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Friday, April 28, 2006
Writing Prompt: Newspirations
Sometimes, we don't have to look far to find stories worth telling or embellishing, in our own words and according to our own style of course. We don't want to end up in a million and one little pieces do we? Look back at some of the news articles and commentary from this week. Select a piece to review and write a response.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Bloglines - UN sanctions on Darfur suspects
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Bloglines - Bush threatens spending bill veto
Hunh?
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Bloglines - Darfur malnutrition 'rises again'
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Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Harvard Student Accused of Plagiarizing Novel from NPR.org
Books
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Check out this blog: A Revision
You'll find a pretty good poetry prompt and short story piece at A Revision. Enjoy.
Pussycat Dolls are real--dolls?
United Press International
Pussy Cat Dolls to become real dolls
Apr. 21, 2006 at 4:07PM
"Dolls modeled after the six members of the all-girl group will be marketed to children between the ages of 6 and 9 during the upcoming holiday season and cost about $15 apiece, TMZ.com reported Friday."
Can we say inappropriate? The American public laments the behavior of its children, adolescents and young adults, yet will we fail to take companies, marketing highly sexualized icons, to our children to task? We buy potentially questionable toys, because our children want them without thinking more critically about the message we're sending. I don't buy my little girl Bratz! dolls, but I didn't take them from her when she received them as Christmas gifts from others. I couldn't be that kind of Grinch, but I draw the line at the idea of her playing with a Pussy Cat Dolls doll. The characters of the Bratz! dolls line live up to their name, snotty little prima donnas getting into various levels of social mischief and wearing clothes that unfortunately our society finds suitable for waif-like adolescents while dressing adult women in tailored blouses and peterpan collars. Essentially, they are vapid but not insidious if a girl's parents are vigilant. If you don't believe me watch the cartoon, but I digress.
These dolls will be just dolls, and they will not. During imaginiative play, children use toys to explore different personalities, social roles and social situations. Do we really want our girls trying on the persona of the Pussy Cat Dolls, especially considering their recent foray into the world of the Bratz! craze?
Pussy Cat Dolls to become real dolls
Apr. 21, 2006 at 4:07PM
"Dolls modeled after the six members of the all-girl group will be marketed to children between the ages of 6 and 9 during the upcoming holiday season and cost about $15 apiece, TMZ.com reported Friday."
Can we say inappropriate? The American public laments the behavior of its children, adolescents and young adults, yet will we fail to take companies, marketing highly sexualized icons, to our children to task? We buy potentially questionable toys, because our children want them without thinking more critically about the message we're sending. I don't buy my little girl Bratz! dolls, but I didn't take them from her when she received them as Christmas gifts from others. I couldn't be that kind of Grinch, but I draw the line at the idea of her playing with a Pussy Cat Dolls doll. The characters of the Bratz! dolls line live up to their name, snotty little prima donnas getting into various levels of social mischief and wearing clothes that unfortunately our society finds suitable for waif-like adolescents while dressing adult women in tailored blouses and peterpan collars. Essentially, they are vapid but not insidious if a girl's parents are vigilant. If you don't believe me watch the cartoon, but I digress.
These dolls will be just dolls, and they will not. During imaginiative play, children use toys to explore different personalities, social roles and social situations. Do we really want our girls trying on the persona of the Pussy Cat Dolls, especially considering their recent foray into the world of the Bratz! craze?
Monday, April 24, 2006
Word for the Week: ubiquitous
Saturday, April 22, 2006
The Audio Book Club Returns from NPR.org
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Better Business Cards: Got a Card? Steve Patterson Has Many from NPR.org
Listen to this brief interview. There may be a few nuggets of wisdom to build your writing business.
D.M.H.
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Bloglines - Getting a Sense of How We React to Music
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Reading with London Cabbie Will Grozier from NPR.org
Great writers are well read. They are also great observers. This interview with Will Grozier is a lesson on these two points.
D.M.H.
