• In the Wake of Tragedy: Choose Peace Advocacy

    Is there anything sensible left to write when it comes to the tragedies like the one we are facing right now in our lives? In the last week, Orlando has experienced three horrific events that have shocked us as a nation, sending ripples of grief worldwide. While each of the events is tragic in its…

    Read more →

  • Memorial Day: Remember The Sacrifice

    My alarm went off at 2:57 a.m., and three minutes later, I received the text from my friend Trina. Leaving now to commence with project honor Memorial Day. Twenty minutes later, at 3:20 a.m., after I had gathered my photo gear and thrown some journals and pens in my backpack, I headed out the door…

    Read more →

  • New Light, New Hope for Baltimore

    April in Baltimore could very easily be remembered as one of the darkest times of the year for our Charm City, following the riots in 2015. Oh, what a difference 12 months make. It was nearly 600 years ago when Chaucer wrote the timeless saying, “As tyme hem hurt, a tyme doth hem cure.” We…

    Read more →

  • Model Teaching: Empowerment Through Multi-Faceted Instruction

    I’ve been teaching for a long time — long enough to see the spin of the pedagogical cycle of strategies come full circle. What I have learned along the way is that there are some practices that work better than others when it comes to teaching writing. In 2009, the National Council of Teachers of…

    Read more →

  • Why We Fear Creativity, And How To Let Go

    I have been in this cafe for a little over an hour, writing in my Daybook to the ambient sounds of chatter, the clanging of dishes, all blended with the meditative, hollow sounds of Deuter playing his bamboo flute. On these pages, I have written about singular moments I experienced decades ago along the marshy…

    Read more →

  • On Authenticity and Taking Things Personally

    If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here While these visions did appear. I’ve been having some rather candid conversations with fellow writers and non-writers in Towson and around town about the importance of authentic writing, both in polished pieces that we submit for publication…

    Read more →

  • Journaling: Your Greatest Investment

    One of the questions I am asked most frequently about the process of writing is which is most important: the writing or the publishing? It’s a good question, but like everything else associated with the practice of writing, it’s not an easy one to answer. When we look at the process of writing, we can…

    Read more →

  • Chasing Fire: Understanding the Death of Baltimore’s Mayor in 1904

     In 2003, I completed my 306-page thesis on the Baltimore Fire of 1904. In my research, I stumbled on a little-known fact about the mayor of Baltimore during that historic conflagration, and I composed a much shorter piece (below) about his death and my pursuit of the truth about how he died. In the process,…

    Read more →

  • Challenger: 73 Seconds Define 30 Years

    Dateline – Tuesday, 28 January 1986. 11:35 a.m. I’m upstairs in my bedroom, cramming the last of my new textbooks in my bag, grabbing a few extra pens and my journal, and checking my look in the mirror: clean-shaven, every single hair gelled in place, and wearing a white oxford with a blue Hugo Boss…

    Read more →

  • My Friend Is Depressed: What Can I Do?

    One of the most common questions we are asked at Lines of Love is, “My friend is depressed and I don’t know what to do. How can I help?” The answer is pretty simple, but we can get overwhelmed with presumed responsibility of taking care of everything, and immediately. We look for the instant fix…

    Read more →