This morning I found out that Joe Ely died through a Facebook post by Thomas Anderson . If you don’t follow Thomas Anderson, I strongly suggest you start. I learn more from his posts, always written with humor and insight, than most media. I wrote a blogpost about his music, a bit of a meta review, back in 2022, What on Earth’s Coming Next? ...  worth checking out. I hope to interview him in my new songwriter series in 2026. But he’s not my topic today. Thank God. He’s still

I returned home cold and weary last Tuesday to find a box of my copies of Love Letters from Cuckold Creek  from Cyberwit.net press. Well, that gave cheer! Quinn was up, home, available, and willing to lend a hand, so we did an unboxing video. Apparently, it’s a popular genre since, as of now, it’s had 836 views. If I could choose something I created to gain the attention of over 800 people, this video might not be my first choice, but also, I think it’s kind of neat that fri

In the back of my mind I planned to end this week with a post about National Board Certification for Teaching (NBCT) and, afraid to jinx anything (so I didn’t begin writing), my achieving NBCT status. I began working toward NBCT with a 3-day Jump Start training in August of 2023,. August through December of that year, I signed up for three classes, poured through materials and created a binder of over 100 pages to guide my work, and began collecting student work. I spent the

I had a great time interviewing this insightful, generous, and talented singer-songwriter. After reading, you'll want to check out more from her. You can do that here: Jen’s link tree: https://linktr.ee/jenhawley and website: www.jenhawley.com Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Jen. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. I’ve known you mainly as a great singer from Open Mics around MoCo. In researching for this interview, I’ve gotten to know you better as a ph

Luther Jett is a gifted poet, songwriter, educator, and thinker. He is also a wonderful human being and great friend. My poet interviews are among my favorite blog posts. I’ve been eager to add interviews of songwriters to my posts as well and, one of Luther’s many likable traits is that he often seems game for almost anything. So, here we go… Hi Luther. Thanks for agreeing to this interview. Although I've interviewed many poets and you are a poet, you are here as my first si

It’s ready for printing! I finished my final round of edits from proofs of my new poetry collection this week. Love Letters from Cuckold Creek  ( Cyberwit.net , 2025) evolved since initially compiled in 2024 — her name has changed, poems dropped and added, and the overall why shifted. Yet my original impetus strengthened as I drafted more pieces, periodically sending versions out to publishers. I’ll share a little bit about the themes in this collection, as well as what some

Hi Kelly. Thank you so much for being willing to do an interview with me! You have always been the most private person I know and, being that I know a lot of poets, that's saying a lot. You're also one of the most amazing people I know, so I appreciate your willingness for a public dialogue.  You've had a nearly unthinkable, unbearable tragedy, having Baeley die last year at 22. I met you because Baeley and Coley were in school together. The first thing I knew of you was you

I share a convergence of some of my favorite things — Halloween, spoopy, making things Quinn will enjoy, learning stuff on guitar, and creating speed art videos. I just watched a speed paint video by Coley this morning. So talented! I marvel.  I’m just goofing around here. I have some great interviews coming up! Since they’re not ready, I’m going with whimsy and play. I wrote a St. Patrick’s Day post  a couple/few years back, where I referenced my love of the minor holidays.

Here’s an original from 2021, an early collab that was fun, then quickly turned ironic, now with new life breathed into it with LiLaK. I love the harmonies with Laura and Lisa’s tasty guitar, especially that walkdown!  This video was taken by my dear friend Jen at Open Notes Wednesday night. Such a great night! A more polished production will probably make the album, but since I haven’t yet shared this song, here she is… Stealing My Melancholy Away Chorus: He’s stealing my me

Information about what happens to detainees who are taken by ICE is difficult to find. With the onslaught of alarming news from 17 days (and counting) of the federal government shutdown; to National Guard deployments to LA, DC, and Chicago; to tariffs, changing tariffs and threats of tariffs; publication of vile texts of young Republicans; catastrophic suffering in Gaza; Senators blocking release of the Epstein files; massive layoffs 1 …, it’s difficult to even keep attention

Thursday afternoon, after meeting with administration, talking it up with a few students, designing and hanging a couple of posters, and...

This week, I was going to write about my next big project or maybe do my second Delightful Things  post, but neither seem as loud as the...

“She had the oddest sense of being herself invisible; unseen; unknown; there being no more marrying, no more having of children now, but...

If you are on my mailing list, which you automatically are if you subscribe here and thank you, some of this will be redundant. My...

I love painting but rarely carve out time for it. It invites a different place of work for me than poetry or songwriting. Writing and...

I don’t consider myself particularly materialistic, but there are plenty of things in my life that make me happy — things , just objects,...

No one today or this week has said to me, “Sounds like a first world problem,” so this is not a response to anyone in particular. I grow...

V1 Never a day with no weather      Wind works over time      (all the time) But it don’t turn the world  that stopped      flowers...

Mama-ing my two children is genuinely my favorite thing, for which I am always grateful. That still doesn’t keep me from dreaming of...

Baking a brownie-cake, setting up gifts and a sign, working on a poem, listening to a “17” playlist, dancing, cleaning…, circling through...