M.L. Desir's Blog
August 4, 2021
Come Teach Again – On Teacher Guilt and the Platitudes that Grows It
All. Of. This! Covid-19 has been a great revealer of how unfairly a lot of people are treated at their jobs. My reflections on my role as an educator brought me to this blog post on my search for answers. Mrs. Ripp, thank you for penning so eloquently what a lot of us think and need to say!
For a while, I have been noticing a trend in my Twitter feed, or rather what Twitter wants me to see. If I ever cross into “Moments” or “Search” it seems that the same white males keep popping...
May 18, 2021
Why is “Critical Race Theory” Controversial and What Is it?
In several states, the Governor and Legislature have denounced “critical race theory” and even (in Idaho and some other states) banned it from their schools. The controversy over teaching about race gained ground when former President Trump condemned CRT as divisive and launched his own quickie commission to teach “patriotic” education. The object seems to be to minimize or eliminate teaching about racism, past or present.
Retired teacher Nancy Flanagan dissected the...
April 21, 2021
10 Effective Ways to Avoid Distraction While You Write
As writers, we’ve all struggled with people, thoughts, and objects constantly distracting us while writing. In my case, it’s an energetic 5-year-old who loves interrupting me to show me stuff like the dragon egg she painted as soon as I sit down to write.However, there are plenty of other interruptions in our lives.
Thankfully, there are as many ways through which you can reduce and even eliminate these distractions to make an environment for yourself to maintain a ste...
Contronyms.
I remember reading, as a kid, a children’s storybook called ‘Amelia Bedelia’, in which Amelia got a job as a housekeeper without having any knowledge of how to keep house. It was memorable because of the humour involved in her being told to dust the living room, but having no idea how. She proceeded to cover every surface in the living room with the dusting powder she found in the bathroom. Obviously, the result was the exact opposite of what her employer had intended.
Pho...
April 20, 2021
Guilty, guilty, guilty!
For me, there will be no celebrating.
I simply feel a sense of . . . relief.
The past several months have been exhausting, traumatizing, and just plain old crappy!
Now, comes the sentencing . . . and please dear God, let it be a weighty and lengthy one.
Look at that face. “Guilty?” it seems to say. “How can this be?” Too bad it wasn’t for 1st degree murder though.
Wordsmiths Believe in Words
Lately there is a narrative in America (white majority) that paints white people as being demonized and unfairly painting nonwhite people (primarily Black people) as victims. (Yes, I repeated people a lot. It’s deliberate.)
This is a false and dangerous narrative.
Psst. Listen.
Just because your favorite comic book character has been replaced with a nonwhite actor is not a personal attack on you or the race you belong to. There have been incidences when this has indeed been the case t...
April 13, 2021
Interview: Guest Lecturer Sheree Renée Thomas
Yes, yes, yes, and YESSSSS!
Sheree Renée Thomaswill be a guest lecturer at this summer’s Odyssey Writing Workshop.Sheree is an award-winning editor and the author of three collections,Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future(Third Man Books, May 2020),Sleeping Under the Tree of Life(Aqueduct Press, 2016) andShotgun Lullabies: Stories & Poems(Aqueduct Press, 2011). She is the editor ofthe groundbreaking anthologies,Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative...
April 11, 2021
Meet The Woman Bringing A Caribbean Twist To French Champagne
A report by Christopher Johnson for CNN
A region in the north of France roughly twice the size of San Francisco is the birthplace of a revered sparkling wine synonymous with wealth, luxury and exclusivity.
Champagne — the name of the region and the drink — sells around 300 million bottles a year, with the industry being worth over $5 billion. And no bottle of sparkling wine produced outside of this unique region is allowed to be labeled or called Champagne.
...April 8, 2021
Do You Know What To Do When One Of Your Blog Posts Gets Reblogged?
This post about reblogging post is terrifically rebloggable!
Many bloggers agree that having their blog posts shared is one of the best things that can happen in the blogging world. After all, whoever is sharing the post is putting your work in front of a new audience.
I remember when, for the first time, another blogger reblogged one of my posts. As a new blogger, it was one of the most exciting moments of my blogging journey. Even today, I still get a lift whenev...
April 4, 2021
10 Proven and Effective Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block
Yay!
This is a guest post by Jayce, the managing director of Seller Interactive, an Amazon marketing agency that offers Amazon SEO services to brands built on Amazon. With content marketing skills that have taken him to top brands such as GoDaddy and Toyota, he has cemented his knowledge and expertise in helping brands reach new heights.
10 Proven and Effective Ways to Overcome Writer’s BlockIf you’ve ever experienced writer’s block, you know that it’s no l...
