March 2011
New Jersey Wineries →
Renault Winery, Egg Harbor City renaultwinery.com
New Jersey has a growing wine industry with more than 40 wineries producing over 225 different varieties of wines from dry…
Electronic Hickey
Oh, man…
from the NY Times
For teenagers, who have ready access to technology and are growing up in a culture that celebrates body flaunting, sexting is laughably easy, unremarkable and even compelling: the primary reason teenagers sext is to look cool and sexy to someone they find attractive. Indeed, the photos can confer cachet.
“Having a naked picture of your significant other on your...
The Original Undo Button
Learn During Lunch via http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org
On this day in 1858, Hymen Lipman of Philadelphia patented the first pencil to have an attached eraser.
The eraser-tipped pencil is still something of an American phenomenon; most European pencils are still eraserless.
The humble pencil has a long and storied history, going back to the Roman stylus, which was sometimes made of lead,...
More Space For Wikis →
Wikispaces.com is now offering free wikis to higher education. When they launched more than five years ago, they announced plans to make 100,000 of their wikis ad-free and private,…
White-Nose Disease Has Killed A Million Bats So... →
White-nose disease was first discovered in a single bat cave in upstate New York in 2006. Since then, the fatal fungal illness, which shows up as white patches on the faces and wings of hibernating…
The NJ Sand Castle Law
Beachgoers can build sand castles along one New Jersey beach without fear of prosecution.
Belmar has overturned an ordinance that required people to get written permission from the town council if they planned to construct something out of the sand. The ordinance was on the books even though…
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/belmar_reverses_law_requiring.html
In the Present
Richard Ford (The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land)
“I wanted to write this novel in the first person, and in the present tense. The novel gets to say we’re present tense here, and yet we can read the present over and over again. Which is quite a nice thing to do, we’d all be better off if we could not stop time but slow it down a little bit, and live the...
Spring WAC Roundtable →
The Spring Roundtable was a success! Held on Wednesday, March 23, the aim of the roundtable discussions each semester is to promote writing across the curriculum. Presenters offer suggestions to…
The Myth of Silence and Solitude →
“And let there be the greatest silence, so that no whisper, and no voice but the reader’s, may be heard there.” Rule of Saint Benedict, ch. 38 Every summer, there is some hot, lazy day when I think…
Coyotes →
Coyote sightings in NJ will probably increase in the next month or so. Coyotes bear litters during April and May, and this is when encounters with humans is more likely to occur. Females deliver…
Transitions →
As I noted in my spring equinox post here last week, in Japan the vernal equinox is an official national holiday. It is often spent visiting family graves and holding family reunions. This year, with…
Fashion and Poets →
Fashion and poets - a disturbing mix… From O, The Oprah Magazine, March 08, 2011
Modeling the latest looks, eight rising poets express their dynamic personal styles—and show you how to…
Fashion and Poets →
Fashion and poets - a disturbing mix… From O, The Oprah Magazine, March 08, 2011
Modeling the latest looks, eight rising poets express their dynamic personal styles—and show you how to…
Endangered New Jersey Two Years On →
Today is the two year anniversary of this blog. That’s a toddler in the blogosphere. It’s one of about a half dozen blogs that I write on. A few observations so far… The most popular (based on…
Gerald Stern at WCCC →
The WCCC Visiting Authors Series continues on Wednesday, March 30th, with a reading by Gerald Stern, recipient of the National Book Award for Poetry. This event, beginning at 7:30…
Gerald Stern at WCCC →
The WCCC Visiting Authors Series continues on Wednesday, March 30th, with a reading by Gerald Stern, recipient of the National Book Award for Poetry. This event, beginning at 7:30…
Hollywood on the Jersey Side of the Hudson →
This site occasionally moves outside its usual domain of the environment to examine some of New Jersey’s historical preservation for other thing endangered in our state. I have long been a film fan…
Koan 14 →
If you meet the Buddha, kill him.
— Linji
This koan is probably the most shocking one I have encountered. Kill the Buddha?
What if the statement was “If you meet Jesus, kill him?”
Equine New Jersey →
New Jersey’s Wildlife Management Area System, administered by the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Bureau of Land Management, preserves a diversity of fish and wildlife habitats from Delaware Bay…
The Green Heron Poetry Project →
The Upper Delaware Writers Collective
Announces The 2011 Green Heron Poetry Project
http://www.upperdelawarewriterscollective.com
The Upper Delaware Writers Collective (UDWC) was…
Happy Birthday, Billy Collins
Today is poet Billy Collins’ birthday. He turns 70 and perhaps his own poem (“Forgetfulness”) has even more meaning now…
The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to...
the country they call life
Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me. Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness. Give me your hand.
from Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
Day of Rest →
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” - Ovid
Spring Equinox 2011 →
Today, March 20, at 7:21 P.M. EDT will be the vernal, or spring equinox. An equinox occurs twice a year, spring and fall, when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards…
Full Sap Moon →
The March Full Moon for 2011 is today, the 19th. There are plenty of names for this month’s Full Moon to choose from including the Full Worm Moon, Oak Moon, Storm Moon, Seed Moon and Maple Moon….
World’s End →
The earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear events in Japan this week has the world thinking. I knew it would only be a matter of days before I would come upon stories about it signaling the end of the…
Dear New York Times Reader →
In today’s email… Today marks a significant transition for The New York Times as we introduce digital subscriptions. It’s an important step that we hope you will see as an investment…
The Case for Vacations
Did you know that the United States is the only country in the industrialized world that doesn’t guarantee paid time off for vacation, illness, or personal emergencies?
We leave it up to the employer, and the result is that one in four Americans does not enjoy the benefit of a single paid day off from their job. For those of us lucky enough to work for a company that provides paid vacation...
Mount Auburn Cemetery daguerreotype →
Lawrence Lot, Mount Auburn Cemetery, originally uploaded by George Eastman House.
Lawrence Lot, Mount Auburn Cemetery Accession Number: 1974:0193:0096 Maker: Southworth & Hawes Title: Lawrence Lot, Mount Auburn Cemetery
2011 Writing Contest - TIFERET Journal →
TIFERET, A Journal of Spiritual Literature, offers three awards of $500 in the categories of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. TIFFERET publishes writing from a variety of spiritual…
