Book of the Month: There There by Tommy Orange (2018)

2020-03-31T15:12:12-04:00

Book of the Month: There There by Tommy Orange (2018) Critical Evaluation "The title of Tommy Orange’s bold debut novel is a reference to Gertrude Stein’s line about the city of her childhood, Oakland, California: “there is no there there”, she wrote. Oakland happens also to be Orange’s home town and provides the setting for the book, which has attracted many admiring reviews in the US. The novel centres on the interconnected lives of a group of Native Americans – or Indians, as they call themselves, determined to reclaim a term more often used disparagingly. Orange, himself a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho [...]

Book of the Month: There There by Tommy Orange (2018)2020-03-31T15:12:12-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 1 by Cate Mahoney

2020-03-30T14:44:03-04:00

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 1 by Cate Mahoney Hi, all! I truly hope this finds you and your loved ones in good health. Time seems to blur these days as we stay inside to flatten the curve of COVID-19. There has been a lot of talk across social media about writing in this time of crisis. You’ve heard of Love in the Time of Cholera? Who’s writing Love in the Time of Corona? (Ouch.) Many people are saying something along the lines of: "Well, you’re stuck inside, so use this time to be ultra-productive! There is simply no better time to write than [...]

Dispatches from Quarantine, Part 1 by Cate Mahoney2020-03-30T14:44:03-04:00

Prompt for the Week of 3/30/20

2020-03-30T13:13:55-04:00

Prompt for the Week of 3/30/20 Take a few minutes to wander through your home, trying to see it anew, as if you were a stranger passing through. What strikes your eye? Look even closer at objects, at art you’ve stopped looking at. Make a list of things you see anew. Then choose one and write about the way in which it speaks of you and to you. What memories does it contain? What might it reveal to a stranger’s eye? You can apply this prompt to a fictional character as well. This comes from #porchprompt on Instagram

Prompt for the Week of 3/30/202020-03-30T13:13:55-04:00

Prompt for the Week of 3/23/20

2020-03-31T14:35:22-04:00

Prompt for the Week of 3/23/20 (from Poets and Writers) “I sometimes find talking about a piece of visual art can help illuminate certain abstract ideas,” says Jessi Jezewska Stevens, author of the debut novel, The Exhibition of Persephone Q (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020), in a BOMB magazine interview by Kristina Tate. “I am drawn to visual art as a tool of writing about perception and the fragility of perception.” Take a cue from Stevens’s way of connecting writing and visual art, and write a lyric essay inspired by a particular painting or work of art that you find resonant. [...]

Prompt for the Week of 3/23/202020-03-31T14:35:22-04:00

Word of the Week: savoir faire (sav-ˌwär-ˈfer)

2020-03-30T09:27:22-04:00

Word of the Week: savoir faire (sav-ˌwär-ˈfer) Definition  (Noun) a deft understanding of a situation at hand; a polished certainty in navigating social interaction (used in English, but stems from the French "savoir" [knowing, knowledge] and "faire" [doing, making do]) In Context  The groom panicked when his old flame turned up uninvited at the wedding, but the bride handled the interruption with commendable savoir faire.

Word of the Week: savoir faire (sav-ˌwär-ˈfer)2020-03-30T09:27:22-04:00

Word of the Week: anxiolytic (aŋ-zē-ō-ˈli-tik)

2020-03-24T15:27:10-04:00

Word of the Week: anxiolytic (aŋ-zē-ō-ˈli-tik) Definition  (Noun) something, usually a substance or drug, that relieves anxiety; (adjective) capable of relieving anxiety In Context  It's hard to read the news these days without downing an anxiolytic.

Word of the Week: anxiolytic (aŋ-zē-ō-ˈli-tik)2020-03-24T15:27:10-04:00

Writing at Its Best by Katherine Clifton

2020-03-20T12:07:07-04:00

Writing at Its Best by Katherine Clifton In this, the latest post in our series of reflections on the nature of "good writing," Katherine Clifton captures the cheer and comfort to be found in the utterance and performance of even simple words, especially in times of trial. Katherine, a member of the Class of 2015, coordinates the Religion and Forced Migration Initiative in the Office of Religious Life.    Thumped and bumped Groaned and moaned Thrashed and crashed   What do these words have in common? They rhyme. Dr. Seuss features them in Big Dog Little Dog. Two of Princeton’s newcomers [...]

Writing at Its Best by Katherine Clifton2020-03-20T12:07:07-04:00

March 4 “Tell Me More” Conversation: Professor Tamsen Wolff

2020-03-10T13:52:51-04:00

March 4 "Tell Me More" Conversation: Professor Tamsen Wolff On March 4, Tamsen Wolff, Associate Professor of English, opened the third session of the “Tell Me More: Humanizing Our Research” dinner conversation series with a command to “Speak with Our Bodies.” Going around the table, she asked members of the graduate student audience to introduce themselves and articulate in real time their physiological responses to public speaking. Flushed cheeks, clammy hands, rapid heartbeats — all of these, she commented, were a visceral reminder to “never speak without warming up!” In the spirit of practicing what she preached, Professor Wolff dedicated most [...]

March 4 “Tell Me More” Conversation: Professor Tamsen Wolff2020-03-10T13:52:51-04:00

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