This link will take you to Western's Online Writing Center. The Center is staffed by many of the intructors in the Communications Skills Department of the college.

Most students find it incredibly helpful to submit their assignments to the writing center. The feedback students receive helps them in the revision process and in turn, helps their grades.

I hope you will be one of the students who submits their essays often!

“Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?"
Ron Koertge

Give up sitting dutifully at your desk. Leave
your house or apartment. Go out into the world.

It's all right to carry a notebook but a cheap
one is best, with pages the color of weak tea
and on the front a kitten or a space ship.

Avoid any enclosed space where more than
three people are wearing turtlenecks. Beware
any snow-covered chalet with deer tracks
across the muffled tennis courts.

Not surprisingly, libraries are a good place to write.
And the perfect place in a library is near an aisle
where a child a year or two old is playing as his
mother browses the ranks of the dead.

Often he will pull books from the bottom shelf.
The title, the author's name, the brooding photo
on the flap mean nothing. Red book on black, gray
book on brown, he builds a tower. And the higher
it gets, the wider he grins.

You who asked for advice, listen: When the tower
falls, be like that child. Laugh so loud everybody
in the world frowns and says, "Shhhh."

Then start again.

et tu, Earth Day?

I guess I was being idealistic. I had thought that in this over-merchandized, over-commercialized world we had a few pure holidays. By pure I mean holidays that are Hallmark card free, holidays that are still devoted to the original sentiments that served as the impetus for them.

I had always seen Earth Day is a somewhat "anti-establishment", "anti-big business" holiday where people could focus on the beauty of the earth, and learn ways to be more environmentally conscious. That naive notion has gone by the wayside.

In Leslie Kaufman's 4/22 New York Times article, "At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business" she addresses the rising amount of merchandising that has been targetted toward Earth Day. There are private business which are using Earth Day as a means of self promotion, yogurt, umbrellas, even banking has gotten in on the action. Kaufman states: "F. A. O. Schwarz is taking advantage of Earth Day to showcase Peat the Penguin, an emerald-tinted plush toy that, as part of the Greenzys line, is made of soy fibers and teaches green lessons to children" (para 4).

Perhaps I am being idealistic, but isn't the fact that landfills are overflowing with our detritis one of the major problems with the environment? If so, how is marketing and selling more "junk" working toward fixing that problem.

I say: Let's forget about buying more crap that will clutter up our lives, our homes, and our landfills, and get back to the original intention behind Earth Day. Let's focus on the important issues, the cleaning and maintaining of our beautiful planet.

Mississippi Rolling

I begin and end each work day with a 30 minute drive long the Mississippi River. Often, it is the best part of my day, I have the rare occasion to gear up for my day or to wind down at its end. It is quite easy to see how the "Big Muddy" has become the stuff of legend and lore. In some places the river seems like a simple channel of water, then I will become surprised when I drive a stretch of the road that is elevated and I can see just how vast the river is. Those channels only appear small due to the number of islands and sandbars on the river. I can understand why Mark Twain put 'Ol Jim and Huck out on the river. Even though they didn't "travel" on this section of the river, I can picture them setting up camp on any number of these sandbars.

I am often amazed by serenity of the river; my favorite time is when the temperature of the air drops below that of the water, and the river gets a misty fog on the surface. There is something so mysterious and peaceful about the look of it.

We still have steam-driven paddlewheel boats that cruise up and down the river, shuttling locals and tourists along the water. Its a slow moving boatride - not for those who prefer power boats or jet skis; rather, for those who want to take in the surrounding landscape, sight a heron or bald eagle, or simply slow down and breathe.

Perhaps you will take a ride along the waters?

The Boys from Beantown "Bring it"

Baseball's opening day is an annual celebration which marks the fact that not only has spring arrived, but that summer is not all that far away. Baseball is one of the few sports I enjoy watching and to those who know me it is no secret which team I root for. I've been a Red Sox fan for my entire life. In fact, I would never have made it to adulthood if I had chosen to root, root, root for another team.

