I’ve tinkered around with quite a few poetic forms (the villanelle is my favorite) but I’ve never managed to finish either a sestina or a ghazal. The ghazal is an Arabic form that’s still used often in Iran, Pakistan, and India. The poem is made up of couplets that should be strong...

When I was teaching English, I spent a few lessons on the concept of "theme." In response to the dreaded "write an essay about this book’s theme" question, most students come up with a one-word answer: love, hatred, unhappiness, family, revenge. Then they’re stumped for the r...

I’ve been thinking quite a bit, since my conversation with my uncle Mont about my dad , about how we are influenced by our predecessors. As I listened to his stories about his parents, I was shocked at how many similarities between my two grandparents—one who I barely knew, one who died over a d...

Last week, I finished up a little quilting project I'd been working on. As he always tends to do when I am doing something with fabric, Kendell asked me the question "Why do you like sewing so much?" This question always makes me stop and think, because it manages to get under my skin-...

Everyone on Kendell's side of our family has blue eyes, even the in-laws. And then there's me, the lone provider of the brown eyes gene. We did get one blue-eyed boy, Nathan, but the other kids have brown. Sometimes Kendell jokes with me that I've polluted their pure gene poo...

At least I do it less now than I used to. You know when there’s something vaguely wrong with one (or each) of your kids? Nothing life-threatening. Nothing dramatic. Just a little owie. And they whine about it. They complain. They might even cry a bit. And you try your hardest. You sooth. You offer...

I've tried writing about romance and Valentine's Day five times now. Five different blog entries that I've started, but can't quite finish or post because I'm afraid of offending someone whose favorite holiday is Valentine's day. If that's you, you might just want to stop...

One of my goals this year is to write more about the books I've read. With that in mind: The Adoration of Jenna Fox   by  Mary Pearson   At work I've been busy putting together a science fiction reading list for teens. This task has reminded me (yet again) of just how much ...

  Even before I got pregnant with Kaleb, I hoped so hard for a girl. When I had my ultrasound and learned he was a boy, I had a whole series of conflicting emotions: I was excited to meet him, to learn who he was and to see what kind of person he'd become, but I also grieved---hard, ugly g...

Alternate Title: Blogging as Avoidance Tactic. I need to be doing something else but I’m doing this meme that I stole from Sophia instead. I wouldn’t want to procrastinate my procrastination, of course. Anyway, the meme: One thing I won’t let my husband buy me: a purse. There’s a very long s...