Timorous or Bold
The way we are living, timorous or bold, will have been our life. –Seamus Heaney (April 13, 1939-August 30, 2013) In memory of the Irish poet and Nobel laureate. Read the obituary in The Irish Times.
Author: Margie Smith Holt
A Pirate’s Life for Him
A Tribute to St. John Icon Pirate Bill CORAL BAY, U.S. Virgin Islands — Pirates, I have learned since moving to St. John, have discriminating taste in beer. Grog, the watered-down rum that was the aqua vitae of all the seventeenth century …
This Glorious Ocean Life
Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever. –Herman Melville “Call me Ishmael.” They may be the most famous opening words of any English-language novel, but read just a little bit further into Moby-Dick and you’ll be …
One Book and One Pen
“One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” –Malala Yousafzai Hear the remarkable 16-year-old Pakistani woman–shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out in favor of education for girls–addressing the U.N. Watch it …
The Writer’s Duty
“A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, …
The Power of the Pen
How powerful are words? Powerful enough to spark — and sustain — a revolution. These were written by Thomas Paine in December 1776: These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in …
Standing Still with the Sun
“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air’s salubrity.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
Writing Advice from the 18th Century
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.” –Alexander Pope (1688-1744) From “An Essay on Criticism”
An Apostrophe Catastrophe
Mother’s Day. Patriots’ Day. Veterans Day. I’ve had to use all three in recent writings and spent more than a few minutes trying to figure out where–and whether–to use the apostrophe. So I found this piece in The Wall Street Journal especially …
For Attribution: Mother’s Day
“She brought you forth out of the cloud of genetics and fed and clothed you and taught you to wipe yourself and say Please and Thank you and never expected you to pay her back, only that you behave appropriately …