The month of May always feels like a time for recommitting and reconnecting: recommitting and reconnecting to creative work, to writing projects (especially those set aside), and to ourselves and the people we write with and for. There's an invitation to start again, as spring is in full bloom and the promise of summer awaits. It's not that the everyday efforts end, but there's the potential of more levity with longer days stretching ahead. There's the potential for ... Read more ...
habits
Befriending Fear and Cultivating Courage
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Maya Angelou's often-circulated quote about courage being the most important virtue: "Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency." This quote's been coming to mind (again and again) as I find myself experiencing fear or saying "so much is scary." And so much is! There's so much injustice. What and who we care about are being attacked, fired, dismantled, criminalized, disappeared, hidden, abducted, ... Read more ...
Reflection Questions for Sabbaticals (and Transitional Seasons of Life)
My coaching practice often involves questions about sabbaticals and how to move through these transitional times in intentional, reflective ways. Questions include: How do I find a different pace, a pace that’s more my own? How do I mark this new season of life or new season of career? How do I set boundaries with colleagues, family, and friends? What if I want to consider a career change? How do I make writing a priority when it’s been deprioritized for so long? What if ... Read more ...
Inspiration for Writers to Stretch W-I-D-E-R
The cover of my current journal features a bright, colorful tree surrounded by vibrant earth and sky. It gets me thinking about how wide our writing can reach, much like the sparks that seem to be flying off the tree and reaching underground, too. It reminds me that we need deep root systems and many shades of experience (not a singular existence). It inspires me to stretch w-i-d-e-r ... literally to scrawl in large letters and to run off the page. I am grateful for ... Read more ...
Mid-Day Meditations: Pausing to Reflect and Reset
Guided meditations are part of the one-day writing retreats that I offer on a rotating and recurring basis. As a writer, I know the importance of getting grounded, setting intentions, and remembering what and why I am called to write before I begin. Similarly, as a facilitator, I find that contemplative practices—whether meditations or freewriting or other grounding practices—can slow down the tendency to jump into action, interrupting autopilot and urgency ... Read more ...
Highlighting a New Publication: Chapter and Supplementary Material in Best of Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2021
I am writing to share a new publication: a chapter in Best of Journals in Rhetoric and Composition 2021, edited by Kristi Girdharry, Charles Lesh, Jessica Pauszek, David Blakesley, and Steve Parks and published with Parlor Press (2023). This chapter includes both a reprint of my previous article “Rhetorical and Pedagogical Interventions for Countering Microaggressions” co-authored with Rasha Diab and with contributions by Cedric Burrows and Thomas Ferrel. It also ... Read more ...
Intervening into Burnout, Building a Sense of What’s Possible
A new article, “Intervening into Burnout,” appears in Inside Higher Ed today. In this follow-up piece to “Honoring Ourselves and Each Other Through Burnout,” I offer examples of creative interventions into burnout. These examples are gifted to me through coaching, so I write with deep gratitude for people who are trying different ways of being, doing, feeling, thinking, relating and imagining in higher education. Here’s an excerpt: “Burnout is also never ... Read more ...
Can Registration Be Relational? How I’m Longing for Sliding-Scale Registration to Work
This raw reflective post shares what I have been struggling to put into words: a desire for relationship and recognition, even during transactional moments like registration. Specifically, I’m reflecting on what I’m learning and how I’m longing for sliding-scale registrations to be a form of relationality itself—where all people are recognized and resourced. Can registration be relational? What would that mean, especially when money is involved and we live within the ... Read more ...
Reflective Poetry Prompts from Writing Retreats: A Contemplative Writing Practice
This post shares a few reflective poetry prompts (along with my poetic answers) from recent one-day writing retreats. For context, I’ve been facilitating one-day, online writing retreats for a few years now. I love the retreat space not only for supportive writing community and dedicated writing time, but especially for reflection. Throughout the day, reflection happens through guided meditation, freewriting prompts, and group conversation. To close each retreat, I offer ... Read more ...
Doing the Holidays Differently: Untangling from the Mythical Norm and Revising Rituals for “the Holiday Season”
Preface: This post took me more than six weeks to write. I started drafting on the winter solstice, so it feels right to publish on the cross-quarter day imbolc. I’ve needed the time to sit with the questions I share in this post—questions that are sure to keep evolving. I hope you’ll come with me on this journey into my spiritual life and desire to do the holidays differently. The Holidays Are Hard. Do They Have to Be? For me and for many of us, the holidays are hard. ... Read more ...
