Blogging… Most Beautiful Words 5 Jul 20114 Jul 2011 A reposting of a list of 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language has me wondering what my own favorites would be. For example, bucolic doesn't make my list. Its meaning, in a…
Books… Rhyme Time 2 Jun 20112 Jun 2011 Children's book editors conventionally whine about rhyme. It's so hard to write tight in rhythm and rhyme, they'd rather not brave it. Then they have children of their own, and…
Change the World… In Case of Rejection 13 Apr 2011 As poet Wesley McNair braved rejections, his mentor Donald Hall comforted him with these observations: "These feelings simply do not end! Believe me I am sympathetic with your feelings, but…
Courage… Friday Flick: “If I Should Have a Daughter” 25 Mar 201125 Mar 2011 Between sharing two of her own polished pieces, poet Sarah Kay shares her own creative emergence and that of her students. She suggests listing ten things you know to be true.…
Collaboration… “There Will Be Rest” 19 Mar 201119 Mar 2011 Something extra today! Here's a recording from the concert I mentioned March 7. Yes, it's a recording, not the live music experience I advocated in that previous post, but it's…
Academic Writing… Dialogue Skills 15 Feb 201116 Feb 2011 Can you write believable and interesting dialogue? It's a skill we all need. In fiction, it's a given. Drama, more so; poetry, maybe. And nonfiction? You'd be surprised. The most…
Blogging… Letting Your Goal Carry You 14 Feb 201113 Feb 2011 There is such joy in keeping a personal commitment. I keep blogging, logging in these little laps around the language. I keep breathing. At the end of our 21 Day…
Creativity… Did I Miss Anything? 5 Feb 20114 Feb 2011 When Billy Collins was the United States Poet Laureate, he encouraged schools to read a poem a day: no analysis, no writing assignments, only the pure nourishment of experiencing a…
Blogging… Information Radiation 19 Jan 201120 Jan 2011 My young scientist borrowed this laptop for school research. He’s preparing to impersonate Wilhelm Röentgen, the man who discovered and named x-rays (and had their units of measurement named for…
College… “Words that Shimmer” 8 Jan 20118 Jan 2011 "Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days without knowing it, until we hear it." -- Krista Tippett Krista said this in introducing Elizabeth Alexander.…
Collaboration… Not a Poem a Day 1 Jan 20116 Jan 2011 “It isn’t every day that the world arranges itself into a poem.” — Wallace Stevens Wally must have been as disappointed about that as I am. Maybe every day a…