Book Launch: Small Portions

 

Today marks the book launch of Small Portions by Dieter Moitzi. “Small Portions” is a story that comes in… small portions. In precisely 111 little parts – AND a recipe. To explore the many facets of modern life, the author has chosen the literary form of vignettes, those short impressionistic scenes that focus on one moment or give a trenchant impression about a character, idea, setting, object.

Dieter Moitzi tells his own story in poignant scenes that vary from a snapshot of his christening in the early 70s to his father’s death in a skiing accident at the beginning of the 2000s. It’s small things he talks about, those many small things that compose a life – his life. He recalls the painful process of coming out of the closet, relates in funny detail the first encounters and love stories of his happy-go-lucky twenties, delves with analytical distance into aspects and turning points of two long-time relationships. He takes you by the hand and guides you through the streets of Paris, the city he lives in. He writes about food and the internet and his travel experiences in Greece, Morocco, Vienna, Tunisia, London…

In just so many carefully chosen words, sometimes poetic, sometimes blunt, but always with a good deal of wry and self-deprecating humour, the author succeeds in creating little universes with each story. Each one stands alone, yet when you link them together, another story takes shape. The story of a life, the sketch of a person, the mirror of a time. Our time.

You can purchase the book on amazon.com –http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZTSJOQ  – and on your local amazon-online-store (e.g. amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr, amazon.de…) The Book Launch Promotional price is only for only $0.99 (price exluding tax) until the end of the year. The book is also available in a French version (“Petites portions” – http://www.amazon.fr/Petites-portions-ebook/dp/B00A08G48O/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1351933352&sr=8-6) and a German version (“Kleine Portionen” –http://www.amazon.de/Kleine-Portionen-ebook/dp/B009ZTSLJY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351933449&sr=8-2)  for €0.99 (price excluding tax).

 

I met Dieter Moitzi in the Blogesphere, where he has been a frequent visitor to my blog.  Born in 1972 in Austria, Dieter Moitzi moved to Paris, France, in the early 1990s. He is working as a graphic designer and writing in his spare time, mainly in English. He loves to share his passion for words, which is the reason why he has launched a literature blog in 2010. Ever since, he has published a collection of poems (“and somewhere under”) as well as a collection of short stories (“Miss Otis regrets”), both available on amazon. Moreover, his poetry has been published in the “Vine Leaves Literary Journal” in 2012. He is currently working on two novels that he hopes to publish in 2013. Congrats to Dieter on his new book! You may visit him at http://dietermoitzi.blogspot.com/

Wordless Wednesday: Objective Met

It was hard to think of these frames as being 

 complete when we bought them back in 1993.

#GBE2: Numbers

 

There was a time in grade school when I considered myself to be good at math. To further my beliefs, we'd take achievement tests where I consistently scored higher in Math than Reading or Language Arts. In fact, I did so well, my dad got the idea that I was ready for Algebra in seventh grade, even though some smart teachers thought otherwise. Thus began my numbers demise. I am living proof that there are few things worse than pushing a kid into a class in which he or she is not ready.

Math fits perfectly into Piaget's psychological theories. Have you ever tried to convince a toddler that a fat wide glass has more juice in it than the tall skinny one? If you succeeded, you're probably the first because there is no way most toddlers can grasp that concept, as there was no way twelve year old me was going to 'get' Algebra. It has nothing to do with intelligence, and everything to do with emotional maturity. I just wasn't there yet.

As a result of being pushed beyond my math readiness, I struggled with math throughout high school. Come college, I enrolled in a required Freshman math class. I took one look at my text and horrible memories of struggling through this stuff terrorize me. As a result, I made the mistake of signing up pass/fail for the easiest class of my college career. The difference? Come college, I was ready for this stuff!

As an adult, teaching math is probably my greatest strength because now, not only do I understand numbers, but I think I have good insight as to why some kids don't. Also, I've seen how my number talented son had no trouble securing a job post college. He used to joke with a friend about how he could add but couldn't read and his friend could read but couldn't add. In hindsight, I'm glad Daniel could add.

Although my youngest did not consider herself to be a mathematician, with her friends, they created a great T-shirt idea. Well the adults in charge didn't think so because it never became a shirt. It read something like this: Holy shift! Look at that assymptote on that mother function. IB. We have class.

Here's a great Abbot & Costello math clip.