The Essence of Teaching and Learning

Posted on 12/27/2011 by Jeff May

I remember when my eighteen month old son toddled up to me, put his little finger on my shirt button and said, “That’s a button!” His first complete sentence. Made me proud and excited. The potential. Somehow he had learned language. When I taught English to teenage outcasts, I established a complex relationship with my students and a similar interplay of teaching and learning occurred. With my students, it was more direct. It was my … Continue reading →

Posted in Ask, Uncategorized, Write | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review Bluntness

Posted on 11/29/2011 by Jeff May

Recently, I read a blog, “Like the author… but” by Sharon Wildwind, in which she discusses the awkwardness of responding to a “friend’s book,” a technical writer who decided to try fiction. The book was “boring.” But Wildwind is reluctant to tell the truth. How to respond? A common dilemma. We’ve all received book recommendations or gifts, but couldn’t get past the first few pages. An online acquaintance suggested I try reading Ayn Rand and … Continue reading →

Posted in Write | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

At What Age

Posted on 11/25/2011 by Jeff May

At what age do you prefer sleep to wakefulness, prefer the dream— climbing the clouds atop a faraway mountain— To the step by step slog legs too heavy to move air too thin to breathe the dream a painful reality. At what age does the body prefer the mind asleep?   Share on Facebook

Posted in Uncategorized, Write | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Posted on 11/22/2011 by Jeff May

Share on Facebook

Posted in Uncategorized, Write | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Confessions of a Failed Fiction Writer

Posted on 11/17/2011 by Jeff May

As I was hiking along the Meramec River (St. Louis, Castlewood State Park), I mulled over a sort of memoir concept that I’ve been thinking about for over a year now.  The only thing stopping me is that I know I will expend lots of time, energy, hard work, getting it as perfect as I can and it will go nowhere.  That is the crux of the story.  As I near 60 (I’ll be 58 … Continue reading →

Posted in Ask, Write | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Romantic Musings

Posted on 10/25/2011 by Jeff May

After all the flashes of anger and scenes of violence, all the perversion and political foolishness, the aging body limping but still climbing, the steady diet of Halloween horror movies and romantic comedies, I will settle for a cool afternoon run along the river, through the woods, and will create nothing short of my own reality so that at least for one elusive moment, I can believe in an illusory, romantic, selfless merging of spirits … Continue reading →

Posted in Ask, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Middle Class Mortality

Posted on 10/22/2011 by Jeff May

Middle Class Mortality Young man full of it,         at night After a few,        that was me. Did I drink…      too much? Could I see…      what was coming? I cycle the highway      Salvation Army clothes Tattering in the wind      bent wheels clacking Loose spokes, rusted fender,      what happened to my Lycra shorts? I work at Wal-Mart      my Phd in Philosophy I shoeshine on Wall Street      loose teeth … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Write | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Dry Fly” of the St. Louis Ozarks

Posted on 09/29/2011 by Jeff May

There’s no “matching the hatch” when I fly-fish clear Ozark streams near St. Louis, Missouri.  While I am interested in insects, bugs, and so on, I’m more interested in catching smallmouth on my fly rod.  I also enjoy seeing snakes slither acorss the water’s surface.  So I’m often asked the common question, “What are you using for bait?”  No worms, no stinkbait, or mechanical gagets, but simply “poppers.”  My first choice is a yellow popper, followed by … Continue reading →

Posted in Ask, Fish, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dry Clothes and Clean Feet – Fishing Tips

Posted on 09/27/2011 by Jeff May

Here’s a tip or two for those of you driving on long gravel roads to clear streams, then wading for hours into the night and returning when the tempature has dropped significantly.  Always have a change of clothes in your car, including dry socks and shoes.  Carry an old blanket or sleeping bag in the trunk so that you can stand on it while you change.  Took years of driving back in wet clothes before … Continue reading →

Posted in Fish | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Could Have Been

Posted on 09/22/2011 by Jeff May

I could have been a man famous for song for art for science and for love I could have been someone other than who I am But in the end I am who I am and we are all the same Share on Facebook

Posted in Write | Tagged , , | Leave a comment