Screen grab of official-looking false alarm I received, Dec. 9, 2022 This is embarrassing: After getting repeated warnings, like the one shown above, that if I didn't turn on "Facebook Protect" I would be locked out of my Facebook account Tuesday, Dec. 20, I made copies of the files I wanted to save, said my … Continue reading Well, apparently I’m still on FB but this latest false alarm has me hitting the reset button on how I use social media
‘Daniel O’Connell’s Hymn’ performed by Shaun Davey and family, with excerpt from O’Connell’s original speech in 1843
Parked here until I can reactivate my trad music blog Hogfiddle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jqvDp7JnMQ A rather different kind of Irish music, and one I find I'm increasingly drawn to, is by semiclassical Irish composer Shaun Davey. He's known for songs, backed by pipes (mostly uilleann, but with Scottish bagpipes occasionally thrown in) and symphony orchestra, typically featuring … Continue reading ‘Daniel O’Connell’s Hymn’ performed by Shaun Davey and family, with excerpt from O’Connell’s original speech in 1843
Climbing up out of an English teacher-y rabbit hole with a little help from the Ursuline sisters and St. Philip the Deacon
St. Philip baptizes a eunuch, attributed to Jan Brueghel the Younger (Wikipedia) Acts 8 (NRSV) 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to … Continue reading Climbing up out of an English teacher-y rabbit hole with a little help from the Ursuline sisters and St. Philip the Deacon
My article on Springfield poet Vachel Lindsay, Springfield College and Ursuline Academy (1999, in the Sleepy Weasel)
https://www.facebook.com/peter.ellertsen/posts/2807407206186974 Editor's (admin's) note: Facebook shared the above post, from 2017, this morning as one of its "Memories." It shows an inscription by Vachel Lindsay on the inside title page of a book he apparently donated to SCI. I used a copy to illustrate an article I wrote in 1999 for The Sleepy Weasel. I … Continue reading My article on Springfield poet Vachel Lindsay, Springfield College and Ursuline Academy (1999, in the Sleepy Weasel)
SCI institutional history on the college website up to the time of its 2003 merger with Benedictine
Found this morning while I was zapping old files from my hard drive, a cheerful, public relations-y history of Springfield College in Illinois that I wrote for the college website shortly after its "partnership" with Benedictine University Lisle, which evolved into an outright merger and ended abruptly in 2014 when BenU closed down the Springfield … Continue reading SCI institutional history on the college website up to the time of its 2003 merger with Benedictine
Found poem — in a Swedish grammar book I kept in my office at at SCI-Benedictine
Editor's note -- another workshop poem I wrote when I was teaching creative writing at Springfield College in Illinois, which later merged with Benedictine University and was subsequently closed. According to the Academy of American Poets, found poems "take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of … Continue reading Found poem — in a Swedish grammar book I kept in my office at at SCI-Benedictine
Haiku from our campus literary magazine at SCI-Benedictine a month after 9/11
When I taught English and journalism at Springfield College in Illinois (before our merger with Benedictine), I workshopped poems along with my creative writing students. One of the forms we experimented with was "found poetry." The Academy of American Poets explains, "Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as … Continue reading Haiku from our campus literary magazine at SCI-Benedictine a month after 9/11
A Shakespeare allusion in a ‘poem-like substance’ found on an old hard drive
Editor's note -- I found this poem while I was looking in for something else in an old hard drive where I store files from when I taught English at Benedictine University Springfield. In my creative writing classes, I wrote along with the students whenever possible -- if I was asking them to embarrass themselves … Continue reading A Shakespeare allusion in a ‘poem-like substance’ found on an old hard drive
John Knoepfle, 1923-2019
John Knoepfle, who died Saturday at the age of 96, was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1999 by Springfield College in Illinois (later Benedictine University Springfield). As the faculty adviser/de facto editor of the campus literary magazine at the time, I obtained John's permission to publish his commencement address to the class of 1999, perhaps … Continue reading John Knoepfle, 1923-2019
Ordinary Time 