Today it's two weeks since I had surgery, and I am mostly back to normal.  Not everything was normal when I had the surgery (which is wh...

I have mostly recovered from the surgery I had a couple of weeks ago, but this week I developed a cold and lost my voice.  It's challeng...

This poem seems appropriate for the rotten week I've had.  People try to help, and do help, but there are some things you just have to c...

Book #110 of 2016 was The Secret History , by Donna Tartt.  This is a brilliantly done book, with not a single appealing character in it.  ...

I am having some surgery tomorrow, and any teacher knows that being out of the classroom is always more trouble than it's worth, with al...

This was a great week for poetry in my classroom.  In eighth grade, we're reading The Language Inside , by Holly Thompson.  I really enj...

One day in seventh grade this week, in connection with our reading of Behind the Mountains , by Edwidge Danticat, my students were sharing f...

This is a busy day, with a full day of teaching and planning, plus an Open House in the afternoon.  Still, I don't want to let this week...

I love the color poems in Hailstones and Halibut Bones: Adventures in Poetry and Color , because they talk about the s...

I went back to work this week, and kids come back next week, so I expect my reading rate to slow down.  This has been the biggest reading ye...

My Husband's Hands Do you remember the first time you kissed me? First you held my hand And showed me yours. You explained the scar...

I've been reading this book: It's the perfect book for someone who recently read The Odyssey.  Scott Huler recreates the trip ...

My daughter and I have been reading the Odyssey together this summer,  and we finished it yesterday.  Just as the Iliad is mostly about all ...

Here are some books that cheer me up when I'm sad.  And here are some that Modern Mrs. Darcy recommends. What do you read when you...

Book #92 of this year was Beautiful Ruins , by Jess Walter, an entertaining novel about Hollywood and The Hotel Adequate View on a tiny Ita...

I love Jan Richardson's work, and she posted a beautiful poem this week.  It begins this way: Blessing When the World is Ending Look...

Friends are such a blessing, but missing them is sad. I guess that's all Emily Dickinson is saying in this poem. And I concur.  (Scrol...

I spent the day yesterday volunteering at a maternity center here in Port-au-Prince, where I live.  I came home to news of violence and deat...

Book #86 of 2016 (yes, I did skip #85, but you'll find it at the end of this post) was The Night Manager , by John le Carré.  I often f...

Photo Source: http://american-biography.blogspot.com/2011/02/henri-christophe-of-haiti-king-of-first.html Earlier this summe...