Author: michardillo

• Language Learned, Passport Packed

  Sunday, March 17, 2019: This morning, the Second Sunday in Lent, Fr. Gabriel, our parochial vicar, began his homily at 10:30 Mass with, “How is your Lent going?” For the first time in a very long time, I felt as though I was fully prepared to say, “Good!” For a few weeks before Ash Wednesday,…

  michardillo

  March 18, 2019

  Essay, faith

  Heaven, Lent, passport, prayer, sacrifice, Scotland

• Writing through Lent: a Spiritual Exercise

  Dear friends and followers, today is Ash Wednesday, and for Christians, the beginning of Lent. For these forty days of Lent, I will try to focus my writings and thoughts on more spiritual things, helping me to center myself on these three things: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. For so long, Catholics were asked to give…

  michardillo

  March 6, 2019

  Essay

• Have Books, Will Travel

  Some people flip through photo albums to fondly remember past vacations. Others, in today’s social media-crazed society, may look back over their Instagram posts to see snaps of time spent away with family or friends, in some exotic location, or just for a short getaway. Me? I just pull up my Goodreads list of books…

  michardillo

  November 3, 2018

  books

  All the Time in the World, Belgium, Caroline Angell, Cavalaire-sur-Mer, Clarissa Dickson Wright, Cormoran Strike, Delaware, Edinburgh, France, Franz Kafka, Glasgow, Goodreads, Hunt for Red October, Ian Fleming, Instagram, J. K. Rowling, James Bond, Lewes, Liane Moriarty, Marcus Samuelsson, Marriott Courtyard, mofongo, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Niagara Falls, PBS, Pittsburgh, Priscilla Cummings, Provence, Puerto Rico, Red Kayak, Robert Galbraith, Robin Sloan, Scotland, Suzanne Collins, The Cooks Bookshop, The Hunger Games, The Last Anniversary, The Metamorphosis, The Silkworm, Tom Clancy, Two Fat Ladies, Yes Chef: A Memoir

• Book Review: The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

  You know that feeling when you have a bug bite that has scabbed over and you pick at it and pick at it and make it bleed even though it is hurting and you know that you are making it hurt? That’s sort of the feeling I had while reading Stephanie Butland’s novel The Lost…

  michardillo

  October 21, 2018

  books

  Cornwall, Devon, England, Nell Freudenberger, poem, poetry, Stepanie Butland, The Lost for Words Bookshop, The Newlyweds, Whitby, York

• The Battle of Evil against Good

  It’s mid-October and lots of my bookish friends are reading scary stories or mysteries that have elements of the supernatural lurking about. In my 8th grade classroom, we read a short story recently that is classified as science fiction but in many ways represents the materialistic and selfish ways of many in today’s society, making…

  michardillo

  October 16, 2018

  Essay, faith

  Button Button, Catholic, devil, edgar allan poe, evil, faith, Richard Matheson, science fiction, St. Michael the Archangel, Star Trek, Twilight Zone

• Just Say Cheese!

  For two years I lived in Belgium, where supposedly there is a different cheese for every day of the year. Just a few blocks from my house on Avenue de Versailles was my favorite store, Fromagerie Saint-Michel, and during those two years, I was a frequent customer. The ladies behind the counter were so helpful…

  michardillo

  September 20, 2018

  Essay

  Belgium, Brie, Cheddar, cheese, fondue, Macaroni, Manchego, Raclette, Ricotta, Swiss, Waterloo

• Good Things Come to Those Who Wait (And Work)!

  When I started teaching 8th grade English, I had the urge to do some writing for myself. Modeling essay structure for my students became fun, not work. I had many papers to write in my graduate courses for certification to teach, and my instructors would tell me I was a good writer. But, teaching full-time…

  michardillo

  August 14, 2018

  Essay

  Antiques Roadshow, Baltimore’s Child Magazine, essays, goals, short stories, Washington Family Magazine, writing

• Baltimore’s Child Magazine

  Please check out my article with this popular regional parenting magazine! Book It! Stuck at Home? Take a Literary Staycation! How to  End the School Year on a High Note!

  michardillo

  August 2, 2018

  Essay

• Check it out!

  Check out this month’s Washington Family Magazine for my freelance work in their August issue: Armchair Traveler: Books That Let You Travel the World (Without Leaving Home) Flying to Infinity and Beyond: Meet the 11-Year-Old Boy who Became an Instant Indoor Skydiving Star  

  michardillo

  August 2, 2018

  books, Essay

• Check it out!

  To read my articles published in Washington Family Magazine‘s July issue, please click on the link! Can’t Travel? Take a Literary Staycation!  

  michardillo

  July 2, 2018

  Essay