• "There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily."
  -- Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers
  

  "When I am king, they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books; for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved . . . "
  -- Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper
  

  "You must fear the monkey!"
  -- Bucky Katt, Get Fuzzy
  

• Categories

  • Books and Movies
  • Teaching
  • Writing

• Tags

  american literature aroostook county batman cats christopher moore essay fiction george haiku movies newswriting poetry shakespeare short story Writing

A ripple sounds

Ears alert, nose to the air

Stark stillness returns

This is an older piece, written for The Star-Herald in May 2004 after my brother received his PhD.

On May 25, my younger brother walked across the stage at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, N.J., and officially became Dr. Jason Woodsome Harger, Ph.D. in molecular genetics.

Not bad for a kid whose first career goal was to be a mailbox. Read more

Another story I wrote this week for The Star-Herald. Not the most exciting of topics, but this is what you do when you’re the newspaper of record.

By Kristine A. Harger
Special to The Star-Herald

PRESQUE ISLE - Thanks to federal stimulus money, SAD 1 will be able to offer free flu shots to students this year. The program was announced at the July 8 SAD 1 board of directors meeting. Read more

I wrote this for my former employer while visiting northern Maine. I like to keep my finger in things.  

By Kristine A. Harger
Special to The Star-Herald

PRESQUE ISLE - The Maine Potato Board approved a $1.4 million budget for 2009-2010 at its July 17 meeting. The spending plan represents a 5.4 percent drop from the 08-09 budget.

For the potato board, conservative budgeting isn’t anything new. Read more

Just a few acrostics that I wrote for the Central Connecticut Student Writing Project, where I’m instructing this summer.

Bunches of water

Under the spout

Catching the rainfall

Kick it for fun

Empty it onto the flowers

Try to spit into it from a distance

Gorgeous

Egomaniac

Over the top

Relaxed

Greedy

Enormous

Window to my soul

Route to the unknown

Imagination at play

Trip

Into dreams

No limits

Go for it!

Here’s an independent assignment I gave my American Literature students to do during our final week of state testing. I wanted to give them something that was content-light but still academic. Most of them really enjoyed it.

I should point out that all of this (except for the samples, which I wrote) was stolen from the web. Read more

I wrote this in either 2002 or 2003, when I was working for The Star-Herald newspaper in Presque Isle, Maine. My periodic column was called “Musings.”

This Sunday, June 15, fathers everywhere will receive breakfast in bed, golf balls, bad ties, sports videos and cards ranging from side-splitting funny to tear-jerker sweet from their spouses and children. Yep … it’s Father’s Day.

I’m planning on sending my father (he’s in Connecticut so this won’t ruin the surprise) a wine book that will allow him to make notes on what varieties and brands he likes, doesn’t like, and what foods they best complement. But I still don’t have a card picked out.

You see, my father is not an emotive man. I’ve never seen him cry or belly-laugh, although he has this great smirk and chuckle. I have seen him get mad - I get my impatience from him. Most of the time though, he’s pretty stoic.

So a mushy card that goes on and on about how I’m Daddy’s Little Girl, or some other sappy stuff, is not for me and my Dad. No, I need a card that somehow acknowledges … Read more

Kitty sits in the window

birds swoop by — ack! ack!

Frustration emerges now.

I want to eat birds!

I want to eat birds!

Hackles rise as space contracts

ears back, bellies shown.

first swipe, then the fur flies fast.

wounds nursed, glass broken

Mommy’s left to sweep.

It’s been so long since I posted — I’ve got a bunch of stuff, including this Thanksgiving acrostic I composed for friends and family.

Turkey day

Have more mashed potatoes and

Apple pie.

No boiled onions please. You

Know I hate them.

Smashed turnips and carrots –

Good stuff.

I‘m going to waddle out of here.

Viewing family photo albums,

I remember

November with

Grammy.

Here’s a series of poems — mostly haiku and tanka — I composed while watching my sister-in-law play beach volleyball in Southern California 2 days after Christmas. Read more

Next Page →

• Links

  • Central Connecticut State University
  • Dictionary.com
  • Dubbah Design
  • Get Fuzzy
  • National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
  • National Writing Project
  • New Britain Herald
  • New Britain High School
  • New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
  • Pearls Before Swine
  • Spark Notes
  • The Hartford Courant
  • Web English Teacher

• Check this out!

  Get the Flash Player to see the slideshow.

• Christmas in SoCal