“I was dreaming when I wrote this, so forgive me if it goes astray….” Yesterday. The day the music died. Growing up in the 1980s, Prince was the soundtrack of my teens. There was something decadent about buying an album very few people had heard of and most of those who had, didn’t approve. My first Prince album was Dirty Mind, followed soon after by 1999. Living in a small town in Indiana, I really wasn’t exposed to music other than…
At the end of the year, social media becomes inundated with posts lamenting the year’s end and eagerly predicting that the upcoming year will be the best one yet. Avoiding all forms of introspection, I made the cursory general facebook post about hoping 2016 will be better. Now that I have had time to really (over)think 2015, I realize it was a D year. I give it a D because 2015 was truly disappointing. While, it started out like any…
I am a chronic eavesdropper. I admit it. I love having my summers off and all that comes with them, such as long lunches. Since I have been a lady who lunches, I am guilty of eavesdropping on the conversations around me during said lunches. The one comment that annoys me the most is something along the lines of “kids these days…” and what is most annoying about that type of comment is that is it usually uttered by those…
Well, I made a new year’s resolution in 2014 and surprise surprise…I didn’t fulfill it. I wanted to read 24 books in 2014. So here’s the update. It’s not where I wanted to be, but sometimes life (and the internet) gets in the way. #epicbookfail 2014 Book Total: George Washington’ Secret Six looking for alaska Fangirl Divergent Insurgent Allegiant Veronica Mars: The Case of the Million Dollar Tan Line An Abundance of Katherines The Fault in Our Stars Another Piece…
I am in a rut. There it is. I said it. Now what do I do about it. I had one of the best summers I can remember. I tried new things, I traveled. I lunched. I wrote. Now it’s back to the daily routine of school. I am one of those people who truly does not thrive amidst routine. I need novelty and variety. This could be why I rarely teach the same lessons from one semester to the…
My grandmother has been on my mind a lot lately. She passed away a little over two years ago, but this fall I was going through a box of old papers and found the last birthday card she sent me. I think I was taken aback because I didn’t realize that I still had the card. Since she has been on my mind, I decided to replicate one of her recipes. I thought I’d pick a holiday themed recipe. I…
Yes, I know that song says that there are 12 days of Chistmas and ABC Family says there are 25 days of Christmas, but in my closet it’s the eight days of Christmas. Over the years, I have accumulated quite a stash of Christmas clothing. Some items are cute, some items are….well, they’re tacky. I have Christmas sweaters, tee shirts, red cardigan, green cardigan, Christmas tree ballet flats, green Chucks, a headband made from garland….you get the idea. Why do…
I have spent the last nine weeks teaching other people how to write. How ironic that teaching other people how to write has kept me too busy to really sit down and do what I love to do? One of the things I teach students about opinion writing is the briefly comment format. It’s when you have to sit down and write an editorial or opinion column and don’t have a strong enough idea to carry an entire piece or…
My love affair with fashion began at an early age, before I even knew what love affairs were. While most little girls were playing house, I was playing Barbies. My cousins wanted Barbie to drive around in her pink corvette to her three-story dream house with the ever perfect, ever plastic Ken at her side. I would have none of that nonsense. I was much too occupied with changing Barbie’s outfit to ever worry about Ken. I would spend…
I found an old shoebox under the bed in my guest room and it was full of cassette tapes. Not just any old tapes, but all of them were mix tapes. Ah mix tapes…the original playlist. Those tapes represent more than just a compilation of music. They are full of memories, they are historical documents. You made a tape for every mood and every occasion. There were the fun mix tapes you played at parties or the slow jam mix tape…
