So long, Harriet January 16, 2010: The other Harriet -- Harriet Beecher Stowe -- says in Uncle Tom's Cabin that "friendships are discovered not made." Joining this blog over the past few months, I discovered (and re-discovered) many new friendships -- like-minded people and especially people who challenged my mind in different ways. As I sign off, I'd like to thank the Poetry [...] by John S. O'Connor

Production Notes for February: The Movie January 13, 2010: Production Notes for February: The Movie 1. Snow covers everything like a film. 2. The only theatre in town is showing The Return of the Bride of Quietness. 3. Overhead, a wedge of geese: A greater than sign? Lesser than? A boomerang? 4. The world is as quiet, white, and immobile as a crime scene. Go back to your homes. [...] by John S. O'Connor

The Narrative Arc of a Semester January 5, 2010: One year I hung a giant sheet of pink butcher paper outside the Writing Center with an invitation for people to jot down thoughts of the day as they walked by. (I guess it was sort of a Stone Age, pre-Twitter feed, come to think of it). The responses were amazing to me and followed a pattern throughout the term that I believe to be nearly [...] by John S. O'Connor

Resolutions January 3, 2010: I started making New Year's resolutions when I spent some time teaching in Rockview Maximum Security Prison, outside State College, PA. While teaching an extension course for Penn State (back then I joked I was teaching at Penn State and the state pen), I read a lot of prison narratives and found one overwhelming commonality: the convicts who [...] by John S. O'Connor

Slavery — Then and Now January 2, 2010: Let's say you don't take the North Pole worskshop to be a metaphor for the sweat-shop oppression of slighted people everywhere. Fine, have it your way. (more...) by John S. O'Connor

Give Me a Break December 27, 2009: It happens during every break from school: I am suddenly overcome with rich, vivid, dreams, like something out of a Vision Quest. I wake up with images and lines I scribble down as quickly as I can. At first I thought this might just be a Ny-Quil induced narco-state, but now I see it's something bigger. (more...) by John S. O'Connor

Sliding Doors December 23, 2009: Many people use the final days of December to take stock of the year -- counting their blessings or wallowing in regret. Maybe this is because, as Dana Gioia writes in Summer Storm, “Memory insists on pining/For places it never went,/As if life would be happier/Just by being different.” So how would our lives be different if we had chosen to [...] by John S. O'Connor

True/False December 12, 2009: When I say begin, open your test booklet and begin reading. When you finish reading, write your own list poem. I have always loved Dean Young's poem "True/False" from his brilliant collection Elegy on Toy Piano. Since each line can be read as true or false, the result is a hilarious and profound list poem. Here are his first ten [...] by John S. O'Connor

Learning to Teach/Teaching to Learn December 6, 2009: Last weekend my son announced that his 6th grade class was about to start a poetry unit. I thought I knew what this meant, having done guest spots in my kids’ classes since they were in nursery school. So, I asked my son to give me some lead-time to arrange my schedule for a visit. But this year would be different, I quickly learned. [...] by John S. O'Connor

A/Musing: On Creativity November 28, 2009: Part I. She entered with a flourish – a leather suit, staccato stilettos, and a hand-held computer device with which she may have been commanding the International Space Station. No time for bullshit. (more...) by John S. O'Connor