Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative with Sir Ken Robinson When you research creativity in education, it is impossible not to come across Ken Robinson’s provocative work. His book, Out of Our Minds, published in 2001, revised in 2011, is still fresh and powerful. In part a scathing critique of the factory model […]
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I have been less active on this blog lately because I’m starting a new podcasting project. I’m going to be podcasting my novel, “Marmalade, Cat Detective,” at my new Marmalade Cat Detective blog. I also have a long-term plan for writing a book on how to write and produce children’s plays and videos. I’ve had
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I had my 3 showings of my video, The Fiendish Plot of Doctor Cyclone yesterday. People seemed to enjoy it and it was a pleasure to see the cast get up and get some applause after all their hard work. Here’s the blurb: The Fiendish Plot of Doctor Cyclone, a lunar comedy orbiting your funny
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I met Lesley Livingston, author of Wondrous Strange, at the AD Astra SF/ Fantasy conference in Toronto. She launched the book there and took place in a couple of interesting panel discussions. My favorite of these was a discussion of fight choreography and fencing. Livingston is a principal performer and founding member of the Tempest
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I just finished reading Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger. It is one of my favorite types of novel, a literary page-turner set in India with a unique voice and point-of-view. I recommend it highly and can see why it won the Man Booker Prize for 2008. Currently I’m reading the Watchmen graphic novel which is
Despite the cheesy title, Donald Maass’ book, Writing the Breakout Novel, is a guide to writing good novels, not a guide to selling out. Maass is not fond of generic thrillers and has a soft spot for literature as a genre. A novelist and New York agent, Mass is in a unique position to help
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Now reading: Ages of Wonder , edited by Julie Czerneda and Rob St. Martin. This is one of a pile of books I brought back from Ad Astra. It will take me months to get through my stack of new SF novels, especially since I’m supposed to be writing. So far I’m really enjoying this
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I have to recommend Christopher Moore’s Fool: A Novel. It’s a rollicking pastiche of Elizabethan and Pagan sensibilities, played for maximum sex and mayhem. I was impressed that an American who has not lived in England got the mix of Shakespearean and colloquial English right. Historically accurate language would get in the way of farce,
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After all that agonizing, the staged reading of my 10 page piece at the Alumnae Theatre went well. There were about 8 plays, all very different, all based on a field trip to a Winners location. My one regret is forgetting my camera. These are low-lit cell phone pictures. Molly Thom, the director/dramaturge (right side)
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Nuit BlancheThis art installation in the Distillery District asked visitors to record their secrets on little cards. The messages where allowed to float up, attached to helium balloons. Secrets were also recorded using a low tech rotary telephone hooked up to a hidden recording device. Resulting messages were later broadcast for the world to hear,
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