Academic Writing… Save Yourself from this Embarrassing Pronoun Error 2 Nov 20196 Jul 2020 Myself is not a formal substitute for I or Me. Reflexive pronouns (also including yourself, himself, herself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves) apply when a subject acts on an object which is—itself! You may shave…
Academic Writing… Lies Your English Teacher Taught You 30 Oct 20196 Jul 2020 Some of you blame your teachers (English or otherwise) for writing advice that is not even true for English or doesn’t apply every time. Please stop believing that these are…
Incubation… Your Writing is a Horse 20 Apr 201213 Oct 2012 What if your writing were a horse? And what if you didn't have to chase it down and manhandle it? Kafka said if you could only be still--"just learn to…
Courage… Happy Birthday, Reverend Jupiter Hammon! 17 Oct 201117 Oct 2011 Happy 300th birthday to Jupiter Hammon, believed to be the first published African-American author, who even gave fatherly advice to Phillis Wheatley: I pray the living God may be, …
Caring… Friday Flick: Music with Shining Eyes 8 Jul 201110 Jul 2011 If you've never loved classical music before, give Ben Zander twenty-one minutes to change your heart. If you've loved it already, share this with someone who could use a little…
Blogging… “Show Me Difficult” 20 Apr 201122 Apr 2011 Werner Erhard often talks about things that exist only in language: "Show me Difficult. Whales do not find anything Difficult." And he also says something like, "I don't have 'too…
Books… Friday Flick: Do Schools Kill Creativity? 8 Apr 20119 Apr 2011 Sir Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, and The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, spoke at TED a few years ago about…
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.…
Business… Friday Flick: Covey on the Talking Stick 4 Mar 20117 Mar 2011 Could we pass the talking stick around the world? Here's Stephen R. Covey introducing the idea. And remember that writing allows you to speak without interruption--and without others unwittingly changing…
Change the World… Stories from College Drop-In Steve Jobs 1 Mar 201110 Mar 2011 “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have…
Academic Writing… “I Have a Dream” for Writers 17 Jan 20119 Feb 2011 Today you'll probably hear the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And it will probably begin, "I have a dream!" I recently shared his entire speech from the March…