“Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate…” -Ralph Waldo Emerson Big Life Events have a Kind of…
Month: March 2023
Poetry Month (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: National Poetry Month National Poetry Month: Get Excitededed!! April is National Poetry Month. We have events planned. You are invited! Details to follow! You can find information about it on our Facebook group. Meanwhile, do you know about 30 Days, 30 Poems? Last year’s was a success. The page still gets…
A Collage of Cascading Opacity (Like the Wind #2)
Content warning: Sexual Assault. -Ed. Response to Delivery One It has arisen in me the feeling of the mask. The feeling of Celia saying, “Go into your protective shield of rampant happiness [the mask] and stop molesting me.” The disintegrated soul molests itself. Feminine, technological aspects, masculine and lies, fronts, protective shields. This piece by…
Discipline the Breath: What Poetry Does
So first of all Happy World Poetry Day! It’s no secret that we here at 2 Rules of Writing <3 us some poetry. In fact, we’re dedicating the month of April to sharing poetry from all over the world. We have people weighing in with their favorites from Hong Kong, Sweden, Nigeria, Australia, and that’s…
Of Fauxpologies and Wheelchairs
For the second year in a row, my plans to use World Poetry Day to actually talk about poetry and to talk about our 30 Days, 30 Poems Project–one of my favorite things I get to work here. Once again though, something has happened that has focused my attention elsewhere. A year ago, instead of…
Anne Sexton: This is How I Want to Die
Willie’s essay on Anne Sexton is the first of what we hope will be many contributions to our site! -Ed. How to Help Students Feel? I know how to teach analytical writing. I take pride in saying this because I was terrible at it my first few years of my teaching. I’d find poems and…
Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Reaching Critical Mass
Another Year of Queer Rage, Thanks to Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Recently, I was chatting on Facebook with someone, and I called 2022 as my “year of queer rage.” Not surprising when 2022 was an epic year for anti-lgbtq legislation with 315 bills filed attacking the queer community. Thankfully, ninety one percent of these bills failed to…
Low-Hanging Fruit (Caturday)
Big Cat, Little Cat: Low-Hanging Fruit Low-Hanging Fruit and Comedy I grant you that size isn’t a funny issue for everyone. There are people who are bullied for their size; made to feel less-than, etc. Telling jokes about these kinds of traditional topics is an art that presents interesting challenges. What I was trying to…
HB 991 and SB 1316 Spell the End of Free Speech in Florida
*Note On March 6, 2023, SB 1220 , the companion bill to HB 991 was filed in the Florida Senate by Senator Keith Perry, who represents an area near Gainesville where the University of Florida is located. As of that date, no companion bill for SB 1316 has been filed in the Florida House. HB…
Interrobang
Big Cat, Little Cat: Interrobang The Interrobang and Other Matters Has anyone actually seen an interrobang? I mean just been reading along and… BAM! INTERROBANG. I’ve been reading stuff for more than thirty years and I’ve never seen it once. Which reminds me that there are a lot of features of a language that seemingly…