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For Hirsch, Reading Poetry Is Fundamental from NPR.org
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Friday, April 21, 2006
Writing Prompt: A Sonnet by Any Other Name Would Not A Sonnet Be
Write an English or Italian Sonnet using the information provided by the article found by following this link, http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/sonnet.shtml.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Joplin's Ghost at NPR.org
Joplin's Ragtime Style Lives on in Print and Song
by Steve Inskeep
Morning Edition, April 18, 2006 · Scott Joplin was once among America's most popular songwriters. The son of a former slave, the composer's Ragtime music swept the nation more than 100 years ago.
by Steve Inskeep
Morning Edition, April 18, 2006 · Scott Joplin was once among America's most popular songwriters. The son of a former slave, the composer's Ragtime music swept the nation more than 100 years ago.
DNA Can Talk
NPR : Using DNA to Plumb Human Ancestry
Fresh Air from WHYY, April 19, 2006 · Nicholas Wade, science reporter for The New York Times, examines what we've learned about our human ancestors using the latest techniques in DNA analysis in his new book, Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
BibliOdyssey
I love pictures and illustrations from old books and ancient texts. They are more often than not beautiful and filled with stories and messages that can be experienced just as well without the text they complement. BibliOdyssey is all about such images.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Christina Rosetti (1830-1894)
Monna Innominata: A Sonnet Of Sonnets
by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Lo d{`i} che han detto a' dolci amici addio. DANTE
Amor, con quanto sforzo oggi mi vinci! PETRARCA
Come back to me, who wait and watch for you:--
Or come not yet, for it is over then,
And long it is before you come again,
So far between my pleasures are and few.
While, when you come not, what I do I do
Thinking "Now when he comes," my sweetest when:"
For one man is my world of all the men
This wide world holds; O love, my world is you.
Howbeit, to meet you grows almost a pang
Because the pang of parting comes so soon;
My hope hangs waning, waxing, like a moon
Between the heavenly days on which we meet:
Ah me, but where are now the songs I sang
When life was sweet because you call'd them sweet?
Click on the link to read more of Rosetti's poetry.
http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=overview&author=49
Click on the link to learn about Rosetti's life and work.
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/chris.html
by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Lo d{`i} che han detto a' dolci amici addio. DANTE
Amor, con quanto sforzo oggi mi vinci! PETRARCA
Come back to me, who wait and watch for you:--
Or come not yet, for it is over then,
And long it is before you come again,
So far between my pleasures are and few.
While, when you come not, what I do I do
Thinking "Now when he comes," my sweetest when:"
For one man is my world of all the men
This wide world holds; O love, my world is you.
Howbeit, to meet you grows almost a pang
Because the pang of parting comes so soon;
My hope hangs waning, waxing, like a moon
Between the heavenly days on which we meet:
Ah me, but where are now the songs I sang
When life was sweet because you call'd them sweet?
Click on the link to read more of Rosetti's poetry.
http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=overview&author=49
Click on the link to learn about Rosetti's life and work.
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/chris.html
Which American Poet Are You?
Take this quiz when you feel a little need for entertainment, but keep your sense of humor.
D.M.H.
Which Famous Modern American Poet Are You?
You are John Ashbery. People love your work but have no idea why, really. You are respected by all kinds of scholars and poets. Even artists like you.
Take this quiz!
Quizilla
Join
Make A Quiz More Quizzes Grab Code
Experimental sonnets
Click on the link in the posts title to read the full text of this sonnet. Several readers left comments which discuss what some perceived as a digression from form and others applauded as forward thinking.
D.M.H.
10 November 2005
Sonnet To Rilke #1
Filed under: My Poems, Classical, Experimental — Andrew @ 7:41 pm
You trembled in your tower to find the thingthat mastered you: her hopeless dancing stirredwith harried words. A lyre of love you heardbeyond the crying.
D.M.H.
10 November 2005
Sonnet To Rilke #1
Filed under: My Poems, Classical, Experimental — Andrew @ 7:41 pm
You trembled in your tower to find the thingthat mastered you: her hopeless dancing stirredwith harried words. A lyre of love you heardbeyond the crying.
