Hawaii

I ride on a boat.

The sea widens up as I pass.

Meteors travel at hypersonic speeds across the night.

I land on a sandy isle.

I walk my first five miles into the jungle.

I am in Hawaii.

 

Max Busboom, Social Activist

donttouchMax came home from school excited that he “used the power of words to save the caterpillars.” He was concerned that other kids were molesting the caterpillars, so he formed the “Caterpillars Team,” a group of students and one teacher who would protect the caterpillars. He spent the afternoon lecturing us about how sad it would be if the caterpillar population were wiped out. Then he made some fliers for me to copy and distribute.

If you’d like to help, you can download the PDF file of the Save The Caterpillars flyer and pass it around.

Coffee Firecrackers

2012-06-15 19.23.45 Here is another creative fusion from Chef Max Busboom: Coffee Firecrackers. Max places the rich butter of almonds and coffee on an oyster cracker, sprinkled with chipotle powder, to make this enticing hors d’ oeuvres. While the grinding was done by his sous-chef,  the genius is all Max.

Haku, the Crossing Out of Addition

 

IMG_2100Max explained the new arithmetic operator, haku, as the “crossing out of multiplication and addition. ” In this example, 2×5 = 10, so 10 haku 2 = 5. Max also proposes a symbol for haku, which looks like an equals sign with  up and down arrows attached to the end.

Although I’m just starting to understand haku and how it works, I think the implications for math are profound. I’m surprised someone didn’t discover it sooner.

Field Notes, Poetry, The Sunset’s Tale, and Love

Image0001Here is the full book, as a PDF. ]
Max likes to write little books, so I gave him a Field Notes brand notebook that I wasn’t using. It disappeared for a few months. I learned today that he carries it to school and has been making entries, a few of which are scanned here.

The first entry is a day’s schedule for Reily,

Dear Riely,
Here is the day.
1. Book Find
2. DBW
3. Handbook
4. Surfs up!
etc. Love Max B.

The second entry is max’s literary catch phrase: “Love Is Life.” He’s even attributing the quote to himself, dating it on each utterance.  Clearly, he inherited his father’s humility.

He makes a few observations about the day.

Yesterday, I smell ocan spray. 

The waves are going to be 15 ft tall. 

The crossing guard are playing. 

He likes the idea of Haiku, but doesn’t understand syllables yet.

Finally, the Sunset’s tale:

Once there was a seed. At sunset, it grew and grew, until it became a palm tree. Even before the seed grew, love was passed onto it. The End!

A palm tree, naturally.

Here is the full book, as a PDF.