Guest Writers
Guest Post by Leanna Best: Lessons From Javan
This piece was written by Leanna Best, a student in one of my Composition-101 classes held at Monroe Community College during the Fall-Winter 2010 semester….
Gratitude From An 11-Year Old
I’ll tell you what I’m grateful for: my son, who decided to take over as today’s guest blogger and gave me a little extra vacation time….
"Out of The Closet" by Chrissy Teague
What are you holding onto that might benefit someone else? Needs have never been greater. What better time to give than now? You may feel like you don’t have much. I understand. I’m a jobless single mother coming out of two closets. I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to give. I challenge you to do what you can. Our relatives, our friends, our neighbors need us. The quality of community is in our hands. …
Interview with Janet Goodfriend • Author
With so much negativity about the economy and dooming words about how print is dying, it is nearly impossible not to absorb such stifling chatter. In spite of the stone cold anonymous face of the publishing industry, if writing is in you, you must do it because you love to write and have something to tell. Only after you have completed your masterpiece, should you agonize over how to go about piercing a market clad with impenetrable locks and barriers. Upon your final rejection — and you’ll know it’s the last one because you will have stopped keeping track of the rejections, and feel as though your manuscript might actually combust inside your computer from all the continuous fingertip friction upon the keyboard or, worse, you will be ever aware of your inner-quaking as a result of the punishing silence from publishers and agents who simply cannot respond personally to the 300 plus queries they receive on a weekly basis.) That said, you can polish your work as well as a professional editor and publish it yourself. …
Moving Up Day Speech by Melanie Ward
This speech was delivered by Melanie Ward, Principal of Mendon Center Elementary School on June 22, 2010 on its annual Moving Up Day Ceremony which occurs on the last day of school. As in any good speech, the speaker’s words have resonance not only for the graduates but for all audience members, and I asked Mrs. Ward for permission to share her words here, for parents to consider: How well are we, as adults, fulfilling the advice of an elementary school principal to her graduating students?…