27
Dec 12

“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros…

I’d forgotten all about this wonderful gem of a short story by Sandra Cisneros. I loved it the first time I read it and even more now.

The timid yet insightful narrator, eleven year old Rachel, has wisdom beyond her years, but also realizes that experience comes with age. Her understanding of the difficulty of growing up is fascinating as well as enlightening. Enjoy!

Eleven

Please click HERE for the full text!


03
Sep 12

New word for me: Quondam

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23
Aug 12

New word for me: Descry

I added another word to my vocabulary this morning. I love discovering new words as I do my daily crossword puzzles.

I’m not sure if I’ll use this one very much, but one never knows!

descry [dih-skrahy]
verb (used with object), de·scried, de·scry·ing

  1. to see (something unclear or distant) by looking carefully; discern; espy: The lookout descried land.
  2. to discover; perceive; detect.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English descrien < Old French de ( s ) crïer to proclaim, decry.


14
Aug 12

New Word for me… “ana”

I learned a new word from my crossword puzzle today. Ana is a noun that describes a collection of anecdotes about a person or place.

ana

n. pl. ana or an·as

A collection of various materials that reflect the character of a person or place: definitive ana of the early American West.

Often used as a suffix, as in Americana, Africana, and Victoriana.


02
Aug 12

Commas, are, my, friends,

Thanks Nan!

Via: Rhymes With Orange


20
Jul 12

Ahhh… now I know!

English language did you knows

  • Did you know the most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E
  • Did you know the least used letter in the alphabet is Q
  • Did you know dreamt is the only word that ends in mt
  • Did you know the first letters of the months July through to November spell JASON
  • Did you know there are only 4 words in the English language which end in ‘dous’ (they are: hazardous, horrendous, stupendous and tremendous)
  • Did you know the oldest word in the English language is ‘town’
  • Did you know ‘Bookkeeper’ and ‘bookkeeping’ are the only 2 words in the English language with three consecutive double letters
  • Did you know the word ‘Strengths’ is the longest word in the English language with just one vowel
  • Did you know the dot on top of the letter ‘i’ is called a tittle
  • Did you know the past tense for the English word ‘dare’ is ‘durst’
  • Did you know the word ‘testify’ derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles
  • Did you know The first English dictionary was written in 1755
  • Did you know the word old English word ‘juke’ meaning dancing lends its name to the juke box
  • Did you know 1 out of every 8 letters written is an e
  • Did you know the longest one syllable word in the English language is ‘screeched’
  • Did you know all pilots on international flights identify themselves in English regardless of their country of origin
  • Did you know the expression to ‘knuckle down’ originated from playing marbles (players used to put their knuckles to the ground for their best shots)
  • Did you know the word ‘almost’ is the longest in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order
  • Did you know the most commonly used word in English conversation is ‘I’

29
Jun 12

Ravens are cool… and intellegent

Check this out!


23
Jun 12

Words

“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”

Logan Pearsall Smith, Afterthoughts, 1931


23
Apr 12

Maya, Hindu Goddess of Illusion

She is Maya

An illusion; She hides truth from the unaware
A shadow; She reveals but a hint of truth, what is real
A glimpse; She teases with a brief look at truth, the true beauty of reality
A perception; She joys in teasing the senses, creates thirst for truth
A vision; She allows a fleeting awareness of truth’s loveliness

I long for Her reality, Her true beauty, seeking what She hides.
She opens her veil to me, my untrained eyes catching a hint of the truth She covers.
Oh, for the fog to clear from my eyes, to reveal all that is reality,
To know Her secrets, to penetrate Her enigma, to savor the reality She enshrouds.

She is Maya

~Written by James Milstid

I happened upon an article a few months ago about reality. I’m not Hindu, nor to I pretend to be at all knowledgeable about the Hindu beliefs, but the article mentioned the goddess Maya and it piqued my interest and prompted me to write the poetry above

Maya is the goddess of illusion, or as some would put it, delusion. Each of us perceive reality in a different way by putting our own spin on it. Our perceptions cloud what we see and think. Hindus strive to see the true reality, without the veil of human perception. Maya is all that we “put on” the true reality. Seeking Maya’s secrets and knowing of her allow us to see through our perceptions.

We shroud true reality every day. It’s simply a part of our nature.  It’s interesting that the ancient Hindus understood this and strive to see through Maya’s veil.


11
Apr 12

It’s all so clear now…

How To Write Good
by Frank L. Visco

My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

  1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
  2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
  3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
  4. Employ the vernacular.
  5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
  6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
  7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
  8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
  9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
  10. One should never generalize.
  11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
  12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
  13. Don’t be redundant; don’t more use words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
  14. Profanity sucks.
  15. Be more or less specific.
  16. Understatement is always best.
  17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
  18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
  19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
  20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
  21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
  22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
  23. Who needs rhetorical questions?