Tag: essays
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Teachers: Those Who Can’t Teach? Not On Your Life!
What profession do you admire most and why? Full disclosure, I am a teacher. I taught full time from 2007 to 2020, middle school English and literature. Then covid hit and I sat out (per doctor’s orders) the 2020-2021 school year since I wasn’t old enough for the vaccine yet. A shift in administration created…
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Book Review: Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver
Reading Mary Oliver is sort of like feeling your heart pounding in your throat, threatening to break at any moment. I feel sadness at the very beauty of her words, and then I feel mad because I can’t replicate that same beauty with my own. I am trying very hard to be a writer. I…
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Book Review: Rachel to the Rescue by Elinor Lipman
I’ve been a devoted fan of Elinor Lipman since 1988. I had just moved from Louisiana to Maryland for a new job in exciting downtown Bethesda. I lived near the Bethesda Metro and walked to my office building just a block from the Metro’s food court. Between work and home I had to pass a…
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Book Review: You’re Not a Real Dog Owner Until … by Scott Dooley and Jason Chatfield
As much as I love reading, I am relatively new to graphic novels, comics, manga, and other illustrated works. I requested an ARC of You’re Not a Real Dog Owner Until … by Scott Dooley and Jason Chatfield to broaden my perspective on this mixed media form of literature. (It didn’t hurt that I am…
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A Very Merry Bookmas!
It’s Christmas Day! I’ve had a wonderful Advent and now Christmas season with my family and close friends. It has to be the most relaxed Christmas I’ve ever had, having retired from teaching this January 12, 2024, I came into Advent this year without reams of papers to grade, midterms to create and then grade,…
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Book Review—Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones
Most writers are also avid readers. However, not everyone who reads a lot can write, or even wants to write at all. In fact, there are some people who are great writers who don’t read much at all. This book, Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones, is by an avid…
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Book Review: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
In preparing for a trip overseas this past summer, I purchased a few ebooks for my Kindle. I wanted to be sure that once I boarded the plane, I had some choices of what I could read. Sophie Kinsella’s book I’ve Got Your Number was one of those books. I ended up reading this towards…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 