I was fortunate to learn about Van Velzer Press before I was ready to publish my most recent book. In my experience writing is about equal parts actually cranking out words and thinking about what to write while staring into space, waiting for the light to turn green, or trying to go to sleep. Most writers hope to share their work with readers, which requires a team of editors and advance readers who give honest, but […]
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People of Hope – George Dawson
Add author George Dawson (1898 – 2001) to the list of authors whose books have been banned. I’ve added him to my list of People of Hope. Banning books has never turned out well for those who toss other people’s works into the fire or remove them from schools and libraries. Trying to stop people from learning history by banning books is about as productive as trying to drain the ocean by pouring buckets of […]
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For Goodness Sake
Do you believe goodness matters? Or that goodness is a virtue? Or that goodness is more prevalent than ugliness, rudeness, and violence? How we see the world boils down to where we look and our sources of information about the world. If we only tune into mass media information, it’s easy to fall into despair; for evil and cruelty are real and reported ad nauseum in media outlets. Yet, if we turn off the flow […]
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Dreams That Cannot Be
But there are dreams that cannot be, And there are storms we cannot weather! From I Dreamed a Dream in Les Miserables I love everything about Les Mis as it is known in my family. I’ve seen it on stage in multiple theatres in two countries, wore out the cassette tape version, have two CD versions in my car, and frequently listen to them. The quote above is my favorite quote from one of […]
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Mother’s Day History
Here we are at another Mother’s Day on the calendar. When Anna Jarvis launched the idea of Mother’s Day in 1908, she had in mind a day set aside to spend time with one’s mother. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, WV on May 10, 1908. When Mother’s Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, Jarvis did not envision how it would become the major gift-giving-restaurant-booking-card-sending occasion […]
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