Friday, January 22, 2016
this is marriage
Labels:
Personal Narrative,
Videos
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Friday, January 15, 2016
Thunderstruck
or, my high school homecoming theme song circa 1990-ishsomthing. only cooler.
although the hundreds of foil-covered lightening bolts we made by hand and hung from the lunchroom ceiling were very atmospheric. and the bold choice of an AC/DC song instead of say, Extreme's "More than Words," was absolutely cool. this video, however, still cooler.
although the hundreds of foil-covered lightening bolts we made by hand and hung from the lunchroom ceiling were very atmospheric. and the bold choice of an AC/DC song instead of say, Extreme's "More than Words," was absolutely cool. this video, however, still cooler.
Labels:
Entertainmnent,
Personal Narrative,
Poetry,
Videos
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
portraiture: 40
Labels:
Personal Narrative
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Thursday, December 03, 2015
Dear Girls
This piece was created for a talent competition for high schools in Reykjavík, Iceland.
This piece was created for a talent competition for high schools in North Carolina, America.
This piece was created for a talent competition for high schools in North Carolina, America.
Labels:
Issues,
Personal Narrative,
Videos
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Janet's Stovetop Mac and Cheese
INGREDIENTS
· 3 tablespoons butter
· 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste) and pepper (to taste)
· 4 cups milk
· 2 pinches nutmeg or cinnamon
· 1 bay leaf
· 3/4 pound small shell pasta or elbow macaroni
· 3 - 4 cups coarsely grated sharp yellow cheddar
DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add flour and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is pale golden, about 3 minutes.
2. Whisking constantly, pour in 2 cups milk; add 2 more cups milk and whisk until smooth. Add salt, nutmeg, and bay leaf. Cook mixture, stirring constantly until just boiling, 6 to 7 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Set to lowest heat. Stir in cheese.
3. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until not quite al dente; drain thoroughly and return to pot. Reserve a cup of hot water to thin sauce as needed.
4. Remove sauce from heat and pour over pasta and stir to coat. Add hot pasta water as needed to reach the consistency you prefer. Cover pot and let set for a few minutes so the pasta can absorb the sauce and finish cooking (on low heat if needed). Add more salt and pepper to taste.
· 3 tablespoons butter
· 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste) and pepper (to taste)
· 4 cups milk
· 2 pinches nutmeg or cinnamon
· 1 bay leaf
· 3/4 pound small shell pasta or elbow macaroni
· 3 - 4 cups coarsely grated sharp yellow cheddar
DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add flour and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is pale golden, about 3 minutes.
2. Whisking constantly, pour in 2 cups milk; add 2 more cups milk and whisk until smooth. Add salt, nutmeg, and bay leaf. Cook mixture, stirring constantly until just boiling, 6 to 7 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Set to lowest heat. Stir in cheese.
3. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until not quite al dente; drain thoroughly and return to pot. Reserve a cup of hot water to thin sauce as needed.
4. Remove sauce from heat and pour over pasta and stir to coat. Add hot pasta water as needed to reach the consistency you prefer. Cover pot and let set for a few minutes so the pasta can absorb the sauce and finish cooking (on low heat if needed). Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Labels:
Food
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
F.art
Labels:
Transylvania/Hungary
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
The Story of My Teeth
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli
Translated by Christina MacSweeney
Coffee House Press, 2015
"The teeth are the true windows to the soul; they are the tabula rasa on which all our vices are inscribed." p. 50
"I am Gustavo Sanchez Sanchez, I said. I am the peerless Highway. And I am my teeth. They may seem to you to be yellowed and a little worse for wear, but I can assure you: these teeth once belonged to none other than Marilyn Monroe, and she needs no introduction. If you want them, you will have to take me along too." p. 62
Ah! I see that you're going to be a good writer too.
Why do you say that?
Because when you smile, you don't show your teeth. Real writers never show their teeth. Charlatans, in contrast, flash that sinister crescent when they smile. Check it out. Find photos of all the writers you respect, and you'll see that their teeth remain a permanently occult mystery. I believe the only exception is the Argentinian Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis.
Borges?
The selfsame. Blind and Argentinian. But he doesn't count because he was blind, so he probably couldn't picture himself smiling--at least, not with the smile he had when he was blind, if you know what I mean." p.111
September 11, 2015 New York Times Sunday Book Review:
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Mary Oliver "Not Anyone Who Says"
NOT ANYONE WHO SAYS
Not anyone who says, “I’m going to be
careful and smart in matters of love,”
who says, “I’m going to choose slowly,”
but only those lovers who didn’t choose at all
but were, as it were, chosen
by something invisible and powerful and uncontrollable
and beautiful and possibly even
unsuitable —
only those know what I’m talking about
in this talking about love.
careful and smart in matters of love,”
who says, “I’m going to choose slowly,”
but only those lovers who didn’t choose at all
but were, as it were, chosen
by something invisible and powerful and uncontrollable
and beautiful and possibly even
unsuitable —
only those know what I’m talking about
in this talking about love.
Labels:
Poetry
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Budapest Games
Berlin: 1936
Roma families are taken from their beds and detained in a camp outside of the city where visitors to the 1936 Berlin Olympics will never see them. Later they would be taken to death camps. Hitler had ordered Berlin transformed and perfected for the world to see his ideas made real on its streets. Anti-Semitic signs were removed (stored, and then replaced after the games). The Der Stürmer, a newspaper whose slogan was “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” was removed from newsstands.
Budapest: July, 2015
Budapest and the Hungarian Olympic Committee officially announce their intention to bid for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games.
Budapest: Nov. 7th, 2015
Excerpt from Viktor Orban’s Speech to his Diplomats: Hungary’s historical given is that we live together with a few hundred thousands Roma. This was decided by someone, somewhere. This is what we inherited. This is our situation, this is our predetermined condition…. We are the ones who have to live with this, but we don’t demand from anyone, especially not in the direction of the west, that they should live together with a large Roma minority.
Orban’s speech: English translation taken from the HungarianSpectrum, a blog written by Eva S. Balogh
Roma families are taken from their beds and detained in a camp outside of the city where visitors to the 1936 Berlin Olympics will never see them. Later they would be taken to death camps. Hitler had ordered Berlin transformed and perfected for the world to see his ideas made real on its streets. Anti-Semitic signs were removed (stored, and then replaced after the games). The Der Stürmer, a newspaper whose slogan was “The Jews Are Our Misfortune” was removed from newsstands.
Budapest: July, 2015
Budapest and the Hungarian Olympic Committee officially announce their intention to bid for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games.
Budapest: Nov. 7th, 2015
Excerpt from Viktor Orban’s Speech to his Diplomats: Hungary’s historical given is that we live together with a few hundred thousands Roma. This was decided by someone, somewhere. This is what we inherited. This is our situation, this is our predetermined condition…. We are the ones who have to live with this, but we don’t demand from anyone, especially not in the direction of the west, that they should live together with a large Roma minority.
Sources:
Description of Berlin: adapted from The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James BrownOrban’s speech: English translation taken from the HungarianSpectrum, a blog written by Eva S. Balogh
Labels:
Ideas,
Poetry,
Transylvania/Hungary
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Comic Relief: We Are Sinking
This remains one of my all-time favorite laughs:
Labels:
Humor Project,
Videos
Welcome! I am an American writer and high school teacher. Please comment and share, as you wish. Taint: A Novel available at your local bookstore and on Amazon.
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