by Toni McNaron | Mar 25, 2019 | Uncategorized
The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) tells us stasis means equilibrium, coming from a Latin word meaning “stopping circulation or movement.” When this word comes into my mind, I picture two people on an old-fashioned see-saw when they are eye-to-eye and...
by Toni McNaron | Mar 19, 2019 | Uncategorized
When I began my career teaching literature at the University of Minnesota in 1964, I lectured. That’s how I’d been taught as an undergraduate and graduate student, occasionally by brilliant lecturers who gave me hoards of facts and concepts, some of which...
by Toni McNaron | Mar 5, 2019 | Uncategorized
Recently I was in Birmingham with a close friend. We’d flown into the city so we could drive to Montgomery to experience the Legacy Memorial and accompanying museum focused on lynchings in America. My friend asked if I’d show her where I was born....
by Toni McNaron | Feb 19, 2019 | Uncategorized
The more poems I read these days by writers like Robin Coste Lewis, Tracy Smith, and Claudia Rankine, the more I know deep in my bones that it is this medium that draws me most intensely. For years, I’ve said, half in jest and half in regret, “When I grow...
by Toni McNaron | Feb 3, 2019 | Uncategorized
Catholic priests are not known for preaching profound sermons, so it’s a blessing that most conform to the idea of making homilies short. Custom has it that ten minutes is the ideal length. But every now and then, congregants are surprised, as I was a few...