Quote for the week: Francesco Petrarch, Master of the Italian Sonnet
If you would find an explanation for all this, you must recollect that although the delights of poetry are most exquisite, they can be fully understood only by the rarest geniuses, who are careless of wealth and possess a marked contempt for the things of this world, and who are by nature especially endowed with a peculiar elevation and freedom of soul. Consequently, as experience and the authority of the most learned writers agree, in no branch of art can mere industry and application accomplish so little. --Francesco Petrarch
William Shakespeare--"Let me not to the marriage of true minds"
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Word for the week: sonnet
Sonnets are fourteen-line poems, period. They exist in every line length, with every rhyme scheme imaginable, or with no rhyme scheme at all. The more or less standard sonnets, however, fall into two types: Italian and Shakepearean.--Poetic Forms: The Sonnet
by Conrad Geller
Read a full explanation of sonnets and they're traditional forms at
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/sonnet.shtml.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Voluntary segregation in the 21st Century
Ernie Chambers and the people who voted in favor of this measure should be ashamed of themselves. This law is unconstitutional, self-serving for certain parties involved and the ramifications of such a precedent--badly analyzed if at all. Parity in school districts has more to do with the financial well being of the districts based on the funds provided by their tax base not race. Most places still use property taxes and lately a portion of state run lottery proceeds to supplement school budgets--once again nothing to do with race.
Unfortunately, in the United States, race is linked to individual and institutional fiscal well-being. The legacy of our brand of racism is poverty and poor education. African-Americans and other minorities have historically been systematically denied equal access to education and the financial security afforded by a better education and access to jobs. Jim Crow laws made this legal. Once such laws were abolished social behaviors based on race and class prejudices supported such inequalities. Now, there are those who wish to make such behaviors "legal" in the name of communal control. The logic of this eludes me. A good education for those utilizing the public school system in our age is reliant on appropriate funding and staffing. To absolve suburban communities of responsibility for their urban counterparts is ethically questionable, does nothing to promote equal education for all, and validates the racist ideology which persists in our country.
D.M.H.
Law to Segregate Omaha Schools Divides Nebraska
By SAM DILLON
Published: April 15, 2006
OMAHA, April 14 — Ernie Chambers is Nebraska's only African-American state senator, a man who has fought for causes including the abolition of capital punishment and the end of apartheid in South Africa. A magazine writer once described him as the "angriest black man in Nebraska."
Unfortunately, in the United States, race is linked to individual and institutional fiscal well-being. The legacy of our brand of racism is poverty and poor education. African-Americans and other minorities have historically been systematically denied equal access to education and the financial security afforded by a better education and access to jobs. Jim Crow laws made this legal. Once such laws were abolished social behaviors based on race and class prejudices supported such inequalities. Now, there are those who wish to make such behaviors "legal" in the name of communal control. The logic of this eludes me. A good education for those utilizing the public school system in our age is reliant on appropriate funding and staffing. To absolve suburban communities of responsibility for their urban counterparts is ethically questionable, does nothing to promote equal education for all, and validates the racist ideology which persists in our country.
D.M.H.
Law to Segregate Omaha Schools Divides Nebraska
By SAM DILLON
Published: April 15, 2006
OMAHA, April 14 — Ernie Chambers is Nebraska's only African-American state senator, a man who has fought for causes including the abolition of capital punishment and the end of apartheid in South Africa. A magazine writer once described him as the "angriest black man in Nebraska."
Writing Prompt: The Buds of Promise
Spring's arrival brings with it thoughts of renewal and forward action. This week's quote from poet, Frances Watkins Harper, is fitting for this time of year. We are emerging from the dark of winter. It is appropriate that we, writers, emerge from our cocoons, explore what can be made from the bones of forgotten or abandoned projects and discover new stories to be told inspired by the rebirth of our world.
Writing Prompt: What apparent failure have you experienced that became or you were able to reinvent to become a success?'
D.M.H.
Writing Prompt: What apparent failure have you experienced that became or you were able to reinvent to become a success?'
D.M.H.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Quote for the Week: Frances Watkins Harper
Apparent failure may hold in its rough shell the germs of a success that will blossom in time, and bear fruit throughout eternity.
Frances Watkins Harper
Frances Watkins Harper
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Let's Hit It and See If It Leaks!
You would think that the great minds at NASA could conceive a better way to discover the moisture content of the moon. Also, I find it a little disturbing that they plan to strike a natural satellite which has been proven to affect the rhythms of our planet. Why not launch an unmanned "rover" that can collect and analyze, or simply send the samples back to earth? Keep in mind, I'm a writer not a scientist. I just find this methodology a bit curious. Read this article at NPR.org and see what you think.
