All posts filed under: reading

Be always for learning

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I love starting my sentences with the word “and”. But there’s some grammar rule that goes like this: Thou shall not start your sentences with “and”. Oh, really? So you can imagine my disbelief when I heard an English professor say, You can start a sentence with the word “and”. Me: You can?! How did I not know this sooner? And from then on guess what? I use any opportunity I can to start my sentences with and. There’s something rebellious about it. I also learned that the grammar rules that we’re taught in school growing up were meant to help us sound formal. We weren’t taught how to write casual like how we speak in informal settings. I recently read a Ghandi quote about learning and life on Pragati Chauhan’s blog Meldoy of Words that goes like this: Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma gandhi This quote speaks to me because I’ve been reading a book about grammar lately. Yes, I read grammar …

How Many Times Do We Have to Hear It?

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How many times to do we have to hear advice until we follow it? Are you guilty of knowing what is good for you but not doing it? Or knowing the right thing to do and not acting on it? Over the past couple of years, I’ve read a variety of texts ranging from short stories to poems to speeches with my students. For the most part, I get to read the same text with several classes, so the text’s wisdom usually becomes more memorable. Today, I want to share 3 texts that have stood out to me because of their wisdom. 1. Elie Wiesel’s “The Perils of Indifference” In Elie Wiesel’s speech “The Perils of Indifference”, Wiesel covers the topics of indifference and inhumanity. What stood out to me about this speech is the role of the bystander. Whether it’s a bystander who observes bullying and does nothing to help the victim or a nation who fails to provide asylum to foreign refugees, the topic of indifference comes to the surface when people don’t …

How to Become a Better Writer Today

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How do you become a better writer today without taking classes for an MFA in creative writing? To improve your writing, all you have to do is pay close attention to the texts you read: your favorite book, the article you found online, or the advertisements you see on a daily basis. All it comes down to is being a better observer of the world. In this case, pay close attention, not so much to the contents of what you read, but at how the writer paints a picture inside your head. Notice the Writing Strategy Notice the strengths in other people’s writings. Which lines do you find yourself rereading because you loved how the writer composed a phrase, sentence, or passage. Why do you reread those lines? The Writing Strategy Sherman Alexie applies the following writing strategy in “This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”: If you describe something with a series, start each item in the series with the same phrase or word for emphasis. The Writing Strategy Example Alexie writes: …