As I contemplate the fresh opportunity of 2019, I thought it would be helpful to look back on 2018 and consider what worked, what didn’t, the highs and lows. I’d like to share a few of each with you today. There are some big things (like dealing with anxiety) and some smaller things (like finding […]
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Why You Should Get On Goodreads, Now
While talking to a fellow reader today, I mentioned my Goodreads summer reading list. I expected her response to be something like, “Which books are on the list?” Instead, she said, “What IS Goodreads?” I was flabbergasted. To me, that’s like asking, “What is Amazon?” or “What is Twitter?” But it made me realize that some of […]
2016 Year In Review: Hopes, Revisited
Last year, on New Year’s Day, I wrote the following hopes for 2016 in my journal. I didn’t print them out or look at them again until this morning, when I was trying to figure out how to write this post, and decided to check back and see if I’d written anything at the start […]
Honor Your Audience
Last week, I was preparing my flute students for the annual New York State solo festival, where they would be judged based on their performance in scales, a solo, and sight reading. Most of them expressed some degree of (understandable) nervousness. I talked to them about keeping the performance in perspective, remembering all the work […]
Friday Book Review: The Comedy of Errors
Reading Shakespeare 2014: 1/12 completed For January, I chose The Comedy of Errors. As far as Shakespeare plays go, it’s a lightweight, so I thought it would help me ease into my resolution. I also wanted a comedy to liven up the cold, dull winter days. It turned out to be a very quick read- […]
Rowling Update & Recent Reads
I thought the NY Times reviewed The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling very well here: NY Times Review- The Casual Vacancy The reviewer saw more of the “societal ills” aspect to the book than I did, and after seeing Rowling do a few interviews on the subject, it was clear that for her, addressing those themes […]