One of the shortest of Walt Whitman’s great poems, ‘O Me! O Life!’ was featured in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society: Robin Williams’s character recites it to his class. ‘O Me! O Life!’ contains many of the features of Walt Whitman’s greatest poetry: the free verse rhythm, the alternation between long and short lines, […] […]
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The Power of Positive and Negative Talk
This semester I am teaching Interpersonal Communication for the first time. The class focuses on relationships and how they are formed, maintained, and/or destroyed through communication. One of the required readings for the course is the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. In Chapter 1 of the book, Gladwell discusses the psychologist John Gottman, author of […]
Back to basics
It’s been over three years since I last wrote on this blog. I considered deleting it multiple times, but then I would hold off for the hope that I could one day go back to writing just for fun. In the time that has passed, I got married to my wonderful partner Jason, we got […]
Practicing Love
Growing up, the weight of deep obligation haunted me every week following Christmas and my birthday. My mom would provide the small cards, the envelopes, the stamps, even the pen. But what would I say? A lack of words left me with a lack of motivation. This was the dread of writing thank you notes. […]
Non-Conformist Nature
“I don’t like pine trees, they are so conformist.” Her feet steadily followed one in front of the other, kicking up a minimal amount of dust, as she declared her position with a decided tone. This was the beginning of the trail where the ground was still level, a straightforward and simple path. Two miles […]
How Decisions Do and Don’t Define You
Anyone who has access to the internet is probably aware of a major decision that happened in the United States today. As the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to prevent gay marriage, people across the country either celebrated or scoffed at the announcement. Regardless of your position, there are some critical things to […]
Lessons From Dad
“Don’t smoke cigarettes, don’t smoke marijuana, and don’t drink alcohol till you are 21.” That was the phrase my dad threw at me almost every day of middle school and high school. He told the people in our carpool, my friends who came over, and eventually my boyfriends as well. My mom insisted he said […]
