There are people that I meet, I have found, for whom I have an almost immediate affinity, people who exude an energy, an intelligence, or a sense of humor, or a welcoming presence that puts me at ease, that makes me feel seen, understood, and appreciated. I had coffee on Thursday with such an individual,Continue reading “On the Eleventh Day of 2024: Coffee with a Friend”
Tag Archives: listening
#461: My teacher Parker J. Palmer wrote or said . . .
Today’s sonnet breaches perhaps the one GOLDEN RULE of sonnet making. It’s 15 lines long. Three quatrains and a tercet! I was feeling rather naughty, although, I am nearly 100% sure that I am not the first one to write a thing that’s not 14 lines long and call it a sonnet. I don’t knowContinue reading “#461: My teacher Parker J. Palmer wrote or said . . .”
Dispatches from Writer’s Camp: The Next Frontier
Remember that on July 3rd we campers were treated here at Mt. Holyoke College to a fireworks display of stupendous proportions. Yesterday, on the 4th of July, it was quiet. I’m not kidding. After the reading I sat on an Adirondack chair in the dark sipping whiskey in the middle of the lawn and IContinue reading “Dispatches from Writer’s Camp: The Next Frontier”
Notes Toward a Musical Autobiography: Volume X, Letter F
Happy and Totally Belated New Year, everyone. It appears that I took the entire months of January and February off from blogging. 2016 finds me having barely survived the first semester of my 28th year of teaching (which, disappointingly, turns out to be only my 26th), feeling gratitude for a new beginning with new classes,Continue reading “Notes Toward a Musical Autobiography: Volume X, Letter F”
Notes Toward a Musical Autobiography: Volume V, Letter Costello
It happened when I was listening to The Beatles; I couldn’t choose which record to listen to. It happened again with The Boomtown Rats, again with Cheap Trick, and now, in my mission to listen to one cd from each artist represented in my collection in alphabetical order, I am faced with choosing a singleContinue reading “Notes Toward a Musical Autobiography: Volume V, Letter Costello”
Well, That Was Mostly fun., Wasn’t It?
First of all, what a strange name for a band. Dorky, really; nevertheless, these fun. kids have become my favorite contemporary pop thing of the last couple of years. And I’ve been sort of astounded, surprised, and heartened by their recent and rip-roaringly fast rise to megastardom. So, I got my tickets months ago andContinue reading “Well, That Was Mostly fun., Wasn’t It?”
michael jarmer 