I’m back from Springfield, but I feel jipped. I didn’t get to shake hands with a fake Abe or stand next to his waxed body. I didn’t get to stare at history and watch Civil War greatness transpire in condensed museum minutes. But I did witness history of a different kind at the Illinois Reading Council where teachers joined together to fight a great ( Read more... )

I’m going off of Facebook in hopes of returning to real, physical friendships. I love watching wrinkles move and teeth glisten with the filmy stuff that forms from excitement. I like holding hands and hugging. And maybe I’ll miss Facebook. But maybe I’ll get back in touch with my friends in real-life. Maybe we’ll talk on the phone more, have a ( Read more... )

Last year, I ended my New Year's Eve blog saying we were going to kick 2010's behind. I entered the year swinging, ready for triumph. But on the last day of 2010, I'm exhausted. And I don't want to kick anything or anyone. I just want to rejoice and remember the best moments of MMX.

The year began with Kristin Walker's book launch of A Match Made in ( Read more... )

Santa scares the crap out of me. Big red fuzzy outfits. Loud laughter. Breaking and entering in the middle of the night. Dude. We need a new Christmas mascot.

When I was little--still wetting the bed and sucking my thumb--my oldest sister hid in the crawl space with an angry-faced Santa doll.


( Read more... )

Amongst a series of lyrical and informative lectures, one thing stood out at this year's garden-themed Prairie Writer's Day: always stick with a buddy.

Editor Andrea Welch of Beach Lane opened with her favorite books, including, Officer Buckle and Gloria, by Peggy Rathmann. Being the daughter of a retired police sergeant AND dog lover, this book  ( Read more... )

I spent two days smelling like skunk butt. My house, my children, my clothes--everything was covered in Pepe le Pew gas. EVERYTHING! But it's my fault. I should have picked up the part for the back door.

Last week, Tommy and I read David Macaulay's WHY THE CHICKEN CROSSED THE ROAD. We laughed and laughed at the silly things that escalated from the ( Read more... )

I was in labor last week, reciting the birthing chant. Hee-hee-hee-hoo-hoo-hoo. Laboring over books that span the canon. Memorizing people and place and things and themes and critics and people and places and things and critics and quotes and Morrison and Kempe and Shakespeare and Lowell and Joyce and James. Hee-hee-hee-hoo-hoo-hoooooooo. But I ( Read more... )

This has been a tough week. Maybe one of the toughest. When we’re alone, sipping something warm, I will surely tell you what’s really going on. But for now, I must thank my friends for carrying me through. I received three loving phone calls, yesterday. Three different moments to remember life’s greater gifts. John Mayer also helped with this song ( Read more... )

I'm wallowing in a mess of centuries, attempting to cross-pollinate Lowell and Morrison, Joyce and Kempe, Shakespeare and James, when my professor, Dr. Shesgreen, sends an excerpt from Walter Kirn’s Lost in the Meritocracy.

The ninth chapter is mind-blowing. A summary of Kirn's time as an English major at Princeton that skirts off into a wild night ( Read more... )

Our Labor Day weekend started out as a relaxing break, catching fish and reading words in the sun-Richard II for class and the medieval Book of Margery Kempe for the M.A. exam. I prayed that the texts would come with laudanum or something to get me through my misery. No such luck. At least the fish were biting!


( Read more... )