Today I helped Rachael with a paper for a UCLA literature course and I read some poetry by Abraham Sutzkever, who is considered by many to be “the greatest poet of the Holocaust.” The poem that we read and analyzed is called “How?” It reads: How? How will you fill your goblet On the day…
Tag: timed writing
Good for Huck Finn
I spent the early part of the day with a student writing an essay about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This is a book I have read several times since I’ve helped many an AP high school student and a few college students write analytical essays about various aspects of the plot, characterization, controlling irony,…
Ojai and the Orange Grove Today
We are heading back to LA from Ojai. It is 7:25 pm and the traffic is moving at a good clip. We’re about an hour from home. The trees at the orange grove have oranges that are still ripening on the branches right alongside white blossoms, many of which are just about to bloom. There…
Emily Dickinson: I Cannot Live With You
I have spent a good deal of today working with one of my students on a paper, which analyzes the poem “I Cannot Live with You.” Dickinson presents a systematic argument of why she cannot live a life with the object of her love. Most of us would go the other way, but not Dickinson…
An Evening with Ira Glass
Tonight we went with friends to see Ira Glass from NPR’s This American Life. This is the second time I’ve heard him speak and it’s always funny and inspirational. For those of you who don’t know This American Life, let me say that it’s one of the best “truth-life” programs on all of radio. We…
Jamie Lee and Me…
Tonight, while I was gathering up my computer and trying to decide what I was going to write about, I glanced at the bookshelf in our bedroom. There is a book there entitled Tony Curtis, The Autobiography and on the book is a picture of Tony Curtis as an older man. This made me think…
Still Working at 11 pm
Today has been one of those days – hectic. It is now 11 pm and I am still sitting in front of my computer at the glass-topped table in our living room. I have been here on and off since 1 pm. Ugh. I guess there are just some days when you can’t get everything…
One of My Writing Students Receives a Gold Medal!
I am pleased to announce that my student, Madison Stingray, has won a gold medal for California for her short story through the Scholastic Artists and Writers contest. Her story will now be sent on for the national competition and if she wins, then she and I will travel to Carnegie Hall for a celebration…
Anticipating Baby Luna
I am lying in bed with two dogs and a husband. Is that a bad sign? Everyone is sound a sleep except for me. I am feeling wide awake at the moment. Today we drove out to Arcadia and saw Sarah and Gregorio. Sarah is getting rounder by the day, looking distinctly more and more…
Honoring Those Who Have Died
At St. Thomas the Apostle, we have a book in which the names of loved ones who have died can be recorded. These people are prayed for every year on or near the anniversary of their death. This evening at the Vigil Mass, two names were called out from those I have loved: my father,…
20 Minutes a Day 