Category Archives: Uncategorized

The circumstances under which composers compose is a matter I have always found fascinating. Part of it is as a writer, I am always curious to hear where creators of other art forms find inspiration. The biggest fascination, though, is that music seems to be such a tangible form of magic, and the fact thatContinue reading “A Raid on the Music Library”

As a mentioned previously, saying good-bye at the end of this school year was particularly difficult, as I will be transitioning to a new school in the fall. As frequently ends up happening when emotions are high, I wrote a song, and played it for my juniors on our last day of class. I didContinue reading “Journey on, Dearest Hearts”

This is the overhead view of my kitchen table. This is the perfect vantage point from which to do scary things like sending proposals to literary agents, drafting correspondence in French, and calling publishers. The tea is the secret power, or at least that’s what I tell myself. This is one of my favorite thingsContinue reading “Workplace Du Jour”

Lin-Manuel Miranda, craftsman of words, and creator of the theater sensation Hamilton, penned a sonnet as acceptance speech for the first (of many) Tony’s won on Sunday. I have posted it below (as quoted in Playbill). “My wife’s the reason anything gets done. She nudges me towards promise by degrees, She is a perfect symphonyContinue reading “The Bard of 2016”

When I was in high school my senior superlative was “most likely to have 10 kids”. At our 10 year reunion this came up again as a classmate pointed out how true our predictions had been. Obviously in the time that transpired I had not had 10 kids. I had so many more than that.Continue reading “Golden Years”

It’s been a while since I had publishing news to share but my latest article is out now in Living Education Journal! The topic is integrating nature in a study of the language arts and includes tales of Mama Jones during my late elementary/middle school years when I was home schooled. Living Education Journal isContinue reading “All in a Golden Afternoon”

Remember a while ago when I referenced my Describing the Imagination Professor? “Under the gentle guidance of a universally-beloved 80-year-old British professor,  we studied theory of children’s imagination and discovery and examined children’s stories an artwork as we would have a literary classic. He allowed us the freedom to make our final product a creativeContinue reading “Once Upon a Time I Knew a Magic Man”

Well, here we are. Emerging yet again, after yet another blogging hiatus.  How can the last eight months be summed up? Complex. Textured. Intense. Beautiful. It’s difficult to articulate, because the time that has elapsed since that golden summer on the mountain have been at some moments the most difficult, painful, and even fearful inContinue reading ““Hello… It’s Me” or “But I promised myself I wouldn’t use Adele lyrics as a title””

My junior class took a unit test on Friday, and I faced that awkward end-of-the-quarter/too-short-to-accomplish-anything interval of 30 minutes or so. The day was autumnal and golden, I hatched an alternate plan, reading to them Gerard Manley Hopkins’ Pied Beauty and then took them on a stroll on the trail behind the school. The poemContinue reading “Pied Beauty”

This is probably where I should say “Good heavens look at the time! How am I just now posting Part Two of the Vermont homage and it’s now October?” But my track record being less than stellar, it’s probably to be expected. So here we are, coming up for air in an already hectic schoolContinue reading “Emerging Part 2: Summer 2015 in Listicle Form”