Baseball fans are a funny breed. They cheer for and stand behind their respective teams, regardless of how the season is going. I should know; I've spent many, many years standing behind the Sox, and remaining steadfast only to watch the lead fade away as the season progressed. Call it what you will; bad luck, poor playing; or the curse of the Babe; regardless of the reason, The members of the Red Sox Nation have long been accustomed to disappointment. I've seen the team come close to many World Series wins, only to lose at the last minute. Certainly one of the most memorable was coming in second in 1978.

In fact, I do love watching them play now, but when I think of the team my first thought goes to the 1978 lineup. It may be because I listen to the games on the radio with my grandmother, or watched the games on the television on warm summer evenings with my dad. Most likely it is because the players of the 1978 team seemed to demonstrate all that is good about baseball. Players like Yaz, Jim Rice, "Butch" Hobson, Dwight Evans, Carlton Fisk, and players like Luis Tiant, Mike Torrez, Dennis Eckersley, and the wild "Spaceman" Bill Lee, graced the mound. Most of them were in it for the team, for the win. They demonstrated a loyalty to their club that is almost unknown today. Of course, this was before the days of "free agents"; back when guys signed on to a team and many of them planned to retire with that very team. Today's players could learn a lot from these guys.

Sunday April, 4th was opening day for the Sox. The icing on the cake is that we were pit against the Yankees. I'm sure you've heard of the Hatfields and the McCoys? Well the bad blood between the Sox and the Yanks is even worse. It helps to play on the home turf, but even so, the team played well. Dustin Padroia played well and we took the game, 9-7. Sox fans know better than to gloat, especially with an entire season ahead, so I will hold my "neaner, neaner,neaner" type comments. Let's just say that I am one happy Sox fan.

The road goes ever on and on....

I recently came across this passage in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King:

"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

Tolkien's success as a writer, I believe, lies in the fact that he combines intricate and compelling characters and story lines with elements of human nature that everyone can relate to.

True, none of us have ever been or will ever go to Middle Earth. True, we will never encounter a fight such as the one these characters encountered (thank God). But regardless of those facts, Tolkien wrote about human nature, and human nature doesn't change much. In fact; I'd venture to guess that human nature hasn't changed much in the last several thousand years.

We all want to live in a society that is good, rather than one which is evil - regardless of your political stance. Regardless of what you believe and who you support, the Founding Fathers designed a government which relies on the people in order to work.

In other words, it is our responsibility to each other to help keep the government in check. It is our responsibility to the government to make sure that the elected officials are working toward an end result we can support and believe in.

That responsibility can seem daunting when you stop to think about it. Yet, like everything else, even the smallest step keeps you moving forward. So I try to learn as much as possible, and to do as much as I am able. I don't try to overwhelm myself; I only do what I can.

Even if all I accomplish is as small a task as ensuring that someone good and noble serves as the chair of my local school board. Sometimes that small an effort can mean tremendous positive change in a community.

Back to that Tolkien passage, I can relate to Samwise Gamgee. I will never be the "hero" of any tale. I certainly have no intention of running for office; however, I will always be in the background, supporting those who are fighting for what is good and right. I will always be looking for that "white star of hope, twinkling" even if it only twinkles intermittently.

Sadie Allard 1/22/1998 - 3/11/2009

Eleven years ago, after moving into our first house, my husband announced that he wanted a dog. I had always been a cat owner and I had no intention of ever owning a dog. Dogs barked too much. Dogs drooled and licked your face. Dogs were hyper and ran around the house, knocking things off shelves and onto the floor. Dogs jumped up on you and put paw prints on your nice clean clothing. Dogs left steaming gifts for you in the backyard that you had to pick up.

No thank you, sir.

No dog for me.

My husband is no fool. He put together a pretty convincing argument. He reminded me that he spent about 3 months a year alone in the woods, hours from the nearest human, doing field work; a dog would be good company and would alert him of any impending danger. A dog could watch the house for us when we were at work, protecting our few possessions. A dog would be good company for me during my 5:00 am walks. Finally, I agreed to go to the pound and see what they had to offer, but I did so under duress.

