This weekend in Boston, we got our first real snowstorm of the season. Right now, I’m excited about wearing my winter accessories and T-ing through neighborhoods covered in snow. These famous authors also seem to enjoy the cold weather. My favorite of the collection:
Click through to see the rest. Hope you all get some fun in the snow as well!
(image: Smith College via Flavorwire)
Another poem for National Poetry Month. I couldn’t resist one with owls:
How To Build an Owl
By Kathleen Lynch1. Decide you must.
2. Develop deep respect
for feather, bone, claw.3. Place your trembling thumb
where the heart will be:
for one hundred hours watch
so you will know
where to put the first feather.4. Stay awake forever.
When the bird takes shape
gently pry open its beak
and whisper into it: mouse.5. Let it go.
(via swissmiss)
What happens when you combine the sciences and the arts? STEM haiku at STEM Friday! The idea, in celebration of National Poetry Month:
- Select a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) topic.
- Brainstorm a list of words about your topic.
- Count the syllables in each word.
- Use the words to share a short STEM thought using the haiku format.
What a cool way to combine poetry and science. My example:
A siren wails.
It approaches, wavelength shifts–
Wave farewell, Doppler.
Try out your own science haiku and share below or in the comments at STEM Friday.
A few more links for the afternoon:
From Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Twitter feed:
Well played, Tyson. And yet my heart still calls out for nine. Still, curious to see what the updated version of There’s No Place Like Space! is with eight.
Confession: I love giant sea creatures. I’ll watch any movie about them (even horrifically bad SyFy channel movies). I love real life versions. Shark Week is like a holiday.
So of course I have to share this article by Ben Shattuck that answers the question: Can you actually survive in the belly of a whale? I won’t give away the answer (lots of cool whale info in the actual article), but here’s a taste:
“You want to believe in an animal that can fit you inside them — that you might be consumed not piece-by-piece, mouthful-by-mouthful as sharks and bears would eat you, but wholly; to be encased as your full self, womb-like. You want to believe in big animals like you did when you were a kid. You want to be powerless as you are leaning into hurricane winds or with your eyes closed or looking into the ocean.”
The sea is not our natural habitat, and it’s so thrilling to think of these ancient, giant creatures that could overwhelm us. Make sure to check out the whole article. Shattuck even ends up at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which isn’t far from Boston and a place I haven’t visited when I was very young. This might inspire me to take a visit this spring. Maybe a nautical novel is in the works at some point? Apparently the museum has a Visiting Scholar in Residence program, so anyone interested in writing about whales or whaling should check it out.