http://kharger.com Writer's Block Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:08:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A ripple sounds Ears alert, nose to the air Stark stillness returns http://kharger.com/2009/07/haikuage/ 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 ... http://kharger.com/2009/07/college-dreams/ 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 ... http://kharger.com/2009/07/sad-1-to-offer-free-flu-shots/ 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 ... http://kharger.com/2009/07/board-adopts-conservative-spending-plan/ 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 ... http://kharger.com/2009/07/acrostic-poems/ 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 ... http://kharger.com/2009/03/poetry-is-fun-project/ I've been hearing great things about Christopher Moore for years, but it took his writing a "re-telling" of King Lear from the Fool's point of view to get me to pick up one of his novels. More fool me for waiting so long. Moore is deliciously funny, with a wicked streak a ... http://kharger.com/2009/03/fool-by-christopher-moore/ This assignment was inspired by the book, 100 Words for Lovers, that I picked up at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago.  I gave the assignment to my Delta Writing class (struggling writers) on the last day before February vacation. Most had fun with it, although a few ... http://kharger.com/2009/02/billet-doux-assignment/ 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 ... http://kharger.com/2009/01/remembering-dad-on-fathers-day/ 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. http://kharger.com/2009/01/random-kitty-tankas/