2010 – Janet Ruth Heller

Anti-Bullying Guidelines by the Department of Education

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:October 28, 2010
Post category:Books

On October 26, 2010, the U. S. Department of Education released an excellent letter to schools about the need to take a more comprehensive approach to combating bullying. In general, schools often view bullying as isolated incidents, rather than perceiving underlying patterns of discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, or disability. The hostile, unsafe environment created by bullying hurts students physically and psychologically; bullying also interferes with students’ learning and achievement. (more…)

Frequently Confused Similar Words

Post author:Janet Ruth Heller
Post published:September 4, 2010
Post category:Language

Recently, Sarah Palin mixed the words “repudiate” and “refute” to create the neologism “refudiate.” While I am impressed by people who use polysyllabic words correctly, I doubt that anyone is impressed by individuals who try to sound educated by using long Latinate-sounding words that do not exist.

I am a linguist as well as a writer, so I know that language is always changing and that new words arise frequently. However, many of the new words are short and sweet, such as “blog.” When people use a new word like “blog,” they are not trying to sound brilliant or hyper-educated. Rather, they are expressing their familiarity with the new media, which is a useful skill. (more…)

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I love books by British writers P. D. James, Seamus Heaney, S. T. Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Judy Blume, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Jim Daniels, Mong-Lan, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alberto Ríos, Gail B. Griffin, Jerry Spinelli, Jane Yolen, Kathryn Erskine, Gary D. Schmidt, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marge Piercy, Grace Paley, Alicia Ostriker, Jaimy Gordon; South African writer Athol Fugard;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon; and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico García Lorca, Ruben Darío, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, and Dámaso Alonso.

I also love Japanese haiku, especially those by Matsuo Bashō.

My writing has been influenced by many other authors, including British writers Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jane Austen, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, George Eliot, W. B. Yeats;

American writers Edna St. Vincent Millay, T. S. Eliot, Maxine Kumin, Adrienne Rich, Judith Minty, Gwendolyn Brooks;

Israeli writers Chaim Nachman Bialik, Yehudah Amichai, Rachel Bluwstein, Chaim Guri, S. Y. Agnon, and Hispanic writers Sor Juana, Federico Garcia Lorca, Ruben Dario, Antonio Machado, Jorge Guillen, Pedro Salinas, and Damaso Alonso.