What a way to start off mental health month…with a meltdown, right? But that’s exactly what happened. Although Adam and I have never formally defined our roles, there are certain things we just fell into doing–he has editorial skills and experience that I don’t, I can do things with web pages that he can’t, and…
Category: A Piece of Our Minds
Celebrate May with us! (Sunday Summary)
“I cannot tell you how it was,But this I know: it came to passUpon a bright and sunny dayWhen May was young; ah, pleasant May!” With only 30 days in April to celebrate poetry, there was no way to include all of the poems or poets we wanted to. And in order to include not…
Pride and Prejudice and Plagiarism (Caturday Questions)
Little Cat was reading his favorite book the other day (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), and couldn’t help but notice that it was a bit… derivative. It felt somehow as though Little Cat had read this book before. Which of course he had. You reread your favorites all the time, no? But that wasn’t it….
A Poem Fills a Pocket with Something
Instead of our usual Watch/Liste/Read today, we’re celebrating an extra special part of National Poetry Month with Poem in Your Pocket Day. We keep so many things there, literally and metaphorically. Today we’re asked to tuck a poem on a piece of paper into our own pockets. A poem on paper is small. It’s something…
Paradise Lost: #EpicFail
I thought it might be fun to write about how to read a difficult book. I mean a book that’s literally difficult to understand. I’m going to take Paradise Lost for my example but I think these ideas apply to most difficult literature. Reading Outside your Comfort Zone The thing about reading as a hobby…
The “Nice Guy” Fallacy
Massive content warning: If you yourself are a survivor of sexual assault, you have our permission to skip this piece. It’s up to you. But please pass it along. The essay that follows contains descriptions of sexual assault. Rape and sexual assault can happen to anyone regardless of gender identity or gender presentation. Likewise, issues…
Facing History (Sunday Summary)
Welcome to the Sunday Summary for the week of 16 April 2022. Adam and Erika have some submissions in the inbox to go through. It’s very exciting–with the blossoming of the trees and flowers, we’re also hopeful that the seeds planted with the founding of this website will go on to bear fruit this spring….
Social Media and Writing (Caturday Questions)
So Human-Mom is getting the hang of posting on Instagram. And it turns out social media can be fun. It’s fun composing the post. It’s fun getting that first like, that first share. Little Cat isn’t convinced. It’s not just that he distrusts social media, though he certainly does that. It’s more that he thinks…
Goldberg Variations & Other Favorites (W/L/R)
This week’s Watch/Listen/Read brings us from Baroque music such as Bach’s Goldberg Variations to modern LGBTQ+ Poetry. Leave a note in the comments below to let us know what you have been watching, listening to, or reading! Netflix and Sleepless Nights Nights where I’m awake in the middle of the night because things hurt are…
Thomas Jefferson: Accidental Novelist
I’ve often wanted to sit down and write an essay on what I call the accidental novel. What, you may ask… Well, it’s a book that was written as a work of nonfiction but that shows a different story than it tells. Read along with me for a moment and you’ll see. The accidental novel…