In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the students confront a boggart – a fearsome creature that manifests itself as whatever you fear most. The only way to defeat a boggart is to cast the spell “Ridiculous!” and laugh at your fear: to imagine…
Tag: Resolutions Series
The Gift starts with an anthropological overview of giftgiving, and proceeds to argue that works of art – which are treated as commodities in modern western culture – ought to be seen, first and foremost, as gifts. This book is a call to suspend concern…
Why should Shakespeare have all the fun? If the Bard could make up new words and have them stick, so can we! New words can be logical and easily understood. You might start out with something like Lisa’s use of readee to mean someone who…
This morning on NPR I heard that, due to severe inflation and rising costs of food, people in Saudi Arabia are encouraging each other to boycott milk via text messages. Consider how new technology and different forms of communication influence your stories. Robinson Crusoe might…
Taking mass transportation is better for the environment, and it will reduce what you spend on gas. But even more important here, it’s a great place to find stories. On a subway or train or bus, keep an ear out for interesting conversations, or try…
It seems like the only things we get in the mailbox now are bills and advertisements. You might say email has taken the place of hand-written letters, but it’s really just pushed them aside. Most of us fill our emails with superficial phrases and requests…