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"The glorious, golden, glad sun, the only true lamp—all others but liars!" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick

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Rainbow in my hand

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Salamander Rain

"These warm, rainy nights of young spring, salamanders begin crossing the road..." #poem

These warm, rainy nights of young spring,salamanders begin crossing the road to waterand woods not so far away but a dangerous journey, and I with flashlight play Virgil taking them to a Paradiso. For years, I have volunteered for the endangered species program in New Jersey, so I have seen the amphibians – endangered, threatened, or just in danger – crossing locally to vernal pools of water.…

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2 Upcoming Poetry Readings

I have two #poetry readings coming up in northern #NJ to end National Poetry Month.

I have two poetry readings coming up to end National Poetry Month. The first will be held at the Livingston (NJ) Library in the town where I taught for 25 years. I will be reading along with Susan Rothbard who I taught with for most of those years, and another teacher, Mary Brancaccio who I did not know until this reading was suggested. We three teacher poets met last month to share ideas about…

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“ sitting in an English garden, waiting for the sun…”

By wander_linaa

Beautiful places in Lake District/England

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April's Sucker Moon

The April Full Moon has many names. Pink Moon is a common one, but how about the Sucker Moon?

The Moon will be full today, April 23, 2024, in 2 hours (7:49 PM) and sunset in Paradelle will be at 7:45 PM (EDT). The Moon rises in the east and sets in the west, like the sun, but the exact time changes throughout the month. The Moon may also rise in the east-northeast or east-southeast, depending on the phase of the moon and the time of year. So tonight, I can watch the sun setting in the…

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By claudiadeyondesings

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Thoughts on the Digital Humanities

Five posts about the digital humanities, then, now and in the future

This month I wrote five short essays on the field of Digital Humanities (DH) for another blog. Although I never declared myself to be a scholar in that field, it would seem to be a natural for me. My undergraduate degree is in English, and my graduate work was in film and media. I taught for 40 years. 25 were teaching English and film and video at the secondary level. When we entered the 21st…

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Two wrongs do not make a right.

But three lefts do make a right.

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Cemetery With Snow

While walking through a snow-covered cemetery #poem

Snow has melted and left my home,but here farther north it still felllast night on this cemetery I visitedthough I know no one buried here, at least I don’t think I knowanyone here beneath the cold, fresh white. A blanket is the cliche. Wrap. Shroud. Some flat gravestones are covered, now anonymous. Some old ones still standing are illegible.Also anonymous. I feel I should prayfor these people…

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The Iceman Murder Mystery

He was killed more than 5000 years ago. And it's still a mystery. Ötzi, the Iceman

Reconstruction of how Ötzi may have looked when alive (Museum Bélesta, Ariège, France) In 1991, a corpse was found frozen in a glacier in the Italian Alps near the Austrian border.  I remember the news because when I saw the map I realized that I had skied near there back in the 1970 and the corpse was there then too. In fact, it was there 5,300 years before that. It turned out to be the most…

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Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) dir. Sidney Lanfield

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Frighteningly true.

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This part of the film is so not scary at all. Lovely Rachel.

THE MUMMY (1999) Dir. Stephen Sommers Rachel Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan

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I'm pretty sure he would approve. He knew what he was getting into by not calling the novel The Whale. I mean - read Chapters 94 & 95.

Thank you Herman Melville for the excuse to say "dick" in school

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Forcing the Season

How should I interpret that I really like forcing the spring season?  For many years, I have been forcing plant bulbs over the winter, and branches in February and March. It was something my mother did when I was a kid. Clearly, it is my way of getting a glimpse of Spring in the cold months. Forcing plants is unnatural, right?  Is it some little power thing – you’re beating Nature (or God) at…