Mind, heart, and the power of breathing – why would you consider breathwork?
This blog was originally published here. Mind, heart, and the power of breathing – a new perspective on breathwork as a way of life. “It takes a very long time to become young”. — Picasso You may wonder why I, an opera singer, would quote the painter Picasso. A child will grow and his knowledge […]
Respecting The Comma
While this author’s colleagues discussed the intricacies of the editing process during a weekend session of the Writing and the Oral Traditions cohort, he attended his youngest daughter’s high school graduation. Of course, any parent worth the title would make himself available for this momentous event. But this student would like to examine the event […]
The Invention of Grandparents: Exploring the Origins of Multi-Generational Storytelling
Igniting the Imagination It began with fire. Our distant human-like ancestors mastered the primal technology of fire-making more than a million years ago. Even when we were a nomadic people on the African plains, fire gave us a gathering place against the dark of night. Fire gave us a sense of comfort and safety. The […]
Family Memories: WOOLRICH, PA
My mother used to visit my husband and me in Connecticut for a few weeks in the summer. She was in her early eighties then and, except for some hearing loss and eyesight issues, in remarkably good health. One July I asked my friend Sue to drive out with me to Ohio to pick her […]
Reaping the Whirlwind, Unmasking the Writer
Sentence by Sentence When Our Editing and Writing Instructor Jane Lincoln Taylor handed out a single sheet of white-lined paper and a colored pencil on Saturday morning, I wasn’t prepared for the whirlwind that occurred. I was immediately reminded of the story Dovie Thomason shared at the Connecticut Storytelling Festival 2018. After the weekend with […]
Whom Do You Love? Navigating the Rough Seas of “Correct” Language
Enjoying Grammar Earlier in the Writing and Oral Traditions Program, we participated in a weekend session involving the importance of play in the classroom. This latest weekend’s editing session got me thinking: Can grammar be enjoyable? Even that very question is enough to make an average teacher recoil. Lucky for you, however, I am not […]
Writing is Hell
I wandered around the unfamiliar community center searching for a group that looked like they would fit the description of a children's writing group. As I walked into a room on the second floor, a woman slammed down a notebook in exasperation and exclaimed that she must be nuts to want to be a writer […]
A Road Warrior Asks: Is Spoken Word the New Publishing Medium?
Listen to this: Since I live in Pennsylvania and teach at TGI’s campus in Connecticut, I am, by definition, a Road Warrior. Crazy as it may sound, I have been commuting to this gig for more than 17 years. Let the record show that I have made the 300-mile round-trip journey approximately 250 times. That’s […]
A Dolphin Tale
The Little Dolphin That Could Our recent cohort session on humor in storytelling reminded me of this moment in time: It was the year of 1995, and all was not well. Andy and I had been married for approximately eight months, and we were still finding our way through life. We got together, both in […]
Story Creation begins with asking the Right Questions
Last weekend’s session with the Writing and Oral Traditions cohort was like being at a retreat. The Annual Connecticut Storytelling Festival and Conference at Connecticut College in New London was filled with music, laughter and most of all, good stories. My favorite presenter was nationally-known storyteller Donald Davis. He was mesmerizing and funny from his […]
