Okay, writers, artists, educators, poets, HUMANS… Hear this:
Tiferet Journal hopes to foster peace through literature and art.
There is nothing better. Period. Read. Write. Learn.
Have to love a “fiercely debated” punctuation mark, the Oxford Comma
The informative and often fun site, ThoughCo.com published an article about the Oxford of serial comma here: ThoughtCo.com Article on the Oxford Comma .
This comma is known as the Oxford Comma, the Harvard Comma, and more commonly, the serial comma.
But what is this hot topic punctuation mark? As the author Richard Nordquist writes,
The Oxford comma is the comma that precedes the conjunction before the final item in a list of three or more items:
- This song was composed by Moe, Larry, and Curly.
- This website is devoted to Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Joe, and Curly Joe.
- This book is dedicated to my roommates, Beyoncé, and God.
I just love those examples!
ThoughtCo.com believes the serial comma should be used unless the style manual a writer is using advises against it.
I have to love a “fiercely debated” punctuation mark! What do you think? Where do you stand on this hot topic?
Laura Lee
Poetry is making a comeback? NPR discusses the NEA study
As I wrote earlier and as this article declares, “In half a decade, the number of U.S. adults who are reading poetry has nearly doubled.” Read all about it on the NPR (National Public Radio) site, where they quote from the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) study here: Poetry is making a comeback
If a comeback, not even 12% of Americans reading poetry is a paltry figure to me. How can poetry not be a part of so many lives? And do we even have 12% of Americans buying/ supporting poets and poetry?
I’m not sure about that. I’d love to see America support its poets and truly embrace poetry, but we have a long way to go.
Part 3–Literacy can be the Bridge: in Praise of Public Libraries
Getting to there from here? How does one change careers while still paying the bills? This was a true dilemma for me, for there was no trust fund, no rainy day forgotten account, no family to turn to once I quit my job in business.
This is a nice problem to have, and I know that. It reeks of privilege, and I know that. Yet I was a healthy adult with so much energy, and I knew I wanted a different type of life than working in an office. I did not turn to drink, but I turned to sadness. I turned to tension. Those are not healthy.
Since I loved to read and write, I turned to the public library and was amazed to find the library had become a hub of activity. The library was not a quiet place as I remembered it, but a place of reading groups, tutoring, computer training, and so much more–in addition to having quiet places for reading and studying.
I wonder if librarians know they have helped to improve the lives of many? For that is what I saw daily as people looked for jobs, learned a new skill, found positive activities for themselves and their family.
I found the world of book discussion groups, and never looked back. Like-minded reading lovers–what a joy!
And more–the library was looking for literacy tutors and I wanted to become a teacher. Would I dare to take that risk, even while I was so very sad in my everyday world? It almost seemed too difficult to risk change and then have the change not work out.
Would I take the risk and make changes?
More to follow.
Poetry-reading rate is up in America per NEA study
Poets! According to this NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) study, poetry-reading rate is up, to about 12% in American, up from 6.7% in 2012. Alas, this means that MOST Americans–88%–do not read poetry at all. Hmm… from my own acquaintances, I thought more than that percentage WRITE poetry. And if you write poetry? You do need to be reading poetry.
Come on, American–we can do better.
Find the article here : NEA Study on Poetry-reading rates in USA
From the study: The 2017 poetry-reading rate is five percentage points up from the 2012 survey period (when the rate was 6.7 percent) and three points up from the 2008 survey period (when the rate was 8.3 percent). This boost puts the total rate on par with 2002 levels, with 12.1 percent of adults estimated to have read poetry that year.
Growth in poetry reading is seen across most demographic sub-groups (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, and education level), but here are highlights:
• Young adults have increased their lead, among all age groups, as poetry readers. Among 18-24-year-olds, the poetry-reading rate more than doubled, to 17.5 percent in 2017, up from 8.2 percent in 2012. Among all age groups, 25-34-year-olds had the next highest rate of poetry-reading: 12.3 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 2012.
• Women also showed notable gains (14.5 percent in 2017, up from 8.0 percent in 2012). As in prior years, women accounted for more than 60 percent of all poetry-readers. Men’s poetry-reading rate grew from 5.2 percent in 2012 to 8.7 percent in 2017.
• Among racial/ethnic subgroups, African Americans (15.3 percent in 2017 up from 6.9 percent in 2012), Asian Americans (12.6 percent, up from 4.8 percent), and other non-white, non-Hispanic groups (13.5 percent, up from 4.7 percent) now read poetry at the highest rates. Furthermore, poetry-reading increased among Hispanics (9.7 percent, up from 4.9 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (11.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent).
• Adults with only some college education showed sharp increases in their poetry-reading rates. Of those who attended but did not graduate from college, 13.0 percent read poetry in 2017, up from 6.6 percent in 2012. College graduates (15.2 percent, up from 8.7 percent) and adults with graduate or professional degrees (19.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent) also saw sizeable increases.
• Urban and rural residents read poetry at a comparable rate (11.8 percent of urban/metro and 11.2 percent of rural/non-metro residents).
Sad statistics on Puerto Rico from ScienceNews.org
Such a sad news story that up to 4,600+ people killed in Puerto Rico. From the article:
Hurricane Maria killed at least 4,645 people in Puerto Rico, a study estimates
The new number is based on household surveys and surpasses the official count of 64
Hurricane Maria and its chaotic aftermath in Puerto Rico led to at least 4,645 deaths, according to a new estimate based on household surveys. That’s thousands more than the 64 official storm-related deaths counted from death certificates.
The Category 5 storm hit the U.S. Caribbean territory on September 20, 2017, bringing down trees, houses and the electricity system. From then until December 31, the death rate rose 62 percent compared with the same time period in 2016, researchers report online May 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Poem published in Tuck Magazine
This time a poem is personal. Arm teachers? No, so much could go wrong….and there is the personal cost to arming someone who is supposed to nurture and teach…
Anyway, I am pleased to learn that my poem “Teach to Kill” was published here today: Tuck Magazine
Laura Lee 