2013 is the year of Awesome / A teacher's education / Academia / Academic inquiries / accidental confessions / Another summer in a winter town / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / awesome / Bizarre associations and other odd tendencies / Chchchchanges / childhood ailments and other daily disasters / creative writing / disappearances / DUENDE / education / edumacation / Embarrassing stories / Emma is very lucky / Emma's Awkward Adolescence / Emma's Adventures in Over-Analyzing / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Fear and how to face it / graduate school / gratuitous photos of whatnot / Happy accidents / learning / Losing courage and other freakouts / Movin' on / My nerves are bad tonight. Yes bad. / my students / odd comparisons and awkward metaphors / overthinking / pedagogy / Scenes from my childhood / So long / teaching / teaching writing / the heft of cathedral tunes / the three jobs / thought for the day / where are you going where have you been / writing community / writing teachers

The Accidental Professor

When I was a little kid and we went to the beach, I always had this strange and terrifying and utterly disorienting moment where I’d think to myself this is our first day at the beach; we have four more days at the beach, and then this vacation is over.  That sentence, I now realize, … Continue reading »

2013 is the year of Awesome / A festival of photos / A teacher's education / Alice B. Toklas (feline version) / announcements / appearances / awesome / bad behavior in public places / books / classroom / creative writing / creative writing pedagogy / disagreeable/agreeable / education / edumacation / Embarrassing stories / Emma is very lucky / Epic / EPIC WIN / eyebrows / GenPop Books / Georgia / Georgia Southern / Gertrude Stein (feline version) / Going to eleven / gratuitous photos of whatnot / instagram / Interviews / kidney stones / learning / Live-Tweeting / Malificae / medical curiosities / META / multi-tasking / Mustachio'd Kitties / My meowing roommates / NaPoMo / NaPoWriMo / Online culture / pedagogy / Perspiration? Inspiration? / Photo for the day / Photography / poem challenge / poem for the day / poems / poetry / Poetry Exercises / poets / Probably quite a bit TMI / relationships / shameless cat photos / shameless self-promotion / Squee! / teaching / teaching writing / The grind / The latest medical anomaly / the poem factory / The Witch Trials / Twitter / What Emma is up to / wonders and apparitions / writing community / writing life / writing teachers

“And on the radio you hear ‘November Rain;’ that solo’s awful long, but it’s got a good refrain.”*

In which I announce the fact that I’m going to be on the radio tomorrow and talk about how awful the weather is today, which may or may not also happen tomorrow on the radio. Continue reading »

2013 is the year of Awesome / A manifesto of sorts / A teacher's education / Academia / Academic inquiries / accidental confessions / aesthetic theory / All-around amazing people / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / appearances / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / awesome kids we should all keep an eye out for / bad behavior in public places / bright shining spots in the very much dark / classroom / COLLECT! / cool/not cool / creative writing / creative writing pedagogy / Department of Writing and Linguistics / disagreeable/agreeable / Doing / drafts / education / edumacation / Embarrassing stories / Emma is very lucky / Epic Fail? EPIC WIN! / Failure Schmailure / Fear and how to face it / Free to Be You and Me / Georgia Southern / Going to eleven / Inquiries into academics / inspiration / Internet culture / it is ON. / learning / Losing courage and other freakouts / my students / NaPoMo / NaPoWriMo / On being a poet / Online culture / pedagogy / perfection is boring. period. / Perspiration? Inspiration? / pictorial representations / poems / poetry / Poetry Exercises / teaching / teaching writing / The evolution of Emma / The grind / the poem factory / There is no try / What Emma is up to / wonders and apparitions / writing community / writing life / writing teachers / You better work / [expletive deleted]

Are There Things That Are Important Beyond All This Fiddle? Or NaPoWriMo and You

In which Emma rationalizes her decision to write and post a poem a day along with her students. Publicly. No, really. Continue reading »

