New Year’s Eve holds a lot of promises. Whether you’re hoping to complete your resolutions and hoping for big changes, or just going about business as usual, January 1st marks the beginning of something. The start of a new calendar year, new bills, new paychecks, another school year, birthdays to celebrate. We are hopeful on December […]
What makes you, you? People tend to compare themselves to others at different stages of their lives. Sometimes these comparisons can help us set goals and find confidence in our identity. You might have seen yourself in a parental figure or a celebrity. But have you ever felt like lion at heart or a graceful […]
During the week, some of you get an early start for work or whatever else you have in store for the day. A poem like this one by Campbell McGrath reminds me that there’s someone — whether human or animal — who’s up at the same time, getting ready for another day. It makes me […]
Frankenstein’s monster, like any stranger in the night, wants someone to love. Of course his problem is that he can’t love just anyone, and Dr. Frankenstein refuses to create his match. So the monster tries to solve it the only way he can — with a threat. His strength and wit should not be underestimated, […]
You know that feeling when you say a word over and over again, and all of a sudden it’s no longer understandable? It becomes an alien word that’s void of all previous meaning. This is actually called semantic satiation — your brain becomes so overwhelmed by words that it has to digest and start over. With […]
Autumn is undeniably my favorite season. The air gets crisper and the leaves change into a display that is as impressive as any work of art. When November comes around, the big question is when the red and orange treetops will disappear. A few years ago, we had a snowstorm in Connecticut before Halloween, which weighed […]
The question Larkin asks in the first line of “Days” is so simple, it’s almost silly. ‘What are days for?’ you can almost hear a child asking. The simple answer Larkin doesn’t give us: days, counted off from the first one, make up our life. Instead, he responds that days are something that engulf us. […]
James Schuyler, ‘Past is Past’ Imagine this poem as a self-contained moment — like pretending time is still when you gaze at an old photo. “Salute” freezes you for several lines and then pushes you right out of the memory . You realize the past is gone. You cherish it and you move on. If you […]