As we stood in the yard of the Laramie, Wyoming, Humane Society, I watched my husband trying out several dogs. They behaved in just the manner I suspected they would. They barked, they jumped and yes, some of them even pooped. This was not going to be fun. Then I looked to my left and noticed that a timid black dog with brown markings above her eyes had sidled up next to me. As I turned to look down, she glanced up and her eyes met mine. I could tell that she had experienced more hardships in her life than anyone (human or dog) should. As our eyes met, she leaned over and tenderly licked me. My cat-loving, stone-cold-heart melted. I called to Steve and told him that I had found our dog.

Undernourished, afraid of her own shadow, but eager to please, Sadie came to live with us. I've never looked back. Sadie broke all my preconceived notions of dogdom and shattered all my stereotypical assumptions about dog behavior. She was gentle. She never jumped up on me (except to steal a kiss). She had a stub of a tail so she never knocked anything off the shelf. In the eleven years she lived with us, I only heard her bark 5 or 6 times and each time she did so to alert us of potential danger. She was great with kids, even to the point where she allowed Katie to dress her up in various outfits, and to ride her like a horse. She did leave steaming presents for me in the back yard, but hey, no dog is perfect.

One year ago today our wonderful dog Sadie passed away. That morning, I left for work in the same manner that I do every morning. I scratched her between the ears, told her to be good, and assured her that she was the “best dog ever”. I had no idea when I left that it would be the last time I would see her alive. When the vet did the autopsy, she found several cancer spots on her liver. She doesn't think that Sadie was in pain, because Sadie hadn't given any symptoms of distress. I am grateful that Steve was home with her when she died. I am grateful that she was not in pain and that I did not have to choose to put her to sleep. Mostly I am grateful to have been blessed with ten years as her person.

Sadie, you were an amazing dog. Rest in Peace.

Beautiful Weather

I've had "cabin fever" for the last few weeks and I am just thrilled with the recent weather. I look forward to getting outside more; to hiking, biking, and walking the dog; to getting into the woods with my camera and taking more photos. I'm sure many of them will end up here.

I hope you are enjoying the change in the weather as well. What types of activities are you looking forward to? The changes in seasons, weather, and free time activities are excellent things to blog about.

March Forth

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. I love my birthday, of course,and as someone who is 100% Irish, St. Patrick's day holds a very special place in my heart. But March 4th is a unique day. It is not often that a day can command you to do something. March 4th is bold - it tells you to be strong, to March Forth through life.

Many of you know that I am a bit of a "word geek", so years ago when I noticed that today's date could be a bit of a play on words, not only did I get excited, but I also began to challenge myself to follow the command of March 4th.

I'm not just a "word geek", I'm also hopelessly idealistic. March 4th reminds me that I am a part of the bigger picture and that rather than simply taking, I need to also make a contribution to the world around me. I believe that we won't change the world by one person making some huge gesture. The world is only going to become a better place when each of us does many little, but positive things. So with that in mind, on March 4th, I try to "Pay it Forward" (to use a somewhat tired cliche'), and look for areas where I can volunteer or complete "random acts of kindness".

I'd like to challenge you to try to do something today and this week that makes a difference to the people around you. There are so many local non-profit agencies who could use help. Try to find one whose message and purpose you can believe in. Call them up and ask if you can volunteer an hour of your time. I promise that you will be so glad you did.

If you think you can volunteer once or twice and are looking for a local agency that could use a one time (or more) volunteer, remember that the Salvation Army is one block from our campus. They are always looking for volunteers to help prepare and serve meals. Contact information for Laurie Duncan, the volunteer coordinator can be found on their website.

Our local food pantry, WAFER, is always looking for volunteers to stock shelves, package food and interact with clients. I've done a lot of work with this organization, and I know that they love working with our students. I also know that our students have really loved the time they have spent at WAFER. (As a side note, if you speak a second language, Hmong in particular, your abilities to translate for non-native speakers and/or the elders in the Hmong community would help to make their experience feel much more comfortable.)