D.M.H.
NASA Announces Plan to Hit Moon in 2008
by David Kestenbaum
All Things Considered, April 10, 2006 · A new NASA mission to the moon will pelt the lunar surface in order to study plumes of dust -- and search for ice crystals. The unmanned mission, slated for October 2008, will launch a lunar orbiter from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., using the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
D.M.H.
NASA Announces Plan to Hit Moon in 2008
by David Kestenbaum
All Things Considered, April 10, 2006 · A new NASA mission to the moon will pelt the lunar surface in order to study plumes of dust -- and search for ice crystals. The unmanned mission, slated for October 2008, will launch a lunar orbiter from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., using the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
Monday, April 10, 2006
News, Books, and Authors to Ponder; Maybe you'll find the seed of your next writing idea?
Thousands of Marchers Call for Immigrants' Rights
A grass-roots movement grows into a "national day of action" as demonstrators react to recent attempts to curtail immigration.
A Chat with Beverly Cleary
The children's author who gave us Ramona the Pest and other characters reflects on her life's work. Beverly Cleary turns 90 this week. For decades she wrote about the kinds of kids she knew as a child in Oregon.
Beckett's Centenary: Revisiting a Legacy
Remembrances of the author of Waiting for Godot and other works are under way around the world. Edward Albee and others pay homage to a master playwright and literary genius.
The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot?
Researchers say they have discovered the only known copy of the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The leather-bound papyrus codex, believed to have been translated from the original Greek, was found in a cave near El Minya, Egypt. Web Extra: 'Lost Gospel' Q&A
Caroline Kennedy: 'Favorite Poetry for Children'
Caroline Kennedy has compiled a new collection of poems for youngsters. My Favorite Poetry for Children includes many of the poems Kennedy's parents read to her.
--from NPR.org
A grass-roots movement grows into a "national day of action" as demonstrators react to recent attempts to curtail immigration.
A Chat with Beverly Cleary
The children's author who gave us Ramona the Pest and other characters reflects on her life's work. Beverly Cleary turns 90 this week. For decades she wrote about the kinds of kids she knew as a child in Oregon.
Beckett's Centenary: Revisiting a Legacy
Remembrances of the author of Waiting for Godot and other works are under way around the world. Edward Albee and others pay homage to a master playwright and literary genius.
The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot?
Researchers say they have discovered the only known copy of the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The leather-bound papyrus codex, believed to have been translated from the original Greek, was found in a cave near El Minya, Egypt. Web Extra: 'Lost Gospel' Q&A
Caroline Kennedy: 'Favorite Poetry for Children'
Caroline Kennedy has compiled a new collection of poems for youngsters. My Favorite Poetry for Children includes many of the poems Kennedy's parents read to her.
--from NPR.org
Word for the Week: amalgamation
Main Entry: amal·gam·ation
Function: noun
1 a : the action or process of amalgamating : UNITING b : the state of being amalgamated2 : the result of amalgamating : AMALGAM3 : MERGER
Function: noun
1 a : the action or process of amalgamating : UNITING b : the state of being amalgamated2 : the result of amalgamating : AMALGAM3 : MERGER
Sunday, April 09, 2006
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Saturday, April 08, 2006
Ruling: `Da Vinci Code' not stolen
Ruling: `Da Vinci Code' not stolen
Judge calls scrutiny best-seller subjected to as `quite wrong'
JENNIFER QUINN
Associated Press
LONDON - "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown and his publishing house were cleared of copyright infringement in a British court Friday.
Judge calls scrutiny best-seller subjected to as `quite wrong'
JENNIFER QUINN
Associated Press
LONDON - "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown and his publishing house were cleared of copyright infringement in a British court Friday.
Online Opportunities to Have Your Poetry Read and Critiqued
Getting Your Poetry Read and Critiqued Online
How to Find Out What Others Think of Your Poetry
Rated 3.1 out of 5
Published Jan 31, 2006 by Emma S.
Emma S.'s article may be helpful to poets who want feedback, but are not ready for face to face critcism. Poets who don't have time to attend a realtime workshop may also find the information she presents in her article useful. Click on the post title to follow the link to this article.
