In 1983, Donald Murray wrote on a chalkboard a little diagram that changed my writing and teaching forever. It was a modest blueprint of the writing process as he understood it, five words that describe the steps toward creating a story. As I remember them now, the words were: Idea. Collect. Focus. Draft. Clarify. In other words, the writer conceives a story idea, collects things to support it, discovers what the story is really about, attempts a first draft, and revises in the quest for greater clarity.

• Put eggs on bottom of sauce pan
• Cover with cold water
• Heat on stove-top until water established at good, rolling boil
• Remove from heat and cover
  
  
• Wait 18 minutes.
  
  
• Carefully pour out water, it's still very hot
• Cover eggs with coldest tap water, immediately drain water
• Do this last step a couple more times
• Cover with cold water again, and let sit for 2 mins
• Drain and replace cold water, another 2 minutes

Peel and enjoy.]]> 2005-03-30T13:12:50Z 2005-03-30T08:12:50-05:00 tag:www.jackhodgson.com,2005:/weblog//1.1038 2005-03-30T13:12:50Z

A $100,000-plus cleanup effort of the Hodgson Brook watershed has been approved by the state Executive Council.

At its meeting last week, the council authorized the state Department of Environmental Services to enter into a $69,000 contract with the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation to implement the Hodgson Brook Watershed Restoration Plan.

I have nothing to do with this other than lending my name to it.

Speaking of serious blogging, the monthly Boston Bloggers Meetup is tonight.

7pm, at Christophers in Porter Sq, Cambridge.

See you there.

Here's one thing...

And no, it doesn't help to include the entire past conversation when you reply; it's rude to force someone else to wade through ten screens of messages because you're too lazy to give them context. So, start off your messages with enough context to orient your reader.

Our mission is to create an exciting and stimulating environment where both children and adults are brought together for creative expression through the performing arts.

This spring's show: "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

It's only 44F out, so I feared it might be too cool. But with gloves and a hat, it was perfectly comfortable. I may go for a more substantial ride later today.

If the site looks odd, particularly the pic in the upper left. Don't worry, I'll fix it eventually.

UPDATE: Seems to be fixed now.

Red Sox executives confirmed yesterday that they plan to make Fenway Park their permanent home and stated bluntly that their decision comes with ''no strings attached,"...

Sadly, it's not Breaking News, that teachers are sorely under-appreciated, and under-compensated, for the very important work that they do.

Again, thanks to Al's Morning Meeting, here's an article about why the percentage or male elementary teachers is so low.

...when unprovoked, chased or approached a person upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack...

I like dogs. And I think leash-laws are misguided. I think that good dogs are an asset to a neighborhood.

But dogs that are not well-behaved must be kept under control regardless of whether there's a leash-law.

Humans must continue to explore space, implored famed physicist Freeman Dyson, if simply for entertainment.

Speaking at Flight School, an offshoot of the PC Forum conference taking place here this week, the Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study professor emeritus sketched out a possible future, in which humans colonize asteroids and genetically engineer potatoes that can grow on Mars. (PC Forum is run by News.com publisher CNET Networks.)

Part of the motive to go into space will be dictated by the need for more room on Earth and an unpolluted environment. But there will be more mundane motives, too, Dyson said.

"You'll have people who go who dislike the tax collector or dislike their mother-in-law. The primary reason is that it hasn't been done," he said.

[via Kurzweil.com]