seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
On Writing Towards Progress
The upcoming release of Lee, Kate Winslet’s film about photographer Lee Miller, got me thinking about how much has changed for women in the past century. And how little. Lee Miller was one of four women photojournalists accredited by the United States armed forces in World War II. Among the many striking images she created, Miller photographed the liberation of Buchenwald and Dachau: indelible…
View On WordPress
7 Fun Play-Anywhere Writing Games
Grab a pen and paper and hone your word skills through play! Photo by Calum MacAulay on Unsplash Native English speakers only need to learn around 9,000 words to read proficiently (Nation, 2014; Qian & Lin, 2019). This, out of a lexis of over 170,00 words (and growing!) Hence most of us walk, eat and talk on a daily basis rather than shuffle, feast or murmur. We’re creatures of habit. The…
View On WordPress
On Generous Writing
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash Life never ceases to be difficult, to paraphrase Rilke. Amidst its slings and arrows, there is often little to comfort and guide. Without generous writers, there would be almost nothing. Among recent difficulties faced by myself, or someone I love: bereavement, major surgery, significant medical diagnoses, divorce, conflict with parents, conflict with children,…
View On WordPress
On Cultural Cross-Pollination
One of the things that has been (is) vital to my success as a writer and educator is the fact that, from a freakishly young age, I’ve read everything. Nutritional information. Ancient magazines in waiting rooms. Bumper stickers. Barbara Tuchman. The Lord of the Rings. Gossip magazines. Feminist blogs. Not-so-feminist blogs. James Baldwin. Germaine Greer. Cormac McCarthy. Joan Didion (again and…
View On WordPress
On Suede (band, not shoes)
Celebrating an extraordinary band -- and the joy of letting their creativity spark my own.
Writing is integral to my teaching process and practice. When I publish, it is a privilege to share. Pennyblackmusic.co.uk runs a regular feature called Discography Hagiography. In which, as the name suggests, music nerds get to publicly worship bands they love. Imagine my delight when editor John Clarkson gave me the nod to write about Suede on the occasion of the band’s 30th anniversary and…
View On WordPress
Six Course Planning Essentials
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash Over the summer, I took two online courses: they were instructive in unexpected ways. Both were premium-priced ($500+), both were heavily marketed, both were on topics I was keen to learn. By the second session of Course 1, I was wandering the house, headphones draped around my neck, miming boredom to my husband. By the second session of Course 2, I…
View On WordPress
Writing from Newsroom to Classroom
Things students have said to me: ‘I asked my teacher how long the essay needed to be and he said, “how long is a piece of string?”‘ ‘Wait! You can start a sentence with ‘but’?’ ‘What is the process for answering an essay question?’ These students attend good schools. They are above-average smart and capable. Yet somehow, despite towers of assignments and torrents of instruction, they lack…
View On WordPress
On Beginnings with Melissa Madenski, Pt 2
Welcome to ‘Between the Lines’ – interviews with teachers, writers and writing teachers on specific aspects of their craft. This interview was split into two posts to do justice to Madenski’s generous sharing of time and wisdom. Part 1 covered her biography and writer’s origin story. Part 2 focuses on craft and teaching. How does one identify the seed of a piece of writing? Surprise. My…
View On WordPress
