The other day I was talking to a friend about a piece she was writing. Ray tends to write in a personal style, but is starting to include more academic sources. Considering my own traumatic brush with academia, I’m ambivalent about this. One thing she said bothered me, because of what it represents. She said:…
Tag: Writing
Where the Sidewalk Ends, Life Begins
Learning To Read I loved books even before I could read. Before I could read, I would demand that my mother read the same book over and over until I’d memorized it. She got so frustrated that she bought me a tape recorder and began recording the books I loved so that I could just…
It’s Caturday and We Have Questions
Hey, all! Big Cat and Little Cat are curious about mentorship today. They wanted to start by thanking the teachers who long ago taught them to sit on Erika’s keyboard…or face when she’s trying to write. It seems to come so naturally to them. Turns out there’s a technique to it. Who knew? Anyway, drop…
The Covid Classroom: A Love Story
My frustration with Covid is not health-related. For some reason, even with the initial panicking, supermarket robbing, emergency online teaching, I was relatively calm, sometimes even amused and excited, because none of this had ever happened before in my life. And to stay at home and to take care of the girls and to stockpile…
New Year’s Writing Resolutions: Avoiding Burnout
I managed to convince myself to take a week off from posting to the website, as a means of avoiding burnout. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. As much as I want to post every week, every day, even, to keep up consistent site traffic, I recognized that my energy is not unlimited. I…
Unlaced
i learned how to tie my shoes when i was five and i washuddled in my best friend’s bedroom, two houses down and across the street from my house,each of us knew how to do half the job.we didn’t plan it that way, it just happened when they were trying to teach us the whole…
It’s Caturday and We Have Questions
Big Cat and Little Cat drank a bit too much milk last night, so most of their queries today have been: “Where’s the aspirin?” But in the spirit of the New Year, they’d like to know if you have any New Year’s Resolutions concerning your writing? What are you planning to write in the New…
Banned Books Redux?
New Book Bannings A couple of months ago, during Banned Books Week, I wrote that banning books is really about protecting fragile adults, not children. Since then, it seems like there’s been an explosion of efforts to restrict access to books, especially books about queer topics. My own school district in Florida has dealt with…
Eric, the Teacher & Researcher: A Horror Story
My name is Eric, a teacher and a husband. In the daytime, I teach and research. In the night-time, I rest and cook, and sometimes run and play music. Lately, I do research, teaching preps, proposals and plans. Cooking and running in the evening. Seven days a week. I don’t mean to scare you, but…
Your New Year’s Writing Resolution
So you want to start writing. Maybe you’ve tried other New Year’s Resolutions in the past and they haven’t stuck–or they have! Maybe you’ve tried more health-related ones or career-related ones. A New Year’s Resolution to write more is a wonderful thing. Cynic that I am, I think it’s a nice idea to take stock…