“Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony.”
Mighty Quote of the Day
October 31st, 2009Know Your (Grown Up) Mighty Writers: Angel Hogan
October 30th, 2009
Grew up: “In Perkasie, a rural town outside Philadelphia, on a farm where my family raised Quarter Horses. We also had plenty of chickens, cats, a few dogs, an attack rooster and occasionally a goat. I moved to Philadelphia as a teen and the transition was a shockingly funny heap of multicultural embarrassments. I have called the city home since I returned from college. I write quite a bit about my early life on the farm as well as my first bittersweet taste of city life.”
My experience: “I’ve been a waitress, bartender, cashier, and restaurant manager. But throughout it all, I’ve been writing.”
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“You don’t need to be in front of a laptop to write.”
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Books I liked to read as a kid: “Just about anything: drama, thrillers, horror… I would always keep a small pad and pen handy to write down words that I didn’t know so that I could look them up and use them later.”
Books that had a big effect on me when I was a kid: “‘The Cay,’ by Theodore Taylor; ‘Sounder,’ by William Armstrong; ‘Philip Hall Likes Me, I Reckon Maybe,’ by Bette Greene; and ‘The Pigman,’ by Paul Zindel. They all transported me magically to another world and opened my mind to the wonder of writing.”
Kinds of books I like to read now: “I just finished re-reading ‘The Color of Water,’ by James McBride and ‘The Dream Songs’ by John Berryman. I also love James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Julia Glass and Alice Munro.”
Writing makes me happiest: “When I feel I have captured or represented something that might otherwise be fleeting. A unique exchange or moment… sort of a candid snapshot created with words.”
Advice on becoming a good writer: “Read. All. The. Time. Also, you don’t need to be in front of a laptop to write. Write on the bus, walking down the street, in line for coffee. Write everything down, don’t worry about it being perfect.”
Angel Hogan is a member of New Philadelphia Poets, a contributor to First Person Arts Story Slams and a contributor to the One Fine Philly blog. She is currently at work on her first novel.
Know Your (Grown Up) Mighty Writers
Mighty Quote of the Day
October 29th, 2009
“Win as if you were used to it, lose
as if you enjoyed it for a change.”
World Series, Baby!
October 29th, 2009
Today At Mighty Writers
October 29th, 2009
Homework, tutoring, writing exercises: 3 to 6pm
Pen & Pad Poetry Workshop: 4:45 to 5:45pm (led by Stephen Krewson)
Comic Madness: 6 to 8pm (led by Alli Katz)
Thank you!: Nancy Kramer, The Philadelphia School, Lois & Bill West; to all our Mighty workshop leaders and volunteers; and of course to Claire Bogan, Dmitriy Marchenko and Christina Rissell.
Sunday, NYT: “The First Marriage”
October 29th, 2009
“Though the president reads aloud with his children in the evenings—he and Sasha are finishing ‘Life of Pi’— parenting in the White House is more complicated. Because the first couple cannot move freely about, their relatives take Malia and Sasha to the bookstore, on a walk through Chinatown, to the multiplex to see ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.’ Last spring, according to Sher, well-meaning White House residence staff members tried to give the girls cellphones, so their parents could always reach them; the first lady stepped in to refuse.”
—excerpt from the New York Times Magazine, Sun., Nov. 1
Photo (top): Damon Winter/The New York Times
Register Now! Be A Mighty Sportswriter!
October 29th, 2009
A free Mighty Writers sportswriting workshop conducted
by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Annette John Hall
(ages 14-18)
Workshop dates:
Mondays
6 to 7:30pm
November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
&
December 7, 14, 21
To register, email
Rachel Loeper
rloeper@mightywriters.org
Or call: 267.239.0899
Register Now Before It’s Too Late!
