Your Students Should Blog–

Your Students Should Blog–

sabrina's stash flickrGiving students a blog provides an instant audience, and a shift in identity for the blogger. A blogger looks at life with a writer’s eye and awareness of the audience; a blog gives its author a chance to examine, name and reflect on events, and may offer vindication and healing if the blogger is courageous enough to tell the truth.   Continue reading

The Launch

The Launch

Sheila Gilhooly Mistaken IdentityThe launch is a big day in the life of any book. It is the day when the art made out of life goes out into the world to see what its reception will be.

Mistaken Identity started as a small project to print Sheila’s stories for a small group of friends. barbara had 60 copies printed. (The list had grown from the original 20 we had planned for.) Continue reading

Making Art from Lives

Mistaken Identity. Detail from cover
Mistaken Identity. Detail from cover

The day the proof copy comes back from the printers is always the big day, and Mistaken Identity was no different. It looked so good. Sheila and I were both excited, and so was everyone else who saw the first copy. And the excitement was even greater when we saw the e-book listed for sale on-line. (See the side panel to get the e-book.)

Sheila is not a literacy student. She is a friend of long standing, someone I have worked with over the years on many projects and feminist actions. And she is no stranger to print—she collaborated with Persimmon Blackbridge on Still Sane, a classic art show and book about a coming out as a lesbian in the grasp of mental health services in the ‘70s. Continue reading