Since the release of Dune (highly recommended if you have read the book; not sure otherwise, and I don't recommend much in the way of...

In the last post I used an illustration (Jose y Maria by Everett Patterson, a comic book artist) that re-imagines the typical Nativity...

A friend posted this illustration to Facebook. I found it ... at first perplexing, then disorienting, then resistant, then interested,...

Friends and I were talking about old TV shows from our childhood that are now on YouTube. I mentioned Lancelot Link, Super Chimp. I will...

There are a lot of reasons why you might not want to compete in Toastmasters. To be honest, after a few outings where I lost pretty...

I attended a webinar today that purported to give the Six Secrets of Author Success. I won't name names here. I signed up for it to see...

Entry 1: How to Come Up with Topics I would lay money on this statement: Many people who come to Toastmasters really want to improve...

Not feeling well last night (two reasons: exhausting first week of class and my air conditioning was out, making for a very hot house in...

I am not a biologist or epidemiologist. I am a social scientist and understand research and basic biology. I also understand persuasion...

This is not an argument against undergraduate education or the bachelor’s degree. It is an argument against the unreasonable expectation...

First, I’m a huge fan. I’ve watched all sixteen and I plan to go back though them and watch again. They are worth multiple viewings. What...

I just finished Syd Field’s The Foundations of Screenwriting because I’m sitting in on a screenwriting class this summer. I posted on it...

This summer I am sitting in on an introduction to screenwriting course in my academic department. The final output is 30 pages—the first...

I chose to watch all three episodes, equaling about six hours, of Ken Burns latest documentary, Hemingway. First impression: I watched...

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. Ecclesiastes 7:4 House of Mirth is a...

True confessions: I binge watched this show, that is, its first "season." (Seasons doesn't mean what it used to.) It was three hours of...

https://www.charlesanthonysilvestri.com/the-sacred-veil The music of this musical composition is something I am still exploring, but the...

Sometimes we pick up a book (or download it to our devices) for uncertain reasons. Sometimes for me, because a movie version is coming...

"Now, in the passages I have quoted from JANE EYRE, it is clear that anger was tampering with the integrity of Charlotte Brontë the...

The Algonquin Roundtable, the zenith of writers' groups. I have written on this blog, and elsewhere, about the value of writers’ groups...