From the monthly archives:

August 2009

creative writing exercise – one sin

August 31, 2009

A few weeks ago, Eric posted about a writing exercise in which you only use single syllable words.  I decided to give it a try, but first I had to come up with a title to work from.  I cleared my mind, set forth the constraint that it was to be a phrase consisting of [...]

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Literary License

August 28, 2009

My students are reading “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. Recently we went through the history behind the Salem Witch Trials and 1950’s McCarthyism that inspired Miller to write the play. Miller used the trials in Salem to comment on the tragedy that was unfolding during “The Red Scare”. A point of confusion for my students [...]

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Longing

August 27, 2009

Last week I talked about the pros of using short and simple words in writing.  It tends to keep prose clear, concise, and on track; good aims generally.  I do however think a hard-line fundamentalist view can limit your options for language.  The wonder of English, after all comes from a fairly simple syntax with a huge [...]

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“Orare est Laborare.” —Benedictine motto

August 26, 2009

If it had not been for the integrated axiotromic calendar, Brother Leon would not have known which decade he was living in, let alone the day or the time.  Not that time mattered much out here.  Each day on this world, with its three suns and four oddly orbiting moons, provided only fleeting hours of [...]

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Would Shakespeare tweet?

August 25, 2009

Are the new fangled communication tools like text messaging, Twitter, and Facebook, too short and simplistic to be of any real value?  Not at all. They are simply different mediums with their own rules and conventions, but still with incredibly flexibility when used correctly.  Hemingway’s famous “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.” spawned a whole [...]

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