Place of Grace, our local Catholic Worker house is always looking for volunteers to help prepare and serve meals, clean-up, play with children, talk with guests and provide general hospitality. A listing of activities and volunteer opportunities are listed on their website.

If you could consider a long-term volunteer experience, I would recommend that you think about being a conversation partner for a non-native speaker who is trying to learn English. Our GOAL program works with many refugees and immigrants who want to learn and/or improve their English skills. The most valuable learning tool for these individuals is to have someone with whom they can converse and hold an authentic dialogue. I guarantee you, if you consider volunteering at GOAL, it will be an extremely powerful experience.

Take today's date as a way to look at living your life. Try to march forth and make a positive impact on those around you. Whatever you choose to do, even if it is picking up the trash on your street or simply letting a car into traffic, I am sure you will make someone else's day more positive and in turn will find your own energy becoming more positive as well.

Writer's block? This may help...

Many of you have been struggling with topics for your weekly blogs. Writer's block is something all writers face, whether the writer is composing an essay for class, a short story, song lyrics, or a weekly blog assigned by their writing teacher. I understand the struggle of writer's block and have found the following bit of information in an attempt to help you.

The following post comes from the blog: Problogger.net written by Darren Rowse: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/11/29/20-types-of-blog-posts-battling-bloggers-block/


20 Types of Blog Posts
• Instructional - Instructional posts tell people how to do something. I find that my Tips posts are generally the ones that are among my most popular both in the short term (ie loyal readers love them and will link up to them) but also in the longer term (ie one of the reasons people search the web is to find out how to do things and if you can rank highly with your tips post you can have traffic over a length of time).

• Informational - This is one of the more common blog post types where you simply give information on a topic. It could be a definition post or a longer explanation of some aspect of the niche that you’re writing on. This is the crux of successful sites like wikipedia

• Reviews - Another highly searched for term on the web is ‘review’ - I know every time I’m considering buying a new product that I head to Google and search for a review on it first. Reviews come in all shapes and sizes and on virtually every product or service you can think of. Give your fair and insightful opinion and ask readers for their opinion - reviews can be highly powerful posts that have a great longevity.

• Lists - One of the easiest ways to write a post is to make a list. Posts with content like ‘The Top Ten ways to….’, ‘7 Reasons why….’ ‘ 5 Favourite ….’, ‘53 mistakes that bloggers make when….’ are not only easy to write but are usually very popular with readers and with getting links from other bloggers. Read my post - 8 Reasons Why Lists are Good for Getting Traffic to your Blog for more on lists. One last tip on lists - if you start with a brief list (each point as a phrase or sentence) and then develop each one into a paragraph or two you might just end up with a series of posts that lasts you a few days. That’s how I started the Bloggers Block series.

• Interviews - Sometimes when you’ve run out of insightful things to say it might be a good idea to let someone else do the talking in an interview (or a guest post). This is a great way to not only give your readers a relevant expert’s opinion but to perhaps even learn something about the topic you’re writing yourself. One tip if you’re approaching people for an interview on your blog - don’t overwhelm them with questions. One of two good questions are more likely to get you a response than a long list of poorly thought through ones.

• Case Studies - Another popular type of post here at ProBlogger have been those where I’ve taken another blog and profiled them and how they use their site to earn money from their blogging (eg - one I did on Buzzmachine - the blog of Jeff Jarvis). Sometimes these are more like a review post but on occasion I’ve also added some instructional content to them and made some suggestions on how I’d improve them. Case studies don’t have to be on other websites of course - there are many opportunities to do case studies in different niches.

• Profiles - Profile posts are similar to case studies but focus in on a particular person. Pick an interesting personality in your niche and do a little research on them to present to your readers. Point out how they’ve reached the position they are in and write about the characteristics that they have that others in your niche might like to develop to be successful.

• Link Posts - The good old ‘link post’ is a favourite of many bloggers and is simply a matter of finding a quality post on another site or blog and linking up to it either with an explanation of why you’re linking up, a comment on your take on the topic and/or a quote from the post. Of course adding your own comments makes these posts more original and useful to your readers. The more original content the better but don’t be afraid to bounce off others in this way.

