Katharine's Writer's Block

Most new years usher in a blank slate for the cultural touchstones that will define it. Some definition comes into focus as the months progress but parts of the world are getting a head start by naming 2026 a National Year of Reading as of January 13th, 2026.  This endeavor is based in the United Kingdom but could be something worthwhile to embrace across the pond, if not around the world. As per The Guardian , the UK-government endeavor has been launched to address a “worryi

A pop cultural debate that surfaces around the end of the year is what makes a movie fall into the Christmas category. Many rightfully fit in because they center on characters, images, or buzzwords connected to the holidays. Others hone in on values or themes like tradition, life, love, joy, peace, charity, and sometimes spirituality. More still, some flicks are considered Christmassy simply for having a scene or plot set on Christmas Eve or Day (Looking at you, Die Hard !).

Many of us may have grown up with doses of edutainment, or media that blends amusement and learning. It has adopted various formats that have overlapped throughout the years, but for the most part, current generations find it through social media, digital media, and apps while millennials got a lot of it through video games and computer games. Yet, it was the Gen Xers’ television programming that gave the trend most of its initial steam. They had some cool shows! In fact, sev

Most know that the United States celebrates a day of national pride on July fourth. Something that most may not know is that thirteen of the fifty states (as of this writing) express their regional pride by celebrating the days they were admitted to the union. For those curious, those states are West Virginia, Kentucky, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Utah, Alabama, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Ohio. Much like school pride or social pride, statehood days celebrat

It seems like every day can be a holiday and every month is one for some kind of recognition, remembrance, or awareness. Many are established by various organizations or special interests, so keeping up can be hard if you’re not affiliated or in-the-know in some way.  Similar organizations and interests of literary culture have managed to get their values recognized with their own various holidays and months. This Lessons & Advice post gives a rundown on several special times

I recently learned the old show, Mythbusters , is one of my husband’s favorites. He was home more often over the summer for reasons I’ll keep private and discovered it's available on Amazon Prime. So streaming his old favorite show was one of the ways he liked to pass time and how we’d spend some nights together. For those unfamiliar, Mythbusters was a science-oriented program that ran on the Discovery Channel from 2003 to 2016. In each episode, hosts Adam Savage, Jamie Hynem

How does a prepared food dish end up less enjoyable than it could be, if not ruined altogether? Too much flavor could have been used or...

A previous lesson touched on the controversies of banned and challenged books. These measures aim to limit, if not remove, material from...

Millennials, like me, grew up with some unique cultural experiences. While we indulged in the earliest, if not the best, years of cartoons, video games, internet, and music, we also read books to earn our own pizzas. Millennials, like me, remember this as the Pizza Hut Book It Program (or just the Book It Program). The premise of the Book It Program was simple (and free): reading goals are set between October and March for students between preschool and sixth grade. Goals can

Have you ever thought about the phrase, “The pen is mightier than the sword”? It implies that the written word can be more effective than...