Dealing with my Own “Stuff”

By Lynn Slaughter / May 20, 2017 /

This past week, I took a professional development workshop on first aid for mental health, a program that originated in Australia and is now gaining widespread adoption in the states. It’s designed to teach skills in recognizing and responding to folks who may be in the early-stages of a mental health crisis

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MOTHERHOOD: THERE’S NO EXPIRATION DATE

By Lynn Slaughter / May 14, 2017 /

As I write this, it’s Mother’s Day. I’ve been thinking a lot about the experience of being a mom. Pre-children, I imagined being a mom was pretty much a temporary gig.

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MY TURN TO BLAME SET

By Lynn Slaughter / May 11, 2017 /

President Obama had barely taken the oath of office when Senator Mitch McConnell, one of the folks who makes me profoundly embarrassed to admit I live in Kentucky, announced his primary goal was to limit Obama to one term in office. He didn’t succeed, but he and his Republican cronies became the “party of No”…

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It’s Not Altruism, But It Sure Feels Good

By Lynn Slaughter / May 1, 2017 /

I once sat in a communications lecture in which the professor announced,  “There’s no such thing as altruism.” I raised my hand.

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Powerful Writing Advice from Donald Maass

By Lynn Slaughter / April 23, 2017 /

My writer’s group takes turns leading mini-workshops on aspects of fiction writing. Recently, it was my turn. The subject was upping the stakes in our stories. When I re-read Donald Maass’s chapter on stakes from his outstanding  WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL,

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The Working Poor in Academia

By Lynn Slaughter / April 13, 2017 /

My office mate’s eyes light up when he begins talking about a new approach he’s just tried with his college students that worked really well. He clearly loves what he does, and he’s endlessly curious about how he can do his job even better. 

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Whole Lot of Re-Parenting Going On

By Lynn Slaughter / April 3, 2017 /

I’ve always been suspicious of those couples who have that parent-child thing going on. It makes me nervous

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Love Stories Are the Best

By Lynn Slaughter / March 24, 2017 /

My husband claims that people take one look at me and start spilling their life stories. To be honest, it’s kind of true. I think folks can tell I’m genuinely interested. Sometimes

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Picking a Partner

By Lynn Slaughter / March 17, 2017 /

The other day, I was talking with my English composition class about the importance of identifying their criteria of evaluation in working on their upcoming “write a review” assignment. I pointed out that in our everyday lives, we’re constantly doing evaluations

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College and Class, Part 2

By Lynn Slaughter / March 9, 2017 /

Some months ago, I wrote about the differences between my college experience as an upper middle class kid at an Ivy League college and the  more challenging experience of my commuter university students,

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