“I wrote down ‘The Power of Words’ in my sketchbook and I don’t know why.” Mika Caldera, an art student at the University of Connecticut, presented this piece, “Empathy,” (pictured above) to me during a one minute artist-writer speed dating event that was held. She expressed her love for…
Month: February 2015
“I don’t want to miss out on living because I’m too busy writing” – Hanging Out With Kate Monica (2015)
The most surprising thing I learned about Kate Monica, UConn’s 2015 representative of the Connecticut Poetry Circuit, was that poetry was not a life-long pursuit for her. Rather, she used to hate it. Her work is so fluid and natural, informal but still balanced and graceful that I assumed she…
Writing Advice From the King
Last year I was assigned to read a book on creative writing. I wound up choosing Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft; a cheeky, bright, and inspiration text by one of the most successful authors in the business. In between snippets of Stephen King’s life and his personal…
Can Grammar Be Fun?
All is (almost) quiet on the LRR front after a barrage of colorful pens took to the rough draft of the journal in class last night. As students and as aspiring writers, we are used to the concept of editing and proofreading. We know the basic rules, we have learned…
“I am first a creature of the imagination” – An Interview with Poet Benjamin Grossberg (2015)
Benjamin Grossberg, Spring 2015 representative of the “Writers Who Edit, Editors Who Write” series, is passionate and personable. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions, and the resulting conversation is a thoughtful reflection of all the different roles a writer can play. Supplement your experience of his…
The Parts That Stay, Recommendations
There are certain pieces of writing that I have for one reason or another returned to. This list of writings is embarrassing, probably juvenile and ill explained. However, there is still merit in the stepping stones of the random pieces of literature, I’ve used them as handholds, or they have…
Artist Spotlight: Nicole Horsman
As each day brings us closer to the April 16th opening of UConn’s Senior Show, illustrator and animator Nicole Horsman is drawing feathery clocks. They’re for her senior project, which is an incredible feat of animation using traditional media: pens, paint, and film. For character development, Nicole looked to her…
Why I am Thankful for Fanfiction
In light of the attention Fifty Shades has been getting lately, many media outlets have been conversing upon the fact that it started as Twilight fanfiction. With the online publishing changing the way writing is traditionally done, there are discussions about the legality of who owns the fan work —…
The Writing on the Wall
Most word-lovers I know, myself included, have the same habit: collecting quotes. Whether it be two lines from a poem or something a professor said in class, taking those words out of context and into one’s own life is important. I’ve been “living” in the same studio space in the…
The Foundation of Writing: Community
My unrelenting desire to label the millennial generation brings us to a split-level apartment on a Main Street block in Northeastern Connecticut. About a dozen people haphazardly form a circle in the living room. In the center of the room, a goldfish in a glass bowl is suspended from a…