to the spirit of n.s. (the girl and confidence, my poetic license)

there are many downfalls to wearing ones heart on their sleeve
and even more so when giving it over so easily 
but i’ll say this, 
if it always felt this good to risk everything
i’d fall in love daily

someone once asked why i let my shoulders slouch so much
so i told her 
it is the weight of every embrace i haven’t wrapped around you yet 

she continued why my lips were, 
forever in motion
but the truth is all these prisoner kisses have to break free somehow

(i’m not french
but Lord knows if I were 
i’d kiss both your cheeks 
and once more 
every morning, night, and with danger near 
because your welcome
is the yesterday and now 
i no longer fear)

so thank you to all, 
who will love with their physical bodies, 
I will let you be my stand in 
but think of you as the understudy, 
i am gladly upstaged by
because he deserves it, 
to both ends of the rainbow 
from the suns rise to its set 
and all the way back home 

i was riding down the mountain
in the dark 
and if you know anything about salvadorans on the road at night 
i’m convinced they have a love affair with their brights, 
which is blinding to those moving their opposite, 
like i was, 
their partners, their friends, but fearing my life and the hidden holes in the road i couldn’t see, if I wanted to. 

and so every truck that passed i shook my head back and forth, not knowing any other way to say i’m scared here ya’ll; but needing to make it home, continue, truck after truck, after car, after van, after bus, shaking my head, shaking my head, 

until one, only one, 2 km down hill made his way up, with only his short lights on, and I could see ya’ll, for once in a quarter trip; that the holes weren’t there after all, only in my imagination, and i could look up, and realize the world was beautiful at night, under moon and star light, and so I nodded my head, at this gentleman, this angel of short lights; and new perspective. 

Nicholas, if the dark road home analogy is my journey these last six months, i nod my head at you.

at the 26 breakfasts and not one in return
at the internet bill i’ve never paid you for, 
and you never asking for it either
at the day you were angry 
at the day i was too 
and at never letting the sun go down 
at telling me i was worth something 
at teaching me to believe that
at the prayers into your shoulder blades 
at the nights we believed they were heard 
at forgiveness 
at letting go 
at moving on 
and listening on days i still cannot.  

stay the course kid 
love jesus 
take those blue eyes of yours and penetrate souls 
warm them
like you did mine
because it’s cold out there

and tonight i am wearing your jacket to prove it. 

if anyone asks why i wear my shoulders proud
i’ll tell them i got it all out of my system on the night n.s. turned another year. 

Biological - Agronomic Courses

Regina from Kenia , my lab partner
University of Trieste - Laboratory

In a few minutes I will be heading out the door to class, but first wanted to make good on a promise to make more of communication. I apologize for the impersonal, and for not spelling out here, any worthy story about life of late; the things I'm cooking or last nights Champions League match, pairing Barcelona & AC Milan. But I will say the words pasta, espresso and studying, and thereby successfully communicate a solid two-thirds of my everyday. 

More stories and thoughts soon, until then, I wanted to simply share a little bit about some of the classes I have and will be studying over the next months.  

The program is a total 60 CFU, or as you read below 'University Formative Credits.' It is divided into three areas of coursework, the first within the field of Biological - Agronomics (15 CFU),  the second in Technological study (12 CFU), and the third, regarding Economics - management principles (30 CFU). The final three credits are awarded through the completion of a company project, and concluded with a Masters thesis, to be presented and defended in September. 

Below I share a description of each of my courses in the Biological - agronomic area; for everyone who asks what exactly my courses look like. I will post part two and three in the coming days. 

Until then, cheers. 

Biological – agronomic area: 15 CFU 

 •  Botany and Physiology (3CFU)

o Systematic of Coffea genus. Morphological and anatomical characteristics of the plant. Phenological stages: germination, development, flowering, fruit development and maturation. General and environmental physiological aspects. Micropropagation techniques. Secondary metabolites in fruits: synthesis, accumulation and effects on human health. Biotic and abiotic degradation (pre- and post-harvest).

 •  Genetics (3CFU)
o Genes and environment. Differentiation Arabica-Robusta. Self-fertility and self- sterility. The genome of Arabica. Varieties of Arabica and genetic diversity. Molecular methods for the traceability. Genetic base and bean quality.

