This post originally appeared in 2007 on my old blog: Real Words for a Real Writer. It’s about my brief but memorable experience as a literacy volunteer. When I was about eighteen, I signed up as a Literacy Volunteer of Tucson. My work with the group didn’t last long (what can I say, I was eighteen and not exactly committed to anything for very long periods of time). However, it left a lasting impression on my life. Although I obviously knew that there were illiterate adults living around me, I hadn’t really understood until working with one what that meant on a daily basis. And I hadn’t understood until that…
-
-
Recommended Essay Reading: The Artist as Culture Producer … and Thoughts on Creative Collaboration
The Artist as Culture Producer: Living and Sustaining a Creative Life is an essay collection edited by Sharon Louden in an effort to combat the stereotype that artists are working in studios alone, toiling away in solitary – even self-absorbed – pursuits. The essays are each by an artist who “reaches outside of the studio to extend creative energies and pursuits into his or her community.” She goes on to say she chose these artists for many reasons including their generosity and that “they inject creative culture into the cracks of society, where they alter the direction of small towns and large cities”. Each of the essays is as different…
-
Book Review: Art of Asking
This book review of the Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer is from the archives. I originally published in April 2015. I lost my posts for this site in an update problem and am slowly restoring the posts I think are important. Since I really loved The Art of Asking, I wanted to be sure to share this again. I read a lot. And I like most of the books that I read. But rarely am I so moved and touched by a book that I have to tell everyone about it over and over. I recently read The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer, and I find that I…
