A fun bookstore in my hometown now has Getting Messy in stock. River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque, Iowa is a charming bookstore in a charming old town on the Mississippi River… and they deliver books for free by bicycle anywhere downtown. (And they’re pet friendly too!)
I heard some amazing poetry on public radio last week. Terry Gross interviewed Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno, a poet whose daughter was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. After her daughter’s death, Kathleen wrote a collection of beautiful, poignant poems, recently published as Slamming the Door Open. One reviewer called her poems “spare, unflinching, and powerful.” I couldn’t…
Yesterday I came across something I wrote in 2000, at a time when I was opening up my creative channels. I’d completed my Ph.D. in 1996 and taught for a few years, but came to a point where I needed to completely disengage from the “PH.D.” and open the door to a broader range of…
Giving a quick shout-out to my book GETTING MESSY: A Guide to Taking Risks & Opening the Imagination for Teachers, Trainers, Coaches & Mentors. Check it out at online retailers or your local bookstore. Thanks! 🙂
The Poetics of Space is the title of the current book I’ve been captivated by. Not captivated by the book itself (I’ve barely begun to read it), I’m captivated by the subject: space. The Poetics of Space. I wish I’d thought of that title. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been enchanted by…
When I teach, what I think about is how I’m going to create space for learning and magic, not the content. In the larger scheme of things, rich, fertile space is way more important than any piece of information. So if space is so important, why do we continue to focus on the specifics–the subject,…
I brought small pumpkins into Monday’s class at the Sophia Center. I had everyone close their eyes and hold out their hands to receive their pumpkin, so they wouldn’t immediately know what it was. Holding/touching something with eyes closed is evocative—we don’t immediately rely on our mind to recall pre-stored ideas about the object. We…