RUMINATE Blog

If I Were A…

Whew. Teaching 30 or so kids about poetry–all under the age of 11–is much harder than I ever imagined. . .

RUMINATE teamed up with two churches here in Fort Collins (Grace Presbyterian and Agua Viva) and every morning for a week we held a “poetry workshop”–helping kids write poems and then collecting these poems into a book for each child and concluding the week with a poetry reading. It was very interesting, and exhausting, to say the least. And it makes me look forward to the year when we’ll offer year-round online writers workshops–hopefully soon!

Are You A Patron?

In our world today, it does not seem that Christians are intensely and purposefully engaged in the arts. Tim Keller, a pastor of a large church in Manhatten, has spent years creating an environment within his church that encourages creativity and pushes the members to become patrons of the arts.

Out of a Reading Rut

We all get stuck in ruts.  From our social activities to our jobs to our reading habits.  I recently felt such a rut coming on in the poetry bookclub that I lead.  Let me first say that I LOVE the bookclub.  It is so refreshing and enlightening to get together with a group of intelligent, insightful poetry readers and share our impressions, disagree completely, and always leave with a deeper appreciation for the book and/or poet.  That said, we know what we like.  We all tend toward fairly narrative, somewhat traditional, metaphor-driven, lyrical poetry.  I sensed the rut when recently discussing U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan’s work, which was deemed “out there.”  Anyone who achieves the position of Poet Laureate is guaranteed to have a pretty widely accessible style, so I thought a sense of perspective might be gained from breaking free from our usual lineup and trying a so-called “experimental” poet.

All Awash

I just had a baby girl eight weeks ago and also just sent the 13th issue to the printers. Whew! I am all awash in motherhood and writing. And my daughter’s birth has me contemplating something Debra Rienstra says in her book Great with Child about how “rarely birth stories have entered our cultural discourse.” What with all the fantastic suspense, drama, and beauty of birth, I find this somewhat remarkable. (And yet, it does make sense that new mothers have rarely found the means or time to put their stories in writing.) Thus began my search for well-told birth stories, i.e., mothers writing. These are are few of my findings so far…

Funny Stories Absolutely Slay Me

Funny stories absolutely slay me (This is to be said dramatically, with an emphasis on every single syllable.) For years now I have loved reading just about anything comically entertaining. In high school, my family discovered the Junie B. Jones children’s books. These books WILL make your face red, your abs hurt and, in my opinion, they are most beneficial for adults who need to understand children again. In college, I fell for David Sedaris whose writing is offensive, politically incorrect, and full of social blunders. His hilarious stories have made me laugh loudly in unbefitting places, and I have even insisted upon having my poor family sit around during holidays to read his stories aloud.