This morning I got up to find a comment posted to one of my blog entries! How exciting is that? I will tell you. It’s pretty exciting. It’s rare, these days–it’s rare in general, but it seems more rare these days–in part, I know, because I have not been writing. Guess what the blog entryContinue reading “A Journal of the Plague Year: #25”
Category Archives: Writing and Reading
The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #3)
Welcome back, friends, to the third installment of my attempt at a literary reaction vlog. I approached it a little bit differently this time. Less text. Almost entirely vlog. I’ve created two parts. The first part is a kind of “previously, in The Magic Mountain” type of introductory video, designed to catch you up, albeitContinue reading “The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #3)”
The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #2)
Already, I find it necessary to amend the rules of the game. The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann, in my edition, is nearly 700 pages long. I would have you know that I am not what you could call a fast reader. Initially, I thought that each of my reaction vlogs might be about aContinue reading “The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #2)”
The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #1)
Okay, here it is. The first foray into a new series whereby I record myself reacting to a literary text I’ve never read. My first choice, Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, a book that has sat atop my “should read” list for many, many moons now. Below you will find a video of my readingContinue reading “The Magic Mountain (Reaction Vlog #1)”
I’ve Got An Idea: The Literary Reaction Vlog
If you’ve perused the video introduction above, you get the gist of the idea. In keeping with the new interest in the REACTION vlog, in which a person reacts in real time to a media artifact like video or music that they have never seen or heard before, I propose to try a reaction vlogContinue reading “I’ve Got An Idea: The Literary Reaction Vlog”
Congratulations: You’ve Written Another 30 Poems. Now What?
May 1st and May 2nd I spent all day both days not writing a poem. I continued not writing poetry on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. It turns out, no poetry was written into the days and the week ahead, so that today, on the 10th of May, I have written not a single poem.Continue reading “Congratulations: You’ve Written Another 30 Poems. Now What?”
#357: First Day of School, April 13, 2020
I had no students. As are all seniors in Oregon, my seniors are done, but I read a few lovely, comforting notes of gratitude from a few of them, and some requests for letters of recommendation. My sophomores, cared for now by an extremely competent, caring intern, earning her Masters in Teaching, remotely, at aContinue reading “#357: First Day of School, April 13, 2020”
#356: Another Triolet for Moby Dick
Almost seven years ago today, I wrote a triolet about not being able to finish Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Here I am, in the same boat, so to speak, in 2020. A double poetic feature today: first, the triolet from 2013 (with some minor revisions), then today’s triolet. What’s a triolet, you ask? On Trying toContinue reading “#356: Another Triolet for Moby Dick”
A Journal of the Plague Year: #14
Today, was the third day “back to work” as a Distance Learning Public School English Teacher and the second day of National Poetry Month, April, 2020. My contact with students thus far, remotely, has been minimal. Our district has given us three days to prepare the rollout of some supplemental learning resources for our students,Continue reading “A Journal of the Plague Year: #14”
A Journal of the Plague Year: #13
Today is April 1 of the year of our pandemic, 2020, but it is also the first day of National Poetry Month, during which, over the past six years, I have celebrated by writing a poem every day for an entire month. This will be year seven in a poetry writing streak. To the bestContinue reading “A Journal of the Plague Year: #13”
michael jarmer 