2013 is the year of Awesome / A manifesto of sorts / A teacher's education / Academia / Academic inquiries / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / awesome / AWP / AWP 2013 / AWP Boston / bad behavior in public places / books / bright shining spots in the very much dark / Chchchchanges / contemporary poetry / Corrections / Cue the Golden Girls theme song / disagreeable/agreeable / education / edumacation / Emily Dickinson = The Ultimate / Emma is very lucky / Emma's Adventures in Over-Analyzing / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Emma's theories on what makes for Very Good Poetry / Epic / EPIC WIN / evaluations / events / Failure Schmailure / False Dichotomies / Fight the power! / Free to Be You and Me / Friendship Is Magic / Going to eleven / graduate school / Home / hopes and dreams / Inquiries into academics / inspiration / Instructions / learning / learning patience slowly / Losing courage and other freakouts / Maps and legends / META / MFA / mullings and ramblings / On being a poet / perfection is boring. period. / Perspiration? Inspiration? / poems / poetry / poets / Power to the People / publishing / publishing (or not publishing / random musings / ranting and raving / re-purposing / Recharging the mental batteries / rejection / rejection slippage / Retrospective / summations / teaching / teaching writing / The evolution of Emma / the poem factory / The power and the money / The Thoughts of a Poetry Fan Girl / the three jobs / thought for the day / where are you going where have you been / Who The Eff Cares? / wonders and apparitions / Words of Wisdom / writers conferences / writing and not writing / Writing Anew / writing community / writing life / writing space / writing teachers / You better work / You gotta have friends

AWP: Traditions, Revisions, Permissions (Or I’m Okay, You’re Okay, Let’s Skip The Dance Party)

She doesn’t even go here! Continue reading »

2013 is the year of Awesome / A festival of linkage / A festival of photos / A teacher's education / Academia / Academic inquiries / accidental confessions / All-around amazing people / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / announcements / appearances / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / awesome / awesome kids we should all keep an eye out for / awesome presses / AWP / AWP 2013 / AWP Boston / bad behavior in public places / Bad girls and good girls gone bad / Bizarre associations and other odd tendencies / book signings / books / bright shining spots in the very much dark / chapbooks / COLLECT! / contemporary poetry / Cue the Golden Girls theme song / Department of Writing and Linguistics / education / edumacation / Emily Dickinson = The Ultimate / Emma is very lucky / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Emma's theories on what makes for Very Good Poetry / EPIC WIN / events / Fan Girl / Free to Be You and Me / Georgia Southern / Going to eleven / gratitude / Indian Springs School Visiting Writers Series / Inquiries into academics / inspiration / instagram / Internet culture / IRL Drama Llama / it is ON. / Kate Greenstreet / learning / my students / One Can Find Me Here (Or At Least My Words) / Online culture / Pass it on! / plans / poems / poetry / Poetry Rock Stars / poetry superheroes / poets / reading / readings / Sarah Lawrence College / schedules / shameless self-promotion / Sicilian slang / Squee! / teaching / teaching writing / The latest medical anomaly / The Witch Trials / Very Excellent News / What Emma is up to / where are you going where have you been / Where You Can Find Me (Or At Least My Words) / wonders and apparitions / writers conferences / writing community / writing life / writing teachers / You better work / You gotta have friends

Sometimes things are exciting …

In which Emma talks about some Seriously Exciting Things and gives so many links your head may explode with all the awesome. Continue reading »

365 / A festival of photos / A teacher's education / accidental confessions / aesthetic theory / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / Artist's Renditions / bongos / bright shining spots in the very much dark / Corrections / disagreeable/agreeable / disappearances / DUENDE / Emma is very lucky / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Epic Fail? EPIC WIN! / evaluations / Fear and how to face it / Film / flickr / gratitude / gratuitous photos of whatnot / Happy accidents / instagram / IRL Drama Llama / learning / learning patience slowly / Losing courage and other freakouts / Milestones and suchness / mullings and ramblings / My meowing roommates / nonappearances / On being a poet / Photo for the day / Photography / pictorial representations / poets / Resolutions / Retrospectitating / Retrospective / Sarah Lawrence College / shameless cat photos / The evolution of Emma / The latest medical anomaly / what I don't write about / wonders and apparitions

Dr. Strangedrugs, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying Because I Forgot About What I Was Worrying About (Part Three)

In which I finally kind of finish up the whole Neurontin story. Kind of. Also I make two very important clarifications, one of which is about bongos. Continue reading »

accidental confessions / bongos / carma / childhood ailments and other daily disasters / Embarrassing stories / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Emma's dsyfunctional relationship with Diet Coke / Epic / events / family / Fear and how to face it / How the iPhone changed my life / learning / Losing courage and other freakouts / medical curiosities / My meowing roommates / pictorial representations / Tangents that should be entires on their own / The Drama Llama / The evolution of Emma / The latest medical anomaly / visual representations / where are you going where have you been

