One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a Creative Writing teacher is that I get to read journals.  There aren’t many guidelines as to what or how the students are supposed to write.  No restrictions on length or content.  No stylistic judgment.  Just a minimum of two entries per week and their teacher’s disappointment […]

(See bottom of post for my official b-day portrait–I LOVE it!) There’s a sort of unwritten rule among bloggers that birthdays are supposed to be marked by meaningful musings about the past and the future. I had intended to write such an entry. I’d even chosen the title: “Forty-Two Brooms.” The French tend to refer […]

I’ve long been moved by faces.  It’s probably one of the reasons I’ve been so drawn to photography–the pursuit of that moment when eyes light with that inexpressible “something” that conveys so much more than a collection of traits and expressions. How many times in the past few days have I stayed up late, looking […]

I’m a firm believer in “marking the moment”—and if you’re a student of mine, that comes as no news to you. How many times have I stopped you in mid-something and yelled, “Wait! Mark this moment! You’re going to want to remember it sometime in the future!” Part of it is the MK thing: we […]

(Most photos are of the Colmar Christmas market and an alumni reunion at my place…) The question of the day, two weeks ago, was:  does Michèle have brain cancer?  It was a question to which I was rather eager to have an answer…and before Christmas, if possible! I took the fact that we passed a […]

[Video link below.] If you receive my news emails, you’ve already seen this, but if you don’t… The Slovenian choir tour is over, and what an adventure it was!  The prospect of taking 38 students to a foreign country was daunting, but the experience was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable weekends of […]

I watch CNN because there are no alternate news sources over here.  It usually leaves me feeling a little duped and a lot misled, but as long as I get my daily dose of Sean Hannity’s podcast, there’s a sort of “polar balance” to my news consumption.  Every so often, though, Ted Turner’s cable channel […]

I was having dinner with my good friend Mari Ellen two days ago, and we were talking about a woman whose husband has two weeks to live and who has been writing beautiful blogs despite the impending tragedy.  I mentioned that I didn’t think I’d have strength to project so much serenity in the face […]

I’m an idealist at heart. If I had any control over this planet, teenagers would have a “mute” button, cheesecake would be calorie-free, and garbage would walk itself to the curb. Sadly, if I’ve learned anything in the past week, it’s that my control over circumstances only extends so far. The last days before a […]

It’s a topic I both love and hate to discuss, mostly because it’s so nebulous.  And yet…it’s also powerful and life-altering and sanity-preserving.  Corrie ten Boom said, “Prayer is the slender thread that moves the hand of God,” yet she watched her sister die a horrible death in a concentration camp.  How could she believe […]