It’s a great time to be half-Greek and half-Syrian! Never has my heritage been so aligned with the headlines. One country is the poster child for global economic failure, the other for geopolitical failure. Every…
The quote is always fascinating because it changes out of context, becomes different and sometimes more mysterious. It has a directness and assertiveness it may not have had in the original. — Susan Sontag
Last night in the Dear Layla Writing class, we considered the themes of “Words” and “Reading” as we read aloud part of the Lexicon and Reading series in my novel. Claire Peterson wrote the following…
Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. — Walter Benjamin
if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don’t do it….
In this winter/spring course, we will read (or reread) and write on themes from my recent book, Dear Layla Welcome to Palestine. Precedent for this method: last spring we used themes from The Book of…
Mary told me she spent a Sunday rereading the notebook she kept in Social Justice class 4.5 years ago. She was rejuvenated to start writing more, so I sent her these topics, after consulting Natalie Goldberg’s…
What I seem to have to do is to have someone to address in order to begin, then lose that, mix it up, get mixed up myself, let the language take over, work out some…
There is a notion of “passing it on,” that simple. One to one. Elder to younger perhaps. That “poetry is news,” that the inspiration for any work you do and the work you do as…
1. Natalie Goldberg: I also place on the altar a photo of Allen Ginsberg in a yellow wood frame, sitting in a white shirt, cross-legged, his face captured in an uncanny smile. He is our…