Mississippi Philological Association

Today is the annual meeting of the Mississippi Philological Association, a scholarly organization focused on language and literature, which also encourages creative panels. I’ll be reading a few poems at one of the sessions, Kim is reading a paper, and MUW has three students who will be reading fiction, poetry, and an essay. It wasContinue reading “Mississippi Philological Association”

ATT DSL Woes Resolved (for now ?)

When we came home from our Christmas travels, we had a little time on our hands and wanted to watch some Netflix streaming. Fortunately, we also had a couple of DVD’s to watch, since our DSL connection speeds had dropped to the point that Netflix wouldn’t load. I tested our connection using speedtest.net and got speedsContinue reading “ATT DSL Woes Resolved (for now ?)”

New Semester

It’s always nice to see a new batch of students in your classes at the beginning of a new semester, along with a few returning faces. This semester, it looks like I have a good group. Classes are reasonably sized, but not too huge. I’m excited about using my new textbook in creative writing withContinue reading “New Semester”

New Year’s Resolution 2: Complete a Book of Poems

Some readers of this blog will be familiar with my series of poems on the paintings and logs of Walter Inglis Anderson, which I’ve called “Barrier Island Suite.” They’ve been around for a few years and have been published individually in magazines over the years, but I’ve never quite decided what to do with themContinue reading “New Year’s Resolution 2: Complete a Book of Poems”

New Year’s Resolution: Clean My Desktop

This one is rather easy to accomplish, though it may be harder to keep! Did you know that leaving files on your desktop can slow down your computer’s performance significantly? I do, and yet I still put them there for easy access. This year, my resolution was to clean off this space and start afresh.Continue reading “New Year’s Resolution: Clean My Desktop”

In Memorium: Nelson Mandela

It is hard to hear of the passing of Nelson Mandela today. He was one of the major political figures of my youth, a living icon to look up to as a man of unprecedented strength of spirit, yet a man of passive resistance. Icons of a former day, Gandhi or Martin Luther King, wereContinue reading “In Memorium: Nelson Mandela”

Why are All Poets Dead or Famous (or Both)??

Okay, so I hope to be living proof (along with many of my friends and students) that the title of this post isn’t true. However, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking it was true if your only source of information was an online bookstore. Just one example this morning, I went to Barnes and Noble,Continue reading “Why are All Poets Dead or Famous (or Both)??”