“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…
I am a nerd. It’s not something I keep secret, I freely admit it. My inner nerd enjoys watching Arrow and the Flash. After resisting for years, I finally gave in and signed up for Netflix. The first series I binge watched was Jessica Jones. After making my way through Jessica Jones, I continued on to seasons 1 and 2 of Daredevil. Jessica Jones was intriguing because she isn’t the archetypical hero. She is flawed. She has issues. She has…
Elle King America’s Sweetheart Every once in awhile, you hear a song and you know it’s your song. The song that represents who you are and how you feel. I found one of those songs. Elle King’s “America’s Sweetheart” is that song for me. To give you some background, I have never been one of those people who needs to be the center of attention or surrounded by others. I have never felt an overwhelming need to be popular. I…
I am sure most everyone has seen this hashtag recently. I first saw it last fall, and I admit I didn’t think much about it. I thought it was similar to the annual November social media “Things I am thankful for ” blitz. Again, not giving it much thought, I kept seeing #100happydays on facebook, twttier, and most notably, on instagram. People I actually knew, and liked, were doing it! So, I decided to check it out. It’s a real…
As anyone who knows me can attest to, I hate winter. I don’t like being cold. I don’t like shoveling snow. This winter we have experienced record snowfalls and it’s had me down. I slacked off in almost every aspect of my life. The laundry piled up. Papers went ungraded. Blog went updateless. New year’s resolution ignored. I only read one book in February “fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell. I ordered it from Amazon when it showed up on a list…
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…
Sometimes, I receive an email or read a post on social media and find myself cringing. It’s not that I find the post offensive, I just question why the sender didn’t take the time to proofread or edit the post. Whether or not you believe it, people do judge books by their covers. We have always been told that you only get one chance to make a first impression. What kind of first impression does poor grammar or bad writing…
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…
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…
For the past few days, I have been posting photos of my day’s wardrobe choices. For me, the photo are multipurpose. The photos allow me to see what the pieces will look like together and serve and as an archive of sorts. I often hear that teachers and educators, as a profession, tend to be fashion challenged. I do not consider myself to be fashion challenged, in the least. In fact, I think I am very capable in the fashion…
