Welcome.
Thanks for visiting my blog, Dr. Sasslyn’s Thoughts.
A little about the name — when I was in Hamline’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, my cohort found out that I had a PhD. They encouraged me to embrace my Dr. They also saw me go from a shy, quiet, not talking person in the back row, to a strong individual with a lot of opinions. Thus, my nickname was born. Dr. Sasslyn.
I hope to post every two weeks or so with a combination of opinions about the world, writing thoughts, book observations and an on-going discussion of my favorite — verse novels and poetry. I hope you’ll come back and check it out!
Emmy in the Key of Code – Verse is the Only Way This Story Will Be Told
I think there’s something magical about a story told through poetry – and we are lucky to have some master poets contributing to this genre (Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander to name a few). I’m going to bet that Aimee Lucido will join those ranks. If...
Emmy In the Key of Code
I remember the moment when Aimee Lucido told me she had an idea for a verse novel. “Something with coding, cause it’s like music and poetry, and a young girl.” I think that’s what she said. We were standing outside of our workshop during residency at the Hamline MFA...
Writing White
I’m struggling with a writing issue. I’m deep into a revision of my verse novel. I wrote the initial draft quickly during NANOWRIMO – it was no where near 50K words, but folks, it’s poetry. As I dig through this first really big revision, I’m starting to see...
The Start of What I Learned From When They See Us
I’m 45. Soon to be 46. When the Central Park jogger case happened, I was a junior in high school. I’m also white. And yes, that’s important to know. Here’s what I remembered: Wilding – scary thing happening with young men in Central Park. Young black men were accused....
Upon Waking: 58 Voices from the Shadow of Abuse
I’m excited to announce the publication of an anthology – Upon Waking: 58 Voices from the Shadow of Abuse. One of those voices, is mine. Two of my poems are included – “The Child Knows No” and “In Which I Sue for Memory and Associated Damages.” I’m honored and proud...
Making Defining
I told my therapist last week, as we admired the pretty picture of Defining on my phone, writing it was a little bit like vomiting up word nails. Now, as I read it, I understand those words spell out some bad shit. Sad shit. Some trauma. But do you know what I see?...
My Poetry Obsession – The Acrostic
I’m a huge fan of form poetry. Sestinas. Pantoums. Haiku. But lately, it’s been acrostic – all day, all the time. Acrostics are fascinating. Basically, the first letter of each line spells out a name, a word, a message. We usually encounter acrostics when we’re in...
How Ms. Shimkus and Pre-Calc Taught Me About Me
This one’s not about writing. Not exactly anyway. But it is about me. And a lesson I learned a long time ago. I was sixteen and in Pre-Calc. My junior year of high school. Math was never my best subject and I hated it. It was like a strange language and I...
Vomiting the Poems Up
Some of my poems deal with my own traumatic experiences. I get the question often - how do I write about my trauma? Before I answer that question, let’s talk about what it’s like BEFORE a traumatic memory becomes a poem. Phase One: I start to feel anxious....
My Black Lives Matter Sign
This was first published as a guest column in the Prescott Journal on June 28, 2018 under the title, “I Still Have a Black Lives Matter Sign.” You might wonder why I’m including this on a writer/poet blog. A more political blog. Here’s why. My moral core – my belief...
Welcome.
Thanks for visiting my blog, DR. SASSLYN’S LOG/BLOG!
... read more
A little about the name — when I was in Hamline’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, my cohort found out that I had a PhD. They encouraged me to embrace my Dr. They also saw me go from a shy, quiet, not talking person in the back row, to a strong individual with a lot of opinions. Thus, my nickname was born. Dr. Sasslyn.
I hope to post every two weeks or so with a combination of opinions about the world, writing thoughts, book observations and an on-going discussion of my favorite — verse novels and poetry. I hope you’ll come back and check it out!
Latest Posts:
Listen
I was asked, what I thought, an easy question recently. “What is one thing I’ve learned in 2020 about being anti-racist.” Yes! Right! I’ve got this. Right? What hasn’t 2020 taught me? I mean, if you are existing in 2020, how can you not learn about being anti-racist? ...
Twitter Accounts I Love
Friends – it’s been a LONG time, hasn’t it? Your world and mine has both shifted dramatically – or has it just made more of us see what was always there? I thought to warm up to new blogs, I’d share my favorites on Twitter to educate myself on issue that are...
What is “Great” Anyway? Join My Introduction to Creative Writing Class!
I’m really excited. I’m teaching a class – online – through The Loft Literary Center. It’s called “Let’s Get Writing! Introduction to Creative Writing.” I want folks who take the class to just enjoy playing with words as much as I do. I’m going to introduce folks to...
Liquor Acrostics and More featured on in parentheses
Remember how I said how much I loved acrostics? Turns out the editors at in parentheses do too! They’ve published four acrostics and a fifth poem of mine on their blog last month. I hope you will check these out! And the in parentheses is a great resource for exciting...
Emmy in the Key of Code – Verse is the Only Way This Story Will Be Told
I think there’s something magical about a story told through poetry – and we are lucky to have some master poets contributing to this genre (Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Acevedo, Kwame Alexander to name a few). I’m going to bet that Aimee Lucido will join those ranks. If...
Emmy In the Key of Code
I remember the moment when Aimee Lucido told me she had an idea for a verse novel. “Something with coding, cause it’s like music and poetry, and a young girl.” I think that’s what she said. We were standing outside of our workshop during residency at the Hamline MFA...