The End of Editing
(At least for now) Shortly after The World According to Garp won the National Book Award in 1980, I recall reading that John Irving was caught on-stage editing the published copy of his novel before...
View ArticleChanneling Dunbar & Dylan
I recall, years ago at the Antioch Writers Workshop, watching from afar as Herbert Woodward Martin prepared himself to become Paul Laurence Dunbar. Herb had sequestered himself outside the auditorium...
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Write and Cycle: The Joys of Biking
The storm struck as I crossed Jacoby Road on the Little Miami Bike Trail, four miles south of Yellow Springs, heading home from Xenia. The sky roiled, rain began pelting me and a cannon blast of wind...
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Dylan Wins Nobel
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today...
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Dylan Accepts Nobel…Finally
“Well, I’m right here,” Bob Dylan replied when told the Swedish Academy had been trying for three weeks to hear from him regarding the Nobel in Literature they had awarded him. Whew. I’m sure fans and...
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Thankful for Poetry
It’s been a tough year for all of us. Along with life’s other challenges, this year’s election season was an especially bruising one for every American, regardless of where anyone stood along the...
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Poetry IS Life
A new year is a good time to be thinking about poetry. It’s on my mind, since 2016 ended with poetry—the annual Solstice Poetry Reading at Glen Helen (which attracted 92 hardy souls on a cold winter...
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The Holy Trinity: Laughter, Love and Family
I used to enjoy it when my well-traveled comp students would tackle a cultural comparison essay as one of their assignments. Therefore, I’m really excited when a writing colleague as accomplished as...
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Anthologized: With Eyes Glowing
I just got my head knocked off by reading Eyes Glowing at the Edge of the Woods, a new anthology of fiction and poetry from West Virginia. I am so pleased to have a story among this distinguished...
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The Publishing Workshop I Never Gave
(*Plus Rita Coleman’s new poetry book!) I was never quite comfortable with the idea of presenting a workshop on how to publish fiction. So when the workshop that my friend Joe Downing and I were...
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Flowers Never Bend: The Meaning of a Friend
“So I’ll continue to continue to pretend My life will never end And flowers never bend With the rainfall.” —Paul Simon Diagnosed with brain cancer, my childhood pal Steve found himself unable to...
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Telling on the Disease: Writers & Depression
In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, For I had lost the right path. –Dante’s The Divine Comedy Depression is a malady to which artists and writers, particularly...
View ArticlePoetry for Early Fall
Dayton Metro Library I’m leading a Poetry Workshop at the newly rebuilt Dayton Metro Library, 215 E. Third Street, Dayton, OH on Tuesday, September 19, 6:30-8:00 p.m. in the Community Room on the...
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Acanemia: A Memoir – In the Halls of Higher Learning
Native Daytonian Lawrence Hussman’s new memoir contains fascinating revelations about Wright State University in particular and the state of higher education in general. It’s actually three books in...
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Of Libraries & Immigrants: Dayton Treasures
New Library: Sacred Space If you’ve already visited the newly rebuilt Dayton/Montgomery County Library, forgive me, but I’ve got to gush a little. As you can tell from the above photo, taken by...
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