Category Archives: Losing courage and other freakouts

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The Accidental Professor

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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 / appearances / bad behavior in public places / BOOM. / coffee / creepers / Cue the Golden Girls theme song / Doing / Embarrassing stories / Emma is very lucky / Emma's Adventures in Over-Analyzing / 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 Cat Battles / Fear and how to face it / Free to Be You and Me / Frills and Fancies / Gertrude Stein (feline version) / Going to eleven / gratuitous photos of whatnot / Language systems / Losing courage and other freakouts / mullings and ramblings / Mustachio'd Kitties / My meowing roommates / My nerves are bad tonight. Yes bad. / NaPoMo / New Fangled Technology and Whatnot / overthinking / perfection is boring. period. / Photography / poems / poetry / reading / readings / shameless cat photos / Statesboro / Stationary Objects and Collisions Therewith / summations / Thanks and thanks again / The Hunger Games / the poem factory / The Secret Life of Objects / thought for the day / What Emma is up to / Where You Can Find Me (Or At Least My Words) / writing life / You gotta have friends

Radio Free Gertrude

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In which Emma writes about why it’s really hard for her to not bring up the formal wear store Frills and Fancies in every conversation, and also talks about her cats, duh. Continue reading »

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

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

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

A brief break from the poetry / Brief Updating / childhood ailments and other daily disasters / cool/not cool / disagreeable/agreeable / DUENDE / Emma's Adventures in Over-Analyzing / Fear and how to face it / gratuitous photos of whatnot / ill omens / INTENSE / IRL Drama Llama / It's the end of the world as we know it / John Stossel / lists / Losing courage and other freakouts / My meowing roommates / NOT COOL. / overthinking / pictorial representations / The Drama Llama / visual representations

Things 20/20 Has Made Me Fear

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In which Emma tries something different by offering an important list. Continue reading »

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

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She doesn’t even go here! 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)

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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 »

childhood ailments and other daily disasters / ill omens / where are you going where have you been / carma / odd comparisons and awkward metaphors / Losing courage and other freakouts / The Drama Llama / Probably quite a bit TMI / accidental confessions / Emma is cursed / NOT COOL. / Emma's dsyfunctional relationship with Diet Coke / Invasion of the Poetsnatchers / How the iPhone changed my life / My meowing roommates / Fear and how to face it / The evolution of Emma / family / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / events / On being a poet / Embarrassing stories / Epic / medical curiosities / bongos

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

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Here’s the second part of the story I started last week. There are bongos in this part. 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)

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

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

Jack Gilbert and Graduate School Emma: A Cautionary Tale

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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 »

2012 / A manifesto of sorts / accidental confessions / Amazing discoveries and wondrous visions / Art and life and love and The Big Stuff / awesome / bad behavior in public places / Bizarre associations and other odd tendencies / Chchchchanges / disagreeable/agreeable / Emma's Adventures in Over-Analyzing / Emma's attempts at normal life / Emma's attempts at real life (failed or otherwise) / EPIC WIN / failed or otherwise / Failure Schmailure / Fear and how to face it / Fish have bad intentions. / Georgia / Hello Cleveland! / hopes and dreams / INTENSE / It is ON 2012 / It's the end of the world as we know it / learning / learning patience slowly / Losing courage and other freakouts / love / Movin' on / My meowing roommates / overthinking / questions and their answers / random musings / Recharging the mental batteries / revision / sins of commission and omission / The Drama Llama / The evolution of Emma / wonders and apparitions

The Ichthyophobic Fish Owner

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In which Emma gets a goldfish, which is a Seriously Big Deal. Continue reading »