• ‘Problem’ Posts - I can’t remember where I picked this statistic up but another term that is often searched for in Google in conjunction with product names is the word ‘problems’. This is similar to a review post (above) but focusses more upon the negatives of a product or service. Don’t write these pieces just for the sake of them - but if you find a genuine problem with something problem posts can work for you.

• Contrasting two options - Life is full of decisions between two or more options. Write a post contrasting two products, services or approaches that outlines the positives and negatives of each choice. In a sense these are review posts but are a little wider in focus. I find that these posts do very well on some of my product blogs where people actually search for ‘X Product comparison to Y Product’ quite a bit.

• Rant - get passionate, stir yourself up, say what’s on your mind and tell it like it is. Rants are great for starting discussion and causing a little controversy - they can also be quite fun if you do it in the right spirit. Just be aware that they can also be the beginnings of a flaming comment thread and often it’s in the heat of the moment when we say things that we later regret and that can impact our reputation the most.

• Inspirational - On the flip side to the angry rant (and not all rants have to be angry) are inspirational and motivational pieces. Tell a story of success or paint a picture of ‘what could be’. People like to hear good news stories in their niche as it motivates them to persist with what they are doing. Find examples of success in your own experience or that of others and spread the word.

• Research - In the early days I wrote quite a few research oriented posts - looking at different aspects of blogging - often doing mind numbing counting jobs. I remember once surfing through 500 blogs over a few days to look at a number of different features. Research posts can take a lot of time but they can also be well worth it if you come up with interesting conclusions that inspire people to link up to you.

• Collation Posts - These are a strange combination of research and link posts. In them you pick a topic that you think your readers will find helpful and then research what others have said about it. Once you’ve found their opinion you bring together everyone’s ideas (often with short quotes) and tie them together with a few of your own comments to draw out the common themes that you see.

• Prediction and Review Posts - We see a lot of these at the end and start of the year where people do their ‘year in review’ posts and look at the year ahead and predict what developments might happen in their niche in the coming months.

• Critique Posts - ‘Attack posts’ have always been a part of blogging (I’ve done a few in my time) but these days I tend to prefer to critique rather than attack. Perhaps it’s a fine line but unless I get really worked up I generally like to find positives in what others do and to suggest some constructive alternatives to the things that I don’t like about what they do. I don’t really see the point in attacking others for the sake of it, but as I’ve said before this more a reflection of my own personality than much else I suspect and some people make a name for themselves very well by attacking others.

• Debate - I used to love a good debate in high school - there was something about preparing a case either for or against something that I quite enjoyed. Debates do well on blogs and can either in an organised fashion between two people, between a blogger and ‘all comers’ or even between a blogger and… themselves (try it - argue both for and against a topic in one post - you can end up with a pretty balanced post).

• Hypothetical Posts - I haven’t done one of these for a while but a ‘what if’ or hypothetical post can be quite fun. Pick a something that ‘could’ happen down the track in your industry and begin to unpack what the implications of it would be. ‘What if….Google and Yahoo merged?’ ‘What if …’
• Satirical - One of the reasons I got into blogging was that I stumbled across a couple of bloggers who were writing in a satirical form and taking pot shots at politicians (I can’t seem to find the blog to link to). Well written satire or parody can be incredibly powerful and is brilliant for generating links for your blog.

• Memes and Projects - write a post that somehow involves your readers and gets them to replicate it in someway. Start a poll, an award, ask your readers to submit a post/link or run a survey or quiz. Read more on memes.

As I wrote above - this is not an exhaustive list but rather just some of the types of posts that you might like to throw into your blog’s mix. Not every one will be suitable for all blogs or bloggers but using more than one format can definitely add a little spice an color to a blog. Lastly another technique is to mix two or more of the above formats together - there are no rules so have a bit of fun with it and share what you do in comments below.

Three Wishes

Last week we were graced by the presence of a guest speaker: activist and lead singer of U2, Bono Vox.

