In parts one and two of this mini-series on writing I discussed crafting an essay with a particular audience in mind, choosing a genre and writing with purpose, followed by the inner workings of how any and all essays are written: the rhetorical modes. For this third and final part of this mini-series, I address…
Month: July 2018
The Stories We Tell Ourselves: A Meditation on Frost’s Two Roads
(A quick note: while the gender of the speaker remains undetermined, I sometimes use the masculine for the sake of simplicity and consistency. It seems easier than having to repeatedly use “the speaker”, or singular they, or worse, “him/her”.) Ask anyone to create a list of poems they’ve read, know or remember from school, and…
How to Write Anything (Part II)
In part one of this “how-to” mini-series I discussed some of the broader aspects of the initial stages of the writing process. In that essay I covered genre, audience and purpose: something every writer needs to think about as they write. In part two of this series, the current essay, I show writers how to…
How to Write Anything (Part I)
Writing is contentious. As someone who works in higher ed., I ought to know. Looking around the country at different universities and colleges it’s easy to notice some interesting structures in English departments. Some schools, such as the one I teach at, have a single department called English that handles all aspects of writing from…
A Monster Hike: Arethusa Falls and Frankenstein Cliffs
I had to stop to breathe; this mountain was kicking my ass. The slopes at the base of the cliffs were talused, debris-filled, and more resembled sand than soil. Trees and rocks tenuously clung to the side of the mountain and every step was an effort not to tumble down the side of it. Grasping…
Dirtbag Dreams: Fantasy vs Reality
(Cover Image: Fred Beckey) Virtually anyone who climbs, has ever picked up a climbing magazine, seen Reel Rock, or any YouTube video on climbing, knows the term “dirtbag”. The general public uses this term as one of derision to describe someone who might otherwise be a lowlife, good-for-nothing bum; but in the climbing community one…
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