D.M.H.
How to Find Out What Others Think of Your Poetry
Rated 3.1 out of 5
Published Jan 31, 2006 by Emma S.
Emma S.'s article may be helpful to poets who want feedback, but are not ready for face to face critcism. Poets who don't have time to attend a realtime workshop may also find the information she presents in her article useful. Click on the post title to follow the link to this article.
D.M.H.
Friday, April 07, 2006
National Poetry Month at NPR.org
Here's another poetry resource you may find useful. Click on the link to read some great poetry. D.M.H.
"National Poetry Month
April, with its showers and signs of spring, is an apt month to celebrate a medium so often used to explore nature -- both the environmental and the human varieties. You'll find such explorations in the recently published poems here, featured in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. "--from npr.org
"National Poetry Month
April, with its showers and signs of spring, is an apt month to celebrate a medium so often used to explore nature -- both the environmental and the human varieties. You'll find such explorations in the recently published poems here, featured in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. "--from npr.org
Writing Prompt: A Tribute to Your Favorite Poet
Do a little brainstorming. Make a list or graphic web of all of the things that come to mind when you think about your favorite poet. Read a brief biography of the poet and re-read your favorite poems by them. Use each of these exercises to write a poem in tribute to your favorite poet. You can write a poem about the poet or write a poem which embodies some element or the essence of what you perceive as their style.
Have fun!
Have fun!
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Ten Most Popular Poets
The Poetry Foundation's list of
10 most popular poets
Langston Hughes
E. E. Cummings
Maya Angelou
Billy Collins
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot)
Ted Kooser
Edgar Allan Poe
Walt Whitman
This list was generated by the foudation's Poetry Tool. Using the tool, you can look up articles, poems, and poets.
10 most popular poets
Langston Hughes
E. E. Cummings
Maya Angelou
Billy Collins
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
T. S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot)
Ted Kooser
Edgar Allan Poe
Walt Whitman
This list was generated by the foudation's Poetry Tool. Using the tool, you can look up articles, poems, and poets.
Metonymy and Mother Goose
Mother Goose rhymes are full of examples of this week's word, metonymy:
"Jack fell down and broke his crown"
"Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean."
Click on the link in the post title and see if you recognize other references to metonymy in this article by Bruce Lansky.
D.M.H.
Mother Goose Makeover: A Sign of the Times
Popular American children’s poet and publisher Bruce Lansky has his own take on reinventing time-honored nursery rhymes.
by Bruce Lansky
I remember the day I received a copy of The Real Mother Goose after the birth of my son in 1970. I thought, Oh, I remember reading Mother Goose when I was a boy. What a thoughtful gift! Then I looked more carefully at the cover and saw that Mother Goose was pictured as an old, spindly woman in a pointy black hat and cape, quite like a witch. What a strange cover for a book that’s read to babies and little children, I thought.
"Jack fell down and broke his crown"
"Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean."
Click on the link in the post title and see if you recognize other references to metonymy in this article by Bruce Lansky.
D.M.H.
Mother Goose Makeover: A Sign of the Times
Popular American children’s poet and publisher Bruce Lansky has his own take on reinventing time-honored nursery rhymes.
by Bruce Lansky
I remember the day I received a copy of The Real Mother Goose after the birth of my son in 1970. I thought, Oh, I remember reading Mother Goose when I was a boy. What a thoughtful gift! Then I looked more carefully at the cover and saw that Mother Goose was pictured as an old, spindly woman in a pointy black hat and cape, quite like a witch. What a strange cover for a book that’s read to babies and little children, I thought.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Quote for the Week: Rainer Maria Rilke
"For poems are not, as people think, simply emotions (one has emotions early enough)—they are experiences."
-Rainer Maria Rilke
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Monday, April 03, 2006
Word for the Week: Metonymy
Metonymy A figure of speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object or idea. An example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Writing Prompt: These Three Words
It's National Poetry Month. Visit The Academy of American Poets website and sign up to receive a poem a day. Click on the post title and check out all of the great poetic possibilities this month!
Prompt:
Write a poem using these three words: train, mask, carnival
Prompt:
Write a poem using these three words: train, mask, carnival
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