What I want to talk about today is history. How we redefine it over time; how we reinterpret it to match some version of the recent past—or the distant past—that suits our needs. How common—and how dangerous—a human characteristic it is. ...
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As children we dance unhampered by social norms, we lie in the grass on summer afternoons and imagine the swirling shapes of clouds as animals or monsters. Cloud-watching should be a required activity for grownups, too....
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I’ve recently been privileged to spend some intense time with my beautiful two-year-old granddaughter, and over and over again I was forcefully reminded how magical the world looks at that age. It’s all about firsts, and about stories. A rented house, with all kinds of new...
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As a kid, I would rather have eaten runny fried eggs, frogs’ legs, and boiled Brussels Sprouts than done research. In high school, the idea of doing honest-to-goodness research chilled my blood. And throughout college and grad school, I did it, but never with a...
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Inspiration. It comes and goes like a spark. As a writer, you have to be there with materials on hand, at all times, so that the heat of the spark can ignite your tinder and get those creative juices flowing whenever inspiration may strike. But what...
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A piece of granite. A lump of clay. A blank canvas. These are the raw materials of art. Visual and tactile, the artist must lay his hands on his material to reveal the image trapped inside. By contrast, the novelist’s material is not the blank page,...
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It’s hard work. The pay is terrible. I don’t need a lot of respect, but some small amount of consideration from the characters I bring to life would be nice. Who put these people in charge anyway?...
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Women wield far greater power than we realize, and in subtle ways that we often miss....
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"This above all: to thine own self be true…" ...
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Picasso is quoted as having said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” The implication is that in gaining technical proficiency, we lose the spontaneity and freedom with which children create. There often seems to be a...
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