The Hunger Games — Supersized

In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen’s idea of a good meal might be a stew of rabbits and the root vegetable that bears her name. A Reaping Day feast could even include a good loaf of bread from the town bakery and a small chunk of her sister’s homemade goat cheese. Fancier fare is reserved […]

If Eckhart Tolle Blogged

For those of you who have read the work of Eckhart Tolle, WordPress might seem an odd medium for his message. But blogging and reading the words of others has not only brought the writer’s work to mind for me recently, it’s brought The Power of Now, the title of Tolle’s bestseller, to my life […]

A Letter to Stephen Colbert About Joseph Kony

KONY 2012 Video Like so many other bloggers today, I want to highlight KONY 2012, a film produced by the organization Invisible Children. The 30-minute documentary aims to make Joseph Kony, leader of the African Lord’s Resistance Army, so famous that he can no longer evade arrest by the International Criminal Court on charges brought […]

Libraries Are Still the Front Lines of the Information Revolution

A good public librarian — and the library that comes with him — is more valuable than an Ivy League education. I can say that with authority because I am fortunate enough to have both. Friday, a Saint Louis County reference librarian accomplished a research task that had not only foiled me, but also a […]

If a Post is Published in the Forest

As some of you may know, I recently started this blog to share my thoughts on writing, the media industry, teaching and life in general. But I came across some statistics that make me wonder, if a post is published in the forest, and no one is around to read it … According to the […]

More Than a Decade of Neo- Luddite Living

Here’s a column I wrote for The Dallas Morning News more than 10 years ago on Feb. 20. Although I have a blog and no husband these days, I can’t say my manifesto has changed that much. After all, I still have that Civic — and the power locks haven’t worked in years. The […]

I always knew I was meant to write for SNL’s “Weekend Update”

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one to find the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition visually disturbing. When the address label is more than ample to cover the bottom of the swimsuit on cover model Kate Upton, it’s just too darn small. Oh well, guess that’s one more reason to be thankful that spring […]

Take it from Dolly Parton — Hang on to those publishing rights

NPR reported this morning that Dolly Parton, who wrote “I Will Always Love You,” makes about 8 cents every time the song is played, whether sung by Whitney Houston, LeAnn Rimes, or Parton herself. Check out this link from Today for more information.

Thoughts from the Media Ethics Classroom

I recently watched the 1976 Paddy Chayefsky movie Network again through the eyes of college media ethics students. Here’s what I asked. What insights would you add about this incredible film? Network Discussion Prompts 1. Network signals the beginning of a change in attitude about network news profitability. In the days when programming at the […]

12 Writing Resolutions for the 12 Months of 2012

Mary Kim Schreck, a friend, colleague, teacher and author shared this and I thought it was worth passing on. As an aside, I contributed to Transformers: Creative Teachers for the 21st Century, one of Mary Kim’s books that is well worth reading to fulfill the final resolution if teaching is part of your craft. 12 […]