by Melanie Scheller | Sep 13, 2024 |
Learning to read came easily to me, so much so that I was puzzled when I was praised for being “a good reader.” That seemed as pointless as praising me for being “a good breather.” It also made me anxious when teachers scolded the children who...
by Melanie Scheller | Aug 30, 2024 |
Chat GPT can now write poetry … and I am baffled as to why anyone thinks this is good news. It’s not as though the world is down to its last few barrels of poetry and is desperate for a new technology that will boost its supply. Writing poetry is a...
by Melanie Scheller | Aug 16, 2024 |
You’re probably aware of some of the common stereotypes about poets: They’re college professors who wear tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows, or maybe they’re little old ladies who write ditsy poems about birds and butterflies. They...
by Melanie Scheller | Aug 2, 2024 |
When I was a toddler, I thought that learning to read was something that would happen to me automatically, like growing taller or losing my baby teeth. I saw how much my mother and father loved to read, and I assumed that I would love to read as well. The idea that I...
by Melanie Scheller | Jul 19, 2024 |
When I walked into a library for the first time, I thought it was a church. In the early 1960s, the library in Monroe, North Carolina, was located in a large antebellum house. It had lots of polished wood, sunlight pouring through the windows, and flower arrangements...
