Write Forward

* Photo credit (Post by Kirsten) There's a lot of conversation right now about masks, which--we know--are in short supply and are very much needed to keep medical professionals and other folks protected. As we humans tend to do, however, we've taking this real need for masks and run with it creatively, and people are coming up with some inventive and wild self-designed face protection . Of course, this is not new. Masks have a rich and interesting history , and have had a role in so many facets of human culture, including art and religion, war and medicine, theater and labor. They protect us, yes, but also allow us to hide ourselves, to transform our identities, to summon within ourselves a sense of empowerment or mysticism beyond what we experience in our typical daily lives and routines. Here are a few examples: Lady Gaga (of course) Vader (also a given in any conversation about masks) But how about this beautiful 1953 mask by artist Chukwu O...

(Post by Kirsten--blog host, writer, high school English teacher) "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." ~ Virginia Woolf I don't know about your family, but mine is eating some meals we've never put on a plate before. It's hard to get all of the ingredients I'd normally shop for right now, and so my kitchen holds a mishmash of what I could find: canned peaches and pears, ricotta cheese, kale that a neighbor gave us, a lot of lemons, white beans, more tuna than I'm excited about eating, frozen fish. We're making what we can of these odds and ends. I whipped up a lemon-ricotta cake the other night that was amazing --something I would never normally have made. We also have become very fond of pasta e fagioli, which sounds fancy, but is just noodles and beans. It's tasty though! All of this has made me think about my grandparents, who were children during WWII and so learned to make and enjoy simple mea...

(This post is by Caroline, writer and high school junior.) “Alternate history fascinates me, as it fascinates all novelists, because ‘What if?’ is the big thing.” - Kate Atkinson What if Neil and Buzz don’t come back? This is what NASA found themselves asking in 1969 when they put two men on the moon. What if these two don’t leave it? How do we tell the American people? A talented writer by the name of Bill Safire found himself tasked with answering this question. The American Government needed something to be able to say immediately. A contingency plan. The Red Folder. What ended up going in that folder was a speech titled, In Event of Moon Disaster. You can read it here . I fell in love with this piece of writing when I stumbled upon it as a middle schooler. It is what really rekindled my love for reading after a few years of loathing. (I can thank a few of my less savory teachers for that period of disgust.) Regardless, it was so moving and drew me in, and taught...

Being Two Places at Once (Post by contributing writer-teacher Cam) onism - n. the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time, which is like standing in front of the departures screen at an airport, flickering over with strange place names like other people's passwords, each representing one more thing you'll never get to see before you die — and all because, as the arrow on the map helpfully points out, you are here . - The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows As fundamentally social creatures, being physically isolated from other people is really hard. Every morning brings its carnival of negotiations for how one will move through the day. Make my bed? Why? For the routine, maybe; a glowing ember of normalcy; a kernel of control to pivot toward other small successes like a hot shower and a nourishing meal with fresh vegetables. Or a heaping pile of nachos. Whatever! In the midst of this prolonged social distancing...

"Chronology doesn’t interest me. I don’t like its linear map. I avoid its signposts." ~ Sinéad Gleeson Time is weird right now. My family and I have been more or less only in our own home for three weeks. I'm losing track of days. I looked at the calendar recently and was shocked to see that it was still March. Still March , I thought. How? The days are both long and short, time simultaneously stretched and compressed in this period of both utter sameness and wild, uncharted newness.  You're probably feeling this too.  It has me thinking about time's fluidity and fragmentation, and it has me reading fragmented narratives. One of my favorite examples of a fragmented narrative is the incomparable Bluets , by Maggie Nelson--her meditation on the color blue, but also, of course, so much more. Another is Anthony Doerr's novel All the Light We Cannot See .  (Both of these, by the way, include mature content that may not suit readers of all ages and sensib...

Welcome to Write Forward! Are you doing your part for community health during the Covid-19 pandemic by staying home? (Thank you!) Are you also on spring break and bored out of your mind? Yes? We thought so. We're all a little uncertain, a little lonely, and--yeah--maybe a little (or a lot) bored right now, and this blog is intended to be a break in those clouds. As writer Philip Pullman is quoted as saying, "After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world." Stories (and poetry and art and music and dance and...) help us make meaning, allow us to see the world and ourselves with more acuity and depth, and give us the connection we so need--especially in times of isolation. Art will save us! (But also, keep social distancing, washing your hands, and taking care of yourselves.) Knowing that, let's spend this time making more beauty in the form of stories, poems, essays, and written experiments and explorations ...