My Song of Myself
Sounding my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world
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about
I’ve been a high school English teacher for 31 years. I’ve taught AP Lit, College Writing, Creative Writing, and ACT Prep. I enjoy writing poetry, memoirs, short fiction, and literary analysis. My beautiful wife of 26 years and I have 4 children ranging from 15-24.
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Two definitions for the word “publish.” I teach my writing students that there are two kinds of publishing, and neither is more important than the other. It is wonderful to publish a book or get published in a journal or magazine, but some of your best writing may not get recognized by the world. Sometimes,…
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In the mid-1990’s, while I was still a college student, I had a brief burst of creative energy during which some of my work was published. My first success, publishing a short story, “Something to Show” (mentioned in my previous post), made me giddy to get my name in print again. What to write about?…
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Every spring and summer, I help direct a creative writing workshop at BYU called Young Authors’ Academy. When I first heard the name of the workshop, I thought that BYU Conferences and Workshops were being a bit presumptuous in calling these 14-17-year-olds “authors.” I get a new t-shirt at every workshop, and one of them…
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“We read to know we are not alone.” –C.S. Lewis “The universe is made of stories, not atoms.” –Muriel Ruckeyser “Words are our most inexhaustable source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.” –Albus Dumbledore Words make my world go round. I interpret the universe through words and stories. As a kid,…
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40 years ago, I was in an 11th-grade English class at Orem High. My teacher, Phyllis Bestor, was on her stool reading aloud the climactic scene from Chaim Potok’s The Chosen. (The following contains spoilers) The story follows the coming of age of Danny Saunders, a Hasidic Jew, who is in line to take the…
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For the New Year, 1981 I have a small grain of hope— one small crystal that gleams clear colors out of transparency. I need more. I break off a fragment to send you. Please take this grain of a grain of hope so that mine won’t shrink. Please share your fragment so that yours will…
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A few weeks ago, I introduced my 11th-grade English students to Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” one of my favorite poems. In the first line of his poem, Whitman declares, “I celebrate myself, and sing myself…” When I first read that, it sounded a bit self-centered, a bit arrogant. Once I read further, I realized…
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I’m long overdue to start writing again. As a 31 year veteran high school English teacher I’m surrounded by great writing everyday. My classroom shelves are filled with powerful and gorgeous writers. I love books. That’s why I became an English teacher. I also love to read and interact with developing writers. Yes, I do…
My Song of Myself 