EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES 0:00 / 0:00 Extenuating Circumstances This essay just aired on NPR-member station WVTF and appeared in the Washington Post. *** EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES Years ago, right before an end-of-the-term field trip, my son brought home a notice from his middle school. The body of the letter included the usual information: dates, cost, arrival
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THE MONKEY AND THE BANANAA LESSON IN PROBLEM SOLVING A few years back, I read a study about monkeys and baskets. I don’t remember the names of the researchers or where they worked, but here’s the gist of what happened. They split monkeys into two groups then taught all of the monkeys how to open
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WHAT KEEPS US TOGETHER 0:00 / 0:00 What Keeps Us Together My granddaughter Campbell is 2 and lives about 6,900 miles from Charlottesville. My grandmother, Benedetta, is 105 and lives in Connecticut, about 600 miles from here. I chat with Campbell by Skype and Facetime. I communicate with Benedetta by snail mail and telephone. Unfortunately,
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HOW TO CREATE LIVELY CHARACTERSWRITING TIP Photo Courtesy of Bob Dass I take improv classes at The Big Blue Door. Recently, we learned a game called, Present, Past, Future. The exercise gave me wonderful insight in how to create characters who hop off of the page. Here’s how it’s played. One person starts a scene
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SMOKIN’ SCIENCE 0:00 / 0:00 Smokin' Science One day, my seventh grade physical sciences teacher announced mandatory participation in a science fair. Up to the day before the event, I hadn’t prepared. Hadn’t determined a research question. Hadn’t developed a hypothesis and definitely had not come to any conclusions. In my mind, the scientific method
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0:00 / 0:00 Caught in the Jaws of a Claw My exercise essay appeared in The Daily Progress today. See below: CAUGHT IN THE JAWS OF A CLAW Have you ever wanted to be someone you’re not? So, one day I was at the gym exercising on the calf-stretching machine. As you might
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THE SIXTY-FIVE DOLLAR QUESTION 0:00 / 0:00 The Sixty-Five Dollar Question This essay aired on this NPR-member station and appeared in The Washington Post. THE SIXTY-FIVE DOLLAR QUESTION The last time my folks visited, our whole family swapped tales around the dining table. Our topic? Marriage proposals: who proposed to whom and how. My husband, Bruce,
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MAKE A WISH A video has been making the rounds on Face Book. In it, a virtual Santa on a large screen greeted passengers in an airport lobby. As he scanned their tickets, he asked what they wanted for Christmas. People had differing reactions. The little kids stepped right up and boldly made requests. One
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JIMMY THE RECYCLER 0:00 / 0:00 Gifts from Dad Jimmy the Recycler My 87-year-old father is a yard sale addict. He drives around collecting stuff, then distributes it to family and friends. And, when my father believes you need something, he never takes “no” for an answer. Occasionally, he’ll discover a treasure, like the gilded
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SADDLE UP YOUR PIG Photo Courtesy of Donald Giannatti 0:00 / 0:00 Saddle Up Your Pig What will a mother do for love? To what lengths would she go to make her children happy? My sons expressed one great desire as we planned our summer trip to Montana. They wanted to go horseback riding in
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