I am a reader who was raised by readers, but my father has long disdained my love of books filled with faeries and unicorns and dragons. He wholeheartedly agreed with my defense of Westerns, a genre he taught me to
3 Reasons Westerns Will Never Die
Westerns are an important part of American culture both as a foundational film genre and as a central part of American mythology. While there are rules about the typical Western, set in the American Old West during the latter half
The Price of Humanity in #TWD
One of the questions that The Walking Dead explores so ably, over and over through six seasons and counting, is the price of our humanity, but I want to take a step back to consider the Season 2:3 episode: Save
We Are The Walking Dead – #TWD
This is a famous line from both The Walking Dead comics (Chapter 4: The Heart’s Desire) and TV show (Season 5 Episode 10: Them) and in both story lines (which diverge and overlap and backtrack with the comic informing but
#Stories within Stories: Dreamsongs for readers, writers, and teachers
I’ve been reading George R.R. Martin’s Dreamsongs (I and II) recently and I just have to go fangirl. I adore these books on so many levels that I knew I needed to recommend them strongly to my fellow readers, to my
#Storytelling – When is a story a Story?
Stories are important to us as humans. We use stories to create connections, make jokes, and inspire action. We share stories to remember and to understand. But not all stories are created equal. Some stories are one-trick ponies meant to
#Stories – What Draws Us Into the Darkness?
Why are we attracted to darkness? What draws us to stories about dark times, dark places, and dark characters? I don’t mean straight up horror as Stephen King explores in the much-anthologized “Why We Crave Horror Movies” (Playboy, Dec. 1981),
3 Reasons We Need #Stories
It is no secret that humans love stories. This love affair begins at an early age and continues through our lives. Stories are fun and creative and offer us a break from real life. We might have had the worst