Dr. Strangedrugs, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying Because I Forgot What I Was Worried About (Part One)

In which Emma talks about that time she went blind while driving. And then there were bongos. Continue reading »

2012 / A manifesto of sorts / A teacher's education / accidental confessions / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / appearances / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / bad behavior in public places / bright shining spots in the very much dark / COLLECT! / Corrections / creative nonfiction / disagreeable/agreeable / disappearances / DUENDE / Emily Dickinson = The Ultimate / Emma is very lucky / Emma miraculously survives another holiday / Emma's Adventures in Over-Analyzing / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / Emma's dsyfunctional relationship with Diet Coke / Epic Cat Battles / EPIC FAIL / Epic Fail? EPIC WIN! / EPIC WIN / Errata / evaluations / extended metaphors / Facebook / Facebook memes / failed or otherwise / Failure Schmailure / gratitude / grief / hopes and dreams / How Emily Dickinson changed (saved?) my life / Internet culture / IRL Drama Llama / It is ON 2012 / It's the end of the world as we know it / Jellyfish / kitteh / learning / learning patience slowly / love / love poems / memes / Milestones and suchness / MLP / Movin' on / mullings and ramblings / My Little Pony / My meowing roommates / New Fangled Technology and Whatnot / nonappearances / nonfiction / Notebooks / Online culture / overthinking / perfection is boring. period. / poetry / random musings / ranting and raving / relationships / Resolutions / Retrospectitating / Retrospective / revision / Shifting metaphors / sins of commission and omission / summations / The evolution of Emma / The Great Kidney Stone Battle Royale of 2012 / the heft of cathedral tunes / The Year of Projects / thought for the day / Transparency / What Emma is up to / where are you going where have you been / wonders and apparitions

2012: The Year of Living Transparently (Part Two)

In which Emma wraps up her two-part year-in-review post and puts 2012, finally, to bed. Also there’s some important information about cats and hair accessories here. Continue reading »

2012 / 365 / A festival of photos / A teacher's education / Academia / Alice B. Toklas (feline version) / awesome / classroom / crafting / crafts / creative writing pedagogy / DIY / education / edumacation / Emma is very lucky / Emma's attempts at normal life / eyebrows / flickr / Georgia Southern / Gertrude Stein (feline version) / Glitter (pretty version) / gratuitous photos of whatnot / hopes and dreams / housekeeping / inspiration / instagram / IRL Drama Llama / It is ON 2012 / It's the end of the world as we know it / kitteh / learning / learning patience slowly / multi-tasking / Mustachio'd Kitties / My meowing roommates / My nerves are bad tonight. Yes bad. / pedagogy / perfection is boring. period. / Perspiration? Inspiration? / Photo for the day / Photography / Pinterest / Resolutions / Retrospectitating / Retrospective / shameless cat photos / Squee! / teaching / teaching writing / Thanks and thanks again / That Was The Week That Was / What Emma is up to / wonders and apparitions / writing teachers

That Was The Week That Was: Week Forty-Five

In which Emma gets all festive and glittery. Continue reading »

readings / books / mullings and ramblings / thought for the day / wonders and apparitions / training / poetry superheroes / cool/not cool / bad behavior in public places / ranting and raving / inspiration / Errata / Corrections / Chchchchanges / COLLECT! / where are you going where have you been / disagreeable/agreeable / edumacation / My nerves are bad tonight. Yes bad. / Losing courage and other freakouts / A teacher's education / Poets I should probably pay more attention to / Probably quite a bit TMI / learning patience slowly / accidental confessions / Emma is very lucky / Poetry Rock Stars / Poems I should probably pay a lot more attention to / Emma's theories on what makes for Very Good Poetry / Bad girls and good girls gone bad / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / EPIC FAIL / A manifesto of sorts / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / DUENDE / Epic Fail? EPIC WIN! / contemporary poetry / aesthetic theory / MFA / Academia / graduate school / learning / writing teachers / education / Fear and how to face it / poets / The evolution of Emma / balance / poetry / failed or otherwise / bright shining spots in the very much dark / reading / poems / Fan Girl / Righting Wrongs / Poor decisions / Words of Wisdom / On being a poet / Jack Gilbert / The Year Things Went Too Far

Jack Gilbert and Graduate School Emma: A Cautionary Tale

In which Emma examines the mind of Graduate School Emma, who, because she didn’t appreciate Jack Gilbert, clearly had lost her mind. Continue reading »