March 2010
Bright Wings and Spring →
Looking into a new anthology, a new anthology Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds was the inspiration for our March prompt. Did you notice the new…
February 2010
“Writing destroys memory and weakens the mind, relieving it of work that makes it...”
– Plato apparently also had no interest in writing workshops.
Stream-Entering →
Stream-Entering
Though reluctant
when his mother insists
on joining the sangha
the Buddha admits
women too are capable
of stream-entering
reading these words
it is not that suddenly
I enter the stream
it is more that I become
aware of its coolness and of
myself pleasantly wading
then the sea appears
heaving between continents
grey, horizonless
death-cold currents
day and night,...
Finding True North →
There’s a bit of a curse on those of us who studied literature in college. You tend to see symbols, metaphors and analogies all around you.
Maybe you see the games of Chess and Go as defining…
Fulfilling Kneads →
Just a quick post taking note that there is something about baking bread – especially on a weekend in Paradelle when everything is snow-covered – that fulfills a “knead” inside me. My latest bread…
Einstein on his faith
A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are...
“seedlings under glass
bright white light from snow outside
that they...”
– 2/27/10
Forcing the Season →
How should I interpret that I like forcing the season? For a bunch of years, I have been forcing plant bulbs over the winter, and branches in February as a way of getting a glimpse of Spring in this…
The Evolution of Revision →
Either this post should be titled “The Evolution of Revision” or “The Revision of Evolution.” Both fit.
It was inspired by this very interesting website, On the Origin of…
Snow Moon 2010 →
The full moon coming on February 28 (16:40 GMT) is generally known as the Snow Moon. For both Native Americans and the colonists the typically cold, snowy weather of February was a difficult time in…
“I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That’s...”
– via Evenings in Paradelle
The Sixth Great Extinction →
Scientists still discover new species every year. Unfortunately, many new species are often immediately classified as threatened or endangered. These discoveries help us understand the fragility of…
Follow Poets Online on Twitter →
You can follow Poets Online on Twitter - even if you don’t have a Twitter account (but it is more fun if we can connect).http://poetsonline.org for poetic inspiration
Transparency in Online Education →
Online courses, programs, degrees and institutions have been criticized as less than traditional classroom experiences
since online learning first appeared. A few days ago, I posted an SNL…
Online Learning SNL Style →
Saturday Night Live’s take on getting a degree online. Funny. And not funny. http://www.hulu.com/watch/101506/saturday-night-live-university-of-westfield-online
Transparency (or the lack thereof) →
Looking through the rough drafts I have for posts to this blog, I realized that I had started three posts about transparency of one kind or another.
Transparency is a term that gets more attention…
Poems For A Snow Day →
I am home for another snow day from school. Whether you are the student or the professor, the thrill of being home from school because of snow has not waned. Unfortunately, the shoveling…
Historical Preservation: The Old Barracks →
My Google alerts for endangered and threatened species sometimes turn up some odd results, like “Are women in information technology an endangered species?” But today, one that turned up concerns…
Will the Black Bear Hunt Return to NJ in 2010? →
Yet another controversy that has come up in NJ news this year is the possibility of a bear hunt again in New Jersey. The state Fish and Game Council may propose New Jersey’s first bear hunt…
Would You Pay For A Free Education? →
A Nielsen survey out this month on paid Web site content asked those surveyed
about what they will pay for (like news and entertainment) that you now get online for free. They were…
Google Gets Stung by Its Own Buzz →
The week of Feb. 9, 2010, may go down as one of the worst in Google’s corporate history in terms of product launches and public reaction. On that day, Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com) invaded every Gmail account holders’ workspace through an auto-setup, opt-out routine. Other than widespread rumors of an announcement the day before, Gmail users had no warning that potentially...
“Poetry is not my life. My life is my life.” — Lucille Clifton”
– washingtonpost.com
Dolphins in the Hackensack River →
If the harp seal visiting Woodbridge this month wasn’t enough for New Jersey, now a pod of about a dozen dolphins have appeared in the Hackensack River way up near Teaneck, Bogota and Hackensack. …
Elementary, My Dear House →
I was a big Sherlock Holmes fan as a kid. I watch House on TV now. And I’m not the first or only person who has seen the resemblance.
It’s not a coincidence.
I heard an interview with one of the…
an island →
near Paradelle Originally uploaded by ronk53 near Paradelle
Filed under: Think About It
The Man Who Loved Islands →
As a kid, I was always drawing maps. I used to draw maps of islands in my school notebooks. There was something about islands.
Maybe it was just that you could put the whole thing there on one page….
“Nothing to Save
There is nothing to save, now all is lost,
but a tiny...”
– Poets Online
Apart from the Usual Parties Politic →
Politics and education technology mix, in discussion, about as well as baking soda and vinegar but given the groundswell of faction of
dubiously enlightened hot air in America, maybe its time to…
Games People Play →
I’m not sure why, but I have never been much of a board game player. I am in the minority, since board games have been played in most cultures throughout history.
Senet, which may be the oldest board…
“Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I’ll tell you a...”
– Evenings in Paradelle
“The snow having melted,
the village is full
of children.
Issa, (1763 - 1827)”
– DWW: Haiku Spirit: Classic Haiku: Issa
First egg means spring is on its way →
Does the first egg means spring is on its way? Geez, I hope so. That groundhog was a downer.
Small Farm Life
Sandy Hook Visitors Center →
a 360 degree gigapan of the Sandy Hook Visitors Center in Winter (NJ) by Brian Richards
Pimp Your Pavement →
It’s cold here in Paradelle, but it’s not too early to be thinking about getting outside and working in the garden. The seed catalogs are arriving. When I go out to start up the snow blower, I can’t…
Found Poetry: Status Updates →
One complaint you might hear from poets who dislike “found poetry” is that it’s not poetry. (There’s another group with the same argument for prose poems.) Because this month’s writing prompt is…
Will Climate Change Guide Environmental Decisions? →
A piece in The New York Times last week (“Obama Budget Retools FWS for Warming World”) written by Patrick Reis and Allison Winter of Greenwire, says that despite a backlog of endangered species…
Face It, Wikipedia Is Here To Stay →
Google has made a $2,000,000 donation to the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization that runs and
maintains Wikipedia. That’s not why Wikipedia is here to stay. They have been asking for…
Harp Seal in Woodbridge, NJ →
You don’t really expect to find a seal wandering along an avenue in New Jersey. But, a Woodbridge township snow plow driver came across one this month on Sixth Avenue in the Port Reading…
Blog Milestones →
I overlooked a Serendipity35 birthday this month. I realized it when
I saw that Karine Joly posted her
blog’s fifth birthday, which reminded me that I started blogging here the…