Okay, so he didn't actually attend our class, but we did watch a video recording of a presentation by Bono. Bono is one of the 2005 recipients of the Ted Prize (http://www.tedprize.org/about-tedprize/)

As you will read in the prior link, recipients of the Ted Prize receive $100,000 and three wishes toward the solution of a problem that they feel needs to be addressed. Bono explained his problem and wishes in the following video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bono_s_call_to_action_for_africa.html

After watching Bono's speech, you may want to view the speech of Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

Or the speech of scholar, and peace activist, Karen Armstrong:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/karen_armstrong_makes_her_ted_prize_wish_the_charter_for_compassion.html

(The following link explains a bit more about the TED Prize: http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/6 )

For your blog entry next week (to be posted on Monday 3/1) I would like you to imagine that you are a TED Prize recipient. What plan would you create to improve the world? Write about what the problem is and how your plan will make improvements. What three wishes would you come up with?

As for your blogs, this week's entry (due Monday 2/22) is a free choice entry . I will be looking at your paragraph structure, your sentence structure (see chapter 16). I would like you to vary sentence length and complexity and would like you to incorporate an example of parallelism.

For your 3/1 entry, all the same applies, but I will be focusing on whether you are: (avoiding unnecessary wordiness and the use of the passive voice, varying sentence complexity and length, are incorporating rhythm and using parallelism and that any fragments are obviously intentional).

If you should have any questions, please feel free to send me an email.

I've got my blog set up...now what?

Most of you have started to design the structure of your blogs. You may have added a few bells and whistles, but now it is time to add some content to your blog. Perhaps you are starting to feel stuck. What does one write about in a blog?

Think of this blog as a way of expressing your opinions on various subjects. You do not need to stick with a particular topic or theme this semester, you are free to write about any topic that could be deemed as classroom appropriate.

If you have not already posted introductory information about yourself, you may want to create a blog post which addresses your interests and hobbies. Consider creating a post which helps your classmates to get to know you.

Occasionally I will post links to places that will be of use to you as you start blogging. Perhaps the following links will help you as you begin composing your posts:

http://morethingsonastick.pbworks.com/The-25-Basic-Styles-of-Blogging

http://nourishingobscurity.blogspot.com/2009/09/good-blogging-guide-what-makes-top.html

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/18/writing-good-content/

People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Just because we get around (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin' 'bout my generation)


I was a lucky kid. My grandmother lived with us during the winters while I grew up; during the summers she ran two boarding houses at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. As a result, I loved the summer when I was a child. I was able to visit with her and spend my days playing in the sand, riding the surf, and trying to avoid being sun burnt. She always had more than a few "characters" staying at one of the houses and I enjoyed observing folks and watching them from a distance. Both of the boarding houses were old and had dusty attics, dark, mysterious basements, and often empty rooms to explore. On rainy days we would explore the houses. (If memory serves, my grandmother approved of our rummaging around in the attics and basements). When we were not on the beach or exploring the houses, my brothers and I would often escape to the arcades and play skee-ball or pinball. Sometimes we had allowance money to spend on souvenirs. At night the fireworks would be set off over the ocean and we could sit with our parents, in the cool sand, eating ice cream as we watched the explosions of color reflect on the water. The summers were fun, but so were the winters.

I loved having Grannie there when I came home from school. She would always greet us with a smile and often had some funny story to share with us as we got our homework out and enjoyed our afternoon snack. My grandmother was a lot of fun. She would tell me secrets about the mischief she took part in when she was my age. I'm sure my mother would have had a conniption fit if she had any notion what-so-ever of the secrets that Grannie shared with me. She would probably go ballistic if she knew that Grannie hand planted the seeds for the ideas which had gotten me in the most trouble when I was a kid. I remember my grandmother as funny, lively, and ready for anything. I had a mom, who at that time, was pretty concerned about appearances. I really believe that I would not be a light hearted today if my grandmother hadn't lived with us when I was a kid.

After watching the documentary "Young at Heart", I've been thinking about aging and about how our culture treats aging. Not only do we dismiss and devalue the aging, but we are most comfortable when they are out of sight. Unlike my generation, today's families tend to rely on two incomes and as a result, are not able to care for aging parents and grandparents. I was lucky to grow up in a three generation household. I with my daughter could be as lucky also.

