451. “What Have You Made Yourself?”

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   2:31 PM. Brooklyn cafe, big windows. Lots of sunlight, rain and snow flakes. A friend of mine commented on a guy she likes and said he only concerns himself with his work. “I want […]

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403. “What Would You Like To Have Memorized?”

(Feature photo: “The Guidonian Hand,” a mnemonic device to aid the learning of sight singing; a precursor of Tonic Sol-fa; devised by the Guido di Arezzo.) In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   403. “What Would You Like To Have Memorized?” […]

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Language and Speech Questions 353-370

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   353. “What Words Do You Hate?”   The Cambridge University Press textbook we use to teach English to intermediate students has a list of the top 500 most used words in the English language. […]

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351. “How Important Is Arts Education?”

(Image taken from “La cueva de las manos,” the Cave of Hands in Santa Cruz, Argentina: a site which would look like an act of vandalism, or the product of a children’s arts and crafts class, unless carbon-dated to 10,000 years ago.)   In response to The New York Times […]

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346. “What is Your Most Memorable Writing Assignment?”

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   346. “What is Your Most Memorable Writing Assignment?”   In eleventh grade our English teacher assigned us a 20 page paper due at the end of the month. “On anything you want,” she answered […]

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323. “What Are the Best Books You’ve Read This Year?”

(Feature Image: Henry Miller Memorial Library) In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   323. “What Are the Best Books You’ve Read This Year?”   Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (art by Tzviatko Kinchev) Reading this novel, for Professor James Lasdun’s “Form […]

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315. “What Are Your Favorite Video Games?”

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   315. “What Are Your Favorite Video Games?”   The games that took up a lot of my youth were the massive-multiplayer-online-role-playing types like Tibia, Ragnarok, and Age of Empires, which were all fantasy, and […]

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NYT Music questions 277 through 289

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   277. “What Are You Listening To?” https://soundcloud.com/begun/bearoid-at-your-funeral-begun-remix   “Listen to this,” my buddy Andrew said, handing me his right headphone piece. The plane had taken off moments before. From the window you could see […]

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264. “How Real Are You on Social Media?”

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   264. “How Real Are You on Social Media?”   Hah.   Well, I only use Instagram regularly, and Facebook once a week. Is this website social media?   I’ll admit, I use Facebook for […]

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244. “What’s So Great About YouTube?”

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   244. “What’s So Great About YouTube?”   My buddy Greg keeps me up to date on much new music. Earlier this week, he sent me a Spotify link to the Mono No Aware compilation […]

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237. “Do You Experience FOMO When You Unplug?”

In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   237. “Do You Experience FOMO When You Unplug?”   No.   I’ll admit that one of my inner aches is FOMO. Not from unplugging, but in general. Every once in a while, I find […]

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224. “What Are Your Attitudes Toward Money?”

(Art from fanpop.com)   In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   224. “What Are Your Attitudes Toward Money?”   Here are a couple of dollar bill paragraphs and a wallet always full:   We are what we eat. And I’ve consumed […]

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213. “What Does it Mean to Be ‘a Real Man?'”

(This was a hard question to answer. I pray my reflections lead you to your own.)   In response to The New York Times article “650 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing.”   213. “What Does it Mean to Be ‘a Real Man?’”   My dear friend Brittany Reeber, film […]

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