I’ve had the word “cusp” — “a point of transition between two different states,” according to my handy-dandy New Oxford American — floating around my brain for weeks now. I say it under my breath, savoring its punch, its shift from hard to hissing to plush. This is partly to blame on my morning habit…… Continue reading The cusp, or, I am not a tree
Tag: seeing
The good of your writing
“The world did not say to her as it said to them, Write if you choose; it makes no difference to me. The world said with a guffaw, Write? What’s the good of your writing?” – Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own We writers sure like quotes, eh? Tacked up on our bulletin boards,…… Continue reading The good of your writing
Letter to a Young Self
Dear Little Brynnie, It’s been a letter-y semester in my classes this fall as students try forms as a means of storytelling and essay-writing. I thought I’d give it a shot, too, because the truth is, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. Mom just turned seventy a couple of weeks ago, which meant…… Continue reading Letter to a Young Self
To-Do List, Item #15: “You know the escape”
1. Write a 7-day to-do list, like you do every week. 2. Fill the list with myriad job-related tasks. Grade, prep, read, meeting, read, submit, upload, email, grade, grade, grade, meeting, meeting. Watch your pen fill the page, bleed off the page, make your fingers bleed. 3. Every week, write this at the bottom of…… Continue reading To-Do List, Item #15: “You know the escape”
Scratching at blackbirds
Today I am teaching a wonderful essay by Andre Acimen, “My Monet Moment,” in which he travels to Bordighera on a kind of quest to see what Monet painted there. I am enchanted by what he writes at the moment of his arrival: “I’ve come to Bordighera for Monet, not Bordighera—the way some go to…… Continue reading Scratching at blackbirds
Bryn Chancellor 