I also realized that while the members of the Young at Heart Chorus(http://www.youngatheartchorus.com/) may be chronologically old, they are most certainly youthful in spirit. My grandmother was youthful as well. When my twin bother and sister were born, my grandmother danced a jig in the middle of the street and passed out candy cigars to the neighbors to let them know that my mom had delivered "one of each - a sure sign of good luck". She would tell you what was on her mind, and wasn't afraid to disagree with anyone (even our parish priest - something that was just not "done" in those days). Grannie would express what was in her heart or on her mind, and no one intimidated her.

I believe it was her youthful approach to life, her zest for living which allowed her to live as long as she did. She lived to be 92. While she had begun to suffer from dementia in the last two years of her life, the first 90 were vibrant years. I remember being shocked as a child once when she had told me her age. She said "it's just a number sweetie, you can be as young or as old as you let yourself". I didn't know what she meant then, but I am starting to "get" it now. She lived a youthful existence for her entire life and certainly "died before (she) got old". I hope I do too.

Learning from Failure

"A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

As a culture, failure isn't usually something we embrace. All the great motivational books and speakers tell us to be tenacious, to keep moving, to strive for success in all we do. We are told that we are a success when we finally have that "perfected end result" to celebrate. Our culture is pervasive with motivational aphorisms that deal with success - such as: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going", and "A winner never quits, and a quitter never wins".

These expressions really miss the mark. I think that we are not a true success, until we take the time to embrace our failings. I know for my own part, when things are going along smoothly, I don't necessarily pay a great deal of attention. But should something I am working on fail, then you have my full attention.

In my off hours, I enjoy quilting. Now let me be plain about this, I came by this hobby in a round about way. I have never taken a sewing lesson and had never even touched a sewing machine until 8 years ago when my husband gave me one for Christmas. As a result, I make a lot of mistakes...a LOT of mistakes. Every mistake teaches me something, however. A broken needle might have me playing with machine tension and I'll learn something new about my machine. Cutting my fabric incorrectly may force me to piece it in a different way, and I will come up with a new block design as a result.

When things are going as planned, rarely do we give much thought to them; we tend to simply sail right along. I think Arthur Ashe was correct when he said: "Success is a journey, not a destination.The doing is often more important than the outcome."

Gever Tulley is a software engineer and one of the founders of Tinkering School (http://www.tinkeringschool.com/) a week long camp "where lucky kids get to play with their very own power tools. He's interested in helping kids learn how to build, solve problems, use new materials and hack old ones for new purposes." (TED Conferences LLC). When discussing his approach to teaching at this camp, he states that "Success is in the doing, and failures are celebrated an analyzed." I like that notion. Celebrating failure is a foreign idea in our culture, and through analyzing our failure, we truly learn and discover. In American and most Western cultures, seldom do we take the time to not only look at our failures, but to look forward to them. As Winston Churchill once said: "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

You can see Gever Tulley discuss Tinkering School here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html

A New Semester Begins

Monday, January 18th, marked the end of winter break and the first day of the 2010, spring semester. While it is hard to think about packing up the Christmas decorations and putting some of the projects I worked on over break back on the shelf, it marks the start of another exciting journey. You may be anxious about starting the semester. Many of you may be nervous about taking a college level composition course. Know that you are probably not alone. My guess is that many of your classmates feel the same nervousness and anxiety.

I'd like you to think about the following passage. It is often misattributed to Nelson Mandela because he used it during his inaugural address, but it was actually written by the motivational writer and speaker Marianne Williamson, and appears in her book A Return to Love. Regardless of the source, the message is very powerful:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Regardless of where your spiritual leanings are, the message here is clear: each of us possesses the strength, the intellect, the power to offer the world amazing things. It is our responsibility to work to our full capacity and to achieve all that we are able; when we do, others work to their top capability as well.

Together we will figure out how to become liberated from our fear. I am excited to work with each of you this semester.