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Bella Joffre

Bella Joffre
Location
Sometown, New Jersey, USA
Birthday
June 27
Title
Senior Writer and Editor
Company
The Joffre Pen
Bio
Full name: Isabella. Go by Bella/e or some call me Ella. Grew up by the ocean. My soul is still there. I love the sound of the sea- and no matter where I have lived, I have always had to be near a body of water or I do not feel welcome. I have taken everything in my life very seriously. I was (and still am) a serious student. A serious teacher. A serious singer. A serious actor. A serious writer. As a result, I am a burned out young woman in her mid thirties with a lovely cat. But I don't take my life as seriously anymore. I do not take my self as seriously anymore. I choose to laugh. To go with the flow. When I started teaching over a decade ago, teaching taught me. Columbia University prepared me. Life hadn't. It was normal for a person my age to lack what it took in capacity, strength, wisdom, and virtue. I like to think I have made up for that now. But then, as many teachers do, I worked with much less than I actually needed in situations vastly different from what I would have chosen for my special endowments. The best thing I could do then- or even now in this economy- when I am asked to take on such an assignment, is to make wherever I am lost as much like home as I can. Just as I entered critical junctures with my students, we both had to learn to give up the need for each other, to let each other go, and to not hold each other back in the middle of a school year. Today, I give thanks for the opportunity to serve these kids in the time that I did. I met something called "change" in my life. Would that life were like the shadow cast by a wall or tree, but it is like the shadow of a bird in flight. (Talmud) I was a Catholic once. Now I am a Jew. When I embraced the waters, I realized that life is about going on creating oneself endlessly. I know I cannot control the waters. I can only go with the flow... When I struggle and try to organize all the waters to my specifications, I sink. If I flail and thrash and growl and grumble, I go under. But if I let go... I am born [again]... And that is where my bio begins. Photo credit: deviantart.com Blog design complements of RicTresa. Many thanks, Ric.

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OCTOBER 22, 2009 1:59PM

Blood Rhythm of the Days

 

I want to thank those of you who have written to me so kindly and asked how I am doing.  Every letter of concern has given me tears of joy, because it has made me feel loved and cared for.  There are so many people here on OS, and at… Read full post »

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SEPTEMBER 11, 2009 7:11AM

Awaiting the Day: Surviving Pulmonary Emboli from FVL

I have no words of encouragement for anyone here.  No words of hope. I am struggling.  It is all part of awaiting the day.

You see, everything finally came to fruition.  I have been missing from OS for the past month or more because everything I feared would happen as a… Read full post »

1 Comments
JULY 23, 2009 4:13PM

My Struggle with Hashimoto's and FVL* (story #2)

*an ongoing struggle ---and a series of stories

A Story of Personal

"Phar Laps"

I don't know very much about horses, except that I have always thought that they are very mysterious and beautiful.  My dear friend Allie loves horses.  This past week, when I went to the doctor and found… Read full post »

9 Comments
JULY 15, 2009 9:43AM

My Struggle With Hashimoto's and FVL* (story #1)

I haven't posted in a while, because I have been struggling with debilitating fatigue.  This fatigue is all too common and familiar in my life.  It is the result of a lifelong struggle with depression, and what I found out to be (several years ago) -- a struggle with Hashimoto's D… Read full post »

11 Comments
JULY 4, 2009 1:47PM

Today I Celebrate That I Went With the Flow Like a Dead Fish

According to Sarah Palin, if you aren't a quitter, you are a dead fish.  I couldn't  disagree with her more.  For 8 years, I lived with an administration that I did not vote for, and I did not care for.  I "went with the flow." I did not support our decision… Read full post »

3 Comments
JULY 2, 2009 8:02AM

Haiku Thursday

 

dreaming of your breath,


meek embraces, hoarse quivers


thrusting and mewing 

 

Dreaming_of_You_by_IreneShpak 

art title:  Dreaming of You
by Irene Shpak

 

©2009 POETRY by  Bella Joffre
All Rights Reserved

 

 

  Read full post »

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JULY 1, 2009 8:31PM

Old Coffee Spoons

 This morning, I went shopping for a new external hard drive for my business. It is amazing how I now have run out of space on a hard drive that I once considered to be the master of space---- a year ago. What do I say when I look at my old… Read full post »

7 Comments
JUNE 27, 2009 12:30PM

My Birthday

 

Happy Birthday to Me!!

To All Those Who Forgot My Birthday in the Past (this is not a letter to OSers... but to people in my non virtual world):

I have not really "celebrated" a birthday since I turned 21. (WELLL, there were a few in there.... I guess I… Read full post »

3 Comments
JUNE 25, 2009 10:06PM

Farrah and Michael: Messengers for Our Time

 

  msnbc image michael jackson                      farah fawcett 4    farah fawcett 1                 &nb… Read full post »
4 Comments
JUNE 25, 2009 3:38PM

Haiku Thursday

 

humble     atonement

acts,       red hair          burns the  shackles

to    pink      garden dreams 

 

 

   … Read full post »

1 Comments
JUNE 19, 2009 10:23AM

Growing Up in the Seventh House

I don't have to tell you that Sunday is Father's Day.  I feel terrifically uncomfortable on Father's Day. I am already fearing the stomach pains and the headache.  For me, this day is filled with so many expectations, and so many expectations unfulfilled. I am sure/

… Read full post »
8 Comments
JUNE 14, 2009 9:28PM

Will the real Americans please stand up?

Today was Flag Day. I always thought that Flag Day was such a silly observation.  We observe the American flag in so many ways, and so many other times throughout the year, that it seems ridiculous to have a day dedicated to this American symbol.  Often times, the day goes by,… Read full post »

5 Comments
JUNE 12, 2009 10:14AM

Is it all a lie, or a big illusion, Mr. Nietzsche?

I think most people have heard the adage
"The past is history.
The future is a mystery.
The only time we really have is now - just this moment."

How about this one?
"Many people are so concerned with adding days to their life that they forget to add life to… Read full post »

1 Comments
JUNE 9, 2009 2:22PM

The Door Dwell

As it turns out, most building managers have set their elevators to something called "door dwell," a disabling feature on the "door close" button enforcing a 2-4 second delay on the time it takes the elevator doors to close once passengers have boarded.  Passengers thank goodness for this featur… Read full post »

20 Comments

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Updates

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    A Rose By Any Other Name Would Still Stink

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    CoyoteOldStyle’s Thanks for Not Posing Photo Caption Contest

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