Came across an interesting Ted Talk. I ended up reading the transcript instead of watching it. I find I often get more from reading something than listening to it. It was actually about marketability and it said what a lot of people are saying these days, that in order to get noticed in this day […]

Mr. Harrison was my grade five teacher. He was tall and handsome with chocolate brown hair that swept across his forehead and he was cool and funny. All the kids loved him and wanted to be like him. And when he was on yard duty we all hovered around him hoping some of his coolness […]

Doesn’t mean your own life has to suffer. We’ve been saying that a LOT around the homestead. I mean who wouldn’t be appalled at what’s going on all over the world? There’s carnage and bloodshed and dying and starving all over the place. I’m trying really really hard not to hate rich people! And I’m […]

Isn’t it interesting that such an odd word ‘pedagogy’ deals with the teaching of stuff to kids? It’s funny how lately I’ve been pondering the physical impact of words and finding onomatopoeia in all kinds of words! Like ‘pondering’ for instance, doesn’t it sound like you’re doing just that, pondering, thinking, mulling something over? And […]

I just came back from attending a fabulous panel discussion that opened up the NCTE conference in Washing D.C. I was on a panel being moderated by Rudine Bishop, and my fellow panelists were Christopher Myers, Matt de la Pena, and Mitali Perkins. For the following two days all kinds of attendees came up to […]

Most of the programs I’m running at Fairview Library take place in the program room. With two walls of glass it’s basically a glass ‘box’ on the first floor. Everyone coming in and out of the library passes the program room. It’s a favorite for people to use for quiet study. The glass walls muffle […]

There is nothing as intimidating to a storyteller as an audience of babies! Little boys, little girls, Asian, South Asian, white, sitting on their mommies’ and daddies’ staring at you with their big brown and black and blue eyes, and a blank look on their faces that basically says, “Okay, go ahead. Try and entertain […]

I just told a good friend of mine that when the writing is going well, the blog isn’t, and vice versa, so please have patience with me. Sometimes there are just other priorities. I really do feel like a juggler with too many balls in the air, and the blog ball is important, but at […]

with all the new stuff I’ve been learning! But of course it’s been a very *uncomfortable* process. You know that feeling when you’re in the midst of the learning curve,  you’re not proficient yet, you’re still struggling… Well that’s where I am right now. And it’s funny but with this artist residency, I’m dealing with […]

The last few days have been. I feel completely and utterly wrung out, like I don’t want to do a single thing even when I’ve got tons of stuff to do. My nephew was with me last week. He was en route to a new job overseas. What a wonderful time we had together! But […]