Little Men: Teachers as gardeners, reaping a rich harvest

I wanted to share with you a beautiful essay on Little Men from Crisis Magazine. The author of the piece, Mitchell Kalpakgian was himself a professor of English at Simpson College in Iowa for 31 years and certainly understands the special role of teachers, and the rich gift of a good one. Here is a …

Returning to “Work:” In and out of the mist – Louisa’s art reflects life

We return to a discussion of Work: A Story of Experience where chapter 7, "Through the Mist" marks a turning point in Christie's life. It is also a powerful and penetrating look inside the author who herself experienced a similar turning point. After numerous attempts to find meaningful work that she could sustain, and after …

Susan Cheever discusses her biography on Louisa May Alcott

Here is a video I found of Susan Cheever discussing her book, Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography: Click to Tweet & Share: Watch Susan Cheever discuss her book, Louisa May Alcott A Personal Biography http://wp.me/p125Rp-1eY Are you passionate about Louisa May Alcott too? Send an email to louisamayalcottismypassion@gmail.com to subscribe, and never miss a …

New look, new functionality! Welcome to Louisa May Alcott is My Passion version 2.0

I am pleased to present a beefed up Louisa May Alcott is My Passion with a sleek new look and greater functionality. With two years' worth of content, it gets hard to find what you want. I know. I often couldn't find what I wanted! I have, therefore, created a menu system that gives you …

Louisa’s poetic tribute to her mother reveals beautiful insights on death

I have long maintained that Louisa's most poignant writing revolves around death as evidenced in Beth March's passing inĀ Little Women and John Suhre's noble death in Hospital Sketches. Recently I found a blog post on the SevenPonds site that states so eloquently the very thoughts I've harbored about Louisa's insights into death - that it …

Talking about Louisa on the radio!

Last week I was invited to be interviewed by the Extreme Writers Now forum on Blogtalk radio. The interview took place on Sunday night and we had a free-for-all discussing Louisa's works and legacy. It was great fun and I was honored to be a part of it. You can listen to the interview here …

Questions, questions … (part two) – turning to May

How did May Alcott get away with so much? In 1868, she joined her sister Louisa in Boston to teach an art class. Louisa had just secured her position as editor of Merry’s Museum. She was 35 and May, 27. Line of intrigue Madeleine Stern wrote a rather intriguing line about May that sparked the …

Questions, questions … (part one)

Before I begin, thank you for your part in the extraordinarily successful launch of my new blog, Be As One: A Single Flow … The stats were encouraging and that’s a massive understatement! Thank you. Involvement in my new blog dampened my passion for Louisa but only temporarily. It only takes reading a page or …

Learning from Louisa: Expanding my writing horizons

I am pleased to announce a new blog, Be As One, conceived and realized because of this blog. Inspiration You may recall a previous post where I shared how Louisa May Alcott had inspired me to write and I unveiled an ebook essay, "Game-Changer". Since writing that essay, I have felt the pull more and …

Louisa may be most revealing through her poetry

Think the best way to "know" Louisa is through her stories? Some think her poetry is more revealing. I discovered a wonderful post exploring Louisa's poetry by teacher and writer KarenTBTEN on Squidoo. She opens her post with the following: Who was Louisa May Alcott? In the introduction to The Poems of Louisa May Alcott, …