As I wrote last year, I am incredibly particular about my personal journals. I am perhaps even more picky about the notebooks I use for schoolwork. To my absolute horror, at the beginning of this semester, I purchased a beautiful teal Moleskine . . . without lines. I opened it in my first class and…
A Little Paper Reflection
Look at that massive stack of books with your little pink notebook on the top, open like the bud of a daisy and crawling with notes. Even those huge volumes by writers with high-brow names like Humphrey and Sacheverell did not grasp everything, nor succeed in having the last word on the subject. Yes, even…
Theme and Variations
Not long ago (though it seems a lifetime), I wrote about modulations. The idea that the dissonance of post-college life would eventually resolve into normalcy was comforting; considering the modulations in music were consoling to me as I felt keenly the sudden transitions I experienced after four years of relatively little change. Several months later,…
Maybe it’s Because of Winn Dixie
I'm reading Gone with the Wind again for what is somewhere between the fourth or seventh time. It seems that anytime I am between books, unsure what to read next, or feeling unsettled, I turn (second to my Bible) to that enormous novel for no better reason than that it is a darn good story. But my…
Dear Mr. Dickens: An Open Letter
My dear Mr. Dickens, I hope you are well and not at all rolling over in your grave. (It is, after all, nearing Christmas and renditions of your famous holiday tale are promenading before audiences who are mostly wondering whether they actually turned off the oven or whether the turkey they pretend to like is…
Re-re-re-reading
I just finished reading Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind for the fourth(?) time, though, honestly, I've probably read parts of that book three times, parts of it six. I just can't seem to stay away from it and end up rereading at least half of it every late spring/early summer. Whatever the exact number, I can…
Beautiful Lines
As a writer, I spend a great deal of time editing and lamenting over my own work. Admittedly, I probably should spend more time revising papers than text messages, (yay, overthinking!) but in either case I am painfully aware of my weaknesses as a writer. However, sometimes I surprise myself as the ink on my…
Unravel
The irony is that I was unable to write this story for several months due to the demands of the everyday... enjoy! 😉 Unravel Not another! she thought, plucking at a thread on her favorite navy blue jumper. It hurt her to pull on it, she was so fond of the old sweater. With…
The Road Part Taken
In reading the poetry of Robert Frost for my honors college curriculum, I found myself hit by a wave of nostalgia. (Not to be confused with a "wave of nausea"- I'm not reading Nausea quite yet...) Throughout the formative years of my adolescent life, Frost provided guidance and comfort. I did not read his work extensively, but…
Non-Writing Writer
I was inspired this morning as I walked to practice piano for an upcoming recital... this would have been great, had I been inspired to practice. Rather, I was inspired to set the opening of Wordsworth’s The Prelude to music. My roommate (bless her) stopped me just in time: “Ryanne, if you write a melody and…
