[I took the photo above from Contractor website.] Some people have said to me, in the comments on my blog and in person, how impressed they are with my thoughtful attention to the words I use or don’t use when I’m speaking. They’re assuming that because I’ve published an essay about how much I deplore…
“Why”…Wednesdays
160. Why, a Poem
I took the photo above. Someone taped the note to the inside of the bathroom stall door at my school. I’m going to assume that “Keep pushing through” is a generic message of encouragement rather than one meant for the specific action being taken while reading the note. Inspired by the photo and a recent…
159. Why People Listened
[I took the photo above from Britannica’s website.] If you’re reading this not too long after I post it and you live in the United States, you’ve probably recently had a Monday different from your usual work or school. Either you got the day off or you participated in activities designed to further the teachings…
158. Why There’s No Path
[Screen shot of photo above comes from this website, where I think you can buy the poster.] My school’s motto is, “Guided by each other, let us seek better paths.” I really like the part about guiding each other, but I’ve been less sure lately about the path-seeking part. Some people here talk about finding…
157. Why Did I Care?
I did not take the photo above. It comes from a WSPA article about a stuffed-animal collection drive to let people know about National Adoption Awareness Month. I like the picture because the image captures the overwhelmed feeling I had (several years ago) that moved me to reduce the number of stuffed animals in our…
156. Why Write What I Don’t Know
I took the comic above from All About Writing’s post “Write what you KNOW? Write what you DON’T Know”. It’s amazing to me how often I think of a great idea for a post, only to realize someone else came up with almost the same title several years earlier. Fortunately, in this case, author Michelle…
155. Why Humor
A couple months ago, I dyed the bottom half of my hair pink for several reasons: I like pink and wanted to make my hair match my shoes. (At least something I wear should match, right?) I needed a haircut soon anyway. To copy my Teaching Fellow, whose hair was pink and purple at the…
154. Why Props
I took the photo above from Yoga London’s article, “What Are Yoga Props and How to Improvise Them For Home Practice.” I didn’t take to yoga right away. Close to twenty years ago, the director of student health for my school (Hi, NB!) organized a special yoga class run by a teacher from the local…
153. Why Collaborate
I grabbed the photo above from Get Literary’s “How Well Do You Know Christina Lauren?” article. As I’m writing this post, I’ve read six of their twenty-plus books (and have holds on several more at multiple libraries) and decided that they’re the perfect final entry for my year of monthly romance posts for two reasons….
152. Why Not “Just”
The photo above has nothing to do with today’s post, but isn’t Tuukka a majestic boy? Last week’s post got me thinking about the category of words and phrases I don’t like, which got me thinking about “just.” I first became aware that nothing good ever follows this four-letter word when we lived in the…