Storytelling. Fact and fiction. One word at a time.
I'm sitting at my table listening to Ted Talks--- Like I used to years ago in my attic apartment of the old house I owned. I was parallel with the trees in the sloped top of the old character home. I lived in the romance of my cute little place. That was a truth. I... Continue Reading →
Last night from the balcony of my bedroom in Thessaloniki, Greece, I felt a familiar calling from the long-ago times. I looked over the neighborhood and the city with its stacked dwellings---a very different vision than the city I'm from in Canada. The buildings in front of me felt older than they actually are. I... Continue Reading →
The task I assign a basic exercise in my art class at the beginning of the semester, where I have the students make a list of 20 things they love. It's personal and useful. This assignment was initially created to resolve the frequent phrase I hear whenever I assign a new art project: "I don't... Continue Reading →
There is so much learning in class ---curricular and non-curricular. Both categories are equally important. I often like to know where my teaching lands in my students' learning. As part of their final evaluation in the English class, I asked them to tell me what they learned related to English lessons. Happily, they learned a... Continue Reading →
My life is the "Yes and..." improv game, just on a really life size scale. Here's how you play Yes and... An improv player makes eye contact with another team member and makes a statement such as: I found a box on the road. Player two says Yes and...we should open it. The conversation goes... Continue Reading →
After reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield I pondered, because that's what any good book does---it makes you think. I asked myself: What does it look like when I write? What do I do? How do I do it? Great questions and I'd love to tell you* (taken from Elyse Myers, and thank... Continue Reading →
"People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them."The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho The student Is a dream also a hope or a potential destination? A student popped into my classroom to visit at lunch. Being part of this city's... Continue Reading →
I watched the clouds roll in from my window. Disappointment also rolled in. I wanted to see the moon rise. There are few things more gorgeous than a full moon rise on a prairie horizon. This was going to be the Full Pink Moon. Not sure who names them but that feels as soft as... Continue Reading →
We are about to launch our fourth book in the Shepherd and Wolfe Mystery series. It's called Shepherd's Call and it's coming out on May 25. I just spent too much time on social media promoting the book launch---not my skill set. All the steps to writing a novel (at least for us) For those... Continue Reading →
Sometimes, we have no idea the impact we could have on someone. I do understand that we are all connected in someway or another and I accept that as a human truth. It's comforting. But besides knowing it, I don't consciously walk around thinking 'making a difference, making a difference, making a difference. However, once... Continue Reading →
Angie Counios 