Story assignments can be a challenge. After all, you are writing someone else’s vision of an article, and that can go well, or require staggering rewrites. But sometimes you luck into stories that are gifts from the literary gods, as they introduce you to characters and scenarios barely even imagined. And the education you receive…
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I have been writing like a wild person this summer–and it’s been awesome. I didn’t really realize how many articles I had been writing until I posted the links on my Story Archives page, and saw I’m working on better than a piece a month for the Columbus’ best magazines. And the people I have…
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Semesters have started, and so far so good. To be honest, my magazine class is no that different from my class under quarters. Of course, our shortened summer and the fact I am devoting hours each week to restructuring all my classes to 50 minutes per day, four days a week are keeping things hopping,…
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We are enjoying Spring Break next week at Ohio State, and that can mean just one thing–it’s time to do some writing. While my students are on cruises and beaches or building homes for New Jersey’s poor, I am excited to be finishing and tackling some writing projects that let me explore much that is…
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I have become obsessed with “This American Life,” Ira Glass‘ weekly audio foray on Public Radio International into the stories of quirky, colorful characters that make our country what it is. Each themed episode, introduced by Glass, is broken into chapters that illustrate the main issue–from “Kid Politics,” featuring a visit to the Ronald Reagan…
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I think the hardest thing to get adjusted to in academia is this three week break we get between Autumn and Winter quarters. Don’t get me wrong–any mandated vacation is good with me, and in my old life in the corporate world it was hard enough to take a week off, let alone three. But…
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I may stand up alone in front of my students, but it surely takes a village to get me up there. The first day of classes got off to a rough start, as every piece of technology in our 281 classroom stopped working at once–the door, the projector, the audio. But thanks to my friend…
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