 •  Agricultural Chemistry (3CFU)
o Physical-chemical properties of tropical soils. Soil degradation. Effects of soil management on biological fertility and recycling of crop residues and organic wastes. Nutrient cycling in the soil-plant system. Principles of plant mineral nutrition and plant responses to nutrient deficiency or toxicity. Fertilizers use and management. Mechanisms of action, metabolic breakdown in plants and fate in the soil of the main pesticides.

 • Agronomy, Cultivation and Plant Protection (3CFU)
o Classical propagation techniques. Soil preparation and fertilization. Planting systems. Weed control. Crop evaluation. Harvesting processes. Principles of methodological statistics. Plant protection: principles of integrated control. Insect and pest control. Fungi, bacteria and virus control. Green coffee storage control.

• Coffee and sustainable development. Business ethics (3CFU)1
o The pessimistic view in international commodity markets. Coffee marketing boards and commodity market reforms. Quality and vulnerability of small scale farmers. Climate change and coffee production: the Ricardian approach. Ecolabels and standards, fair trade and market failures. Specialties and terroir. Business ethics. Corporate social responsibility and the relationship with the supply chain. 

Masters Class in the Port of Trieste: Coffee Warehouse. 

february fifteen

a bus crowded and cold hands
i'd give up my seat to feel needed
most of the time i'd give up a lot more;
like the girl on the corner
promising something
something i'm convinced not even she knows why

if life is navigation
days are writing where i got off course
with compass forever north
forever where i left behind;
by night fall alcohol
makes prophets of even the most lost of sailors

setting anchor and out alone
we are stone walls, smoke stacks
and no direction home
no direction hopeful
that even drifters
will one day find the edge of the sea

From Trieste: February 13.

With Andrea Illy & others of the Illy family
at Orientation. 

All of you who know me well, already know that my biggest struggle with distance is staying connected. There is a natural aspect to this, when attempting to embrace the life and community one is immediately surrounded by, but there is a very frustrating, and left wanting side of the equation as well. 

Communication is simple, time is sacrifice; so I apologize for being selfish; and for not taking more of my time to spell out the most recent events in my life. 

In January, I moved to Trieste, Italy to study in a Master’s Program at the University of Udine. The program is in collaboration with another university in Trieste, as well as Illy, a very famous international coffee roasting and packaging company that sponsors the program and many of the students who study here. The program embodies the principles of Science and Economics, within coffee production, trading, and consumption; and is accredited through the Italian University system, with my diploma and transcipts coming out of the University in Udine. 

Masters Class of 2013

Classes span a range of topics within two aspects of the coffee industry. They began in January, and will last until June, totaling 60 credit hours. The program concludes with a thesis, written in the months following the classes, and is presented and defended in front of a board of advisors, professors, and associates involved with the various collaborators for the program. 

At this point in time, we have concluded our first four weeks of classes, and prepare for our second exam this coming Tuesday, in the subject of Industrial Process; our first having been in the subject of Coffee Genetics. 

Finca & Beneficio El Manzano.

As many of you know, during the past year, I have been working in El Salvador, with a farm, mill, and exporting company: Cuatro M, Single Origin Coffees, and thanks to their support have been able to attend the Masters. Upon completing the program, I will move back to El Salvador, to continue my work with Emilio, Diego, and the rest of the friends and family I have made there, about which you have likely heard many stories. 

Like Emilio said the first morning we met at Pollo Campero (for those that don’t know, a very popular fried chicken restaurant in El Salvador), “nothing happens by chance,” and I trust that God is faithful, that there is no place on earth quite like Finca/Beneficio El Manzano, and certainly no place that feels so confidently like home. 

To my family, friends, and professors in South Florida, the lovers in sunny Vero Beach, everyone that makes El Salvador - El Salvador, and those scattered about and abroad, you are loved and missed. Please forgive all that I am lacking. In exchange, I hereby promise to make more of communication. 

Be well.

All,
Michael

In the meantime, I will also be writing on behalf of the students of the Masters program for Circolo Illy. You can read a little bit more about the students in my first post here: Michael Kaiser - Circolo Illy.