Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. —William Shakespeare, Macbeth With Halloween just around the corner, I jumped on the chance to take a tour of Fairmount Cemetery. Even though the burial ground is close enough to home that I drive past it often, I had never explored it. Organized by the… Read more »
Since we live two time zones apart, I seldom meet face-to-face with Caitlin Geier, the user experience designer for my website. But once when we were in the same air space our conversation turned to the processes we use to create our blog posts. Incubate We found that both of us keep lists of our… Read more »
Writing this post makes me feel a little awkward because it’s about me. I usually don’t like writing about myself, but someone needs to stand up for me. In some instances, it’s best to forget about me. As children, we’re told not to say, “Me and Mick brainstormed our report” or “Mick and me brainstormed… Read more »
When I visited my ancestral homeland of Moneygall, Ireland, in 2019, I was interested in finding out about famous people from the area. I learned they include two former U.S. presidents and a movie star (or, as he sometimes refers to himself, the husband of a leading international human rights attorney). President Obama An Irish… Read more »
Ever since I discovered them, a pair of letters my great-great-grandfather received from his mother has haunted me. Written more than a century ago, these sorrowful letters have made me want to know more about the author’s plight and about my Gilfoil–originally Guilfoyle–heritage. It’s not entirely clear when H. Stapleton was born, but it was… Read more »
As the school year draws to a close I’ll miss not only the students but also Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath, Robert Burns’s “tim’rous beastie,” and the opportunity to see science jokes. For me, one of the greatest pleasures of substituting is the exposure to random new ideas and renewed acquaintance with old ones. Literature… Read more »
Ernest Hemingway is credited with saying, “write drunk, edit sober,” or words along those lines. Whether the source is accurate or not, this expression captures the tremendous difference between writing and editing. Writing is a rapturous activity where ideas and feelings are flowing into a river of expression. In their excitement to tell their stories,… Read more »
Heart Insight Magazine, which is produced by the American Heart Association, published an article I wrote about my experience with atrial fibrillation in their Spring 2019 edition. “Through Thick & Thin: One Patient’s Journey to Regular Heartbeat” is the second autobiographical article on this website. “On the Trail of Calamity” tells about my experiences travelling… Read more »
Designing Your Life Designing Your Life is a movement that transformed my life. I learned of it just as my hard-fought campaign for a full-time job was giving way to a tentative return, with feelings of defeat and trepidation, to freelancing. I ordered the book Designing Your Life: How to build a well-lived, joyful lifewith hopes… Read more »
Comprise has undergone a substantial shift in usage since first appearing in English in the 15th century… (Merriam Webster) “Comprise” is among the terms listed in the chapter of The Elements of Style entitled “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused.” The authors explain that the word literally means “embrace.” They provide the example of a zoo, which… Read more »