The Eclectic Writer

Slow Down!

Feeling the need to slow down? Check out my recently published essay titled "Rediscovering Coffee, Cafes, and the Art of Conversation" in the Vermont Shortbread Company's e-zine Short Bites September 18, 2007 edition. Just scroll down to the Food for Thought section.

If you're on the east coast of the U.S. this Friday (9/28)  and checking out the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts, visit the Vermont Shortbread Company and its founder, my college roomie and buddy Ann Zuccardy, who will be serving up samples of her delicious shortbread!  Details are also in this issue of the e-zine.

My Recent Article in Miranda Literary Magazine

An explication I wrote about Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking is published in the Winter 2007 issue of Miranda Literary Magazine.

An explication, or close reading, involves choosing a short passage from a larger body of writing or a poem and analyzing it in detail.  Explication, which means to examine or unfold, helps to interpret how a writer may have conveyed a particular theme through the use of various literary techniques, such as word choice, syntax, alliteration, repetition, and metaphor. In other words, it's taking a micro look at a part to make macro sense of the whole.  The theme I examine in my close reading is marriage as a partnership.

Please visit the link to this close reading and enjoy!