writing by students from Tampere University

Hello All, The purpose of this post is to direct you onwards to another blog that showcases a selection of the work done by students who have taken the Creative Writing in English course at Tampere University in Finland this semester. There's a wide range of texts on show: poetry, both original and in translation; prose fiction; detective fiction; fantasy and science fiction; a magazine column. The blog address is:

http://writersatuta.blogspot.com

Another funny poem

There's another of my humorous poems, The Soul Bares All, on the Crowsfeet website for humorous poetry.

The url address is: http://crowsfeet.xyz

Why not visit the site and bring a smile to your face? There's a lot of good writing there.

Sampola topic for Tuesday 07.04

This is our topic for the class on 7 April.


New Technology

Apple Watch

Have you heard about Apple Watch?
You can find information from this website:
https://www.apple.com/watch/

What can Apple Watch do, apart from tell you the time?
How does the watch enable users to get in touch with each other? (See ‘New Ways to Connect’)
What functions does the watch have that are connected with health and fitness?
What information can users obtain from the watch?
How are the various functions operated? Give some examples.

What do you think of the Apple Watch?
Do you think its functions are useful?
Do you think the price is good value for money?
Do you think you would like to own one? Why (not)?
What do think of the design? Is it attractive?

What are the competition doing?
Are any other companies producing smart watches?
Can they do the same as Apple Watch?

Have a look at some other types of watch technology at this site:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31979004
Did you find one to suit you?
Which is your favourite?

And talking of time …

What do you think of Daylight Saving?
Does it make any sense to move our clocks forward and back twice a year?
When and why did the custom start?
Is there any advantage?
Are you in favour of keeping or abandoning the practice?

Smart Meters

How carefully do you currently monitor electricity consumption in your home?
Do you know at what times of day you use most electricity?
Does the price of electricity vary at different times of day?
How can smart meters help electricity companies and consumers to use energy more efficiently and economically?

Here are three websites with information:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32090577

http://www.fortum.com/en/mediaroom/pages/fortum-completes-smart-meters-installation-project-in-finland.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_meter

The last website has a very long article. You don’t have to read all of them!

Crowzfeet online magazine for humorous poetry

A new web magazine for humorous poetry has been founded at this address:

https://crowzfeet.wordpress.com/

There's some amusing verse there, including one of mine, Defying The Devil.

And here it is here too:

Defying The Devil

Get thee behind me, Satan!
Ah, on second thoughts
perhaps we could come to some
sort of accommodation.
Let's not be rash or over-nice.
What exactly are you offering?
And what's the price?
Before we begin the negotiation
I should point out
that I'm not so naive
as to actually believe
you would answer my every wish.
Nor do I expect you to be satisfied with
something so vague as my eternal soul.
So, if you could see your way
to gratifying some of my more
outlandish little peccadilloes -
those quirks of taste -
and supplying the necessary dosh
for a life of profligacy and waste,
I would be willing to submit
to becoming a social pariah;
to be held up as a bad example,
pointed at, pilloried, reviled
and abused by citizens driven to wild
outrage by my excesses.

I can't manage all that on my own.
I need a backer.
So, how do you feel?
What do you say?
Is it a deal?

Photos from Mother Goose

Here are a couple of photos from the Mother Goose pant which has just just finished a successful, sell-out run at Teatteri Siperia, Sorintalo, Tampere, one of the whole cast and one of the Goose family: Mother, Jack, Silly Billy and Lucy the goose. I defy anyone to identify me in these pictures.

Mother Goose Panto in Tampere

The Tampere Finnish-British Society is staging a production of the pantomime Mother Goose, in English. Performances will be on Thursday 18 December at 19.00, Friday 19 December at 19.00, and Saturday 20 December at 14.00 and 19.00. The venue is Sorintalo, Sorinkatu 16, Tampere and tickets are 7 €, available through tamperepanto@gmail.com or at the door.

The cast is all amateur, composed largely of students from Tampereen Lyseon Lukio (Rellu). And guess who’s playing the role of Mother Goose? It’s funny, I’d never really seen myself as a panto dame before.

Sue Guiney and Noel Duffy in Finland

I have just had a busy and highly rewarding four days hosting the visit to Tampere of two writers whose work I admire greatly, Sue Guiney and Noel Duffy.

Sue and Noel arrived at Helsinki, Vantaa airport on Wednesday, 8 October and gave a reading to the Helsinki branch of the Finnish-British Society that same evening. I was not able to be there myself, but all the reports I've heard testify to its having been a very enjoyable reading followed by a lively evening out in restaurant Lappi.

On Thursday Sue and Noel ran a poetry workshop for the students at The English School in Helsinki and then travelled north to Tampere, where I met them. On Friday morning I introduced them to the principal and some of the staff at Tampereen Lyseon Lukio where they ran another successful poetry workshop. The group of IB students who took part in this workshop produced a group poem which you can read on Sue's home page:

http://sueguiney.com/2014/10/workshop-results-tampere-finland/

That Friday, the 9 October, was Aleksis Kivi Day in Finland, or the national literature day, and apart from being a very suitable day for writers to be visiting Finland, there was also a celebration at Tampere University where Sue, Noel and myself read a poem each. Some of the staff of the university's language centre sang Aleksis Kivi's song 'Oravan Laulu' - 'The Song of the Squirrel' - which is from his novel, Seven Brothers.

A poetry reading had been arranged for Friday evening in Tampere's main library with Sue, Noel, Donald Adamson and myself. When the reading was over we spent almost an hour chatting with members of the audience. I always feel that one of the nicest things about giving a reading is this opportunity to meet the audience and exchange ideas, opinions and thoughts, not only about poetry necessarily, but also other topics that have been suggested by the reading.

On Saturday we gave a reading in Pispala library. It's a community-run library with a very special atmosphere. Once again, the reading was followed by an hour in which we could meet the audience, exchange ideas, and enjoy a glass of sparkling wine.

Many thanks to Sue and Noel for travelling all this way and making each event such a success, and thanks also to everyone who helped towards the organizing of the whole programme and individual events. The Finnish-British Society arranges many visits to Finland by a wide range of different speakers and artists and by so doing, helps to promote knowledge and understanding of the cultures of all involved.