Allyson Whipple

Tag: spring

  • The Best of It: Kitchen Organization Edition

    Everyday use items
    Pots and pans in the style of Julia Child
    Common cookware
    1. Yesterday, John helped me put up a peg board so I could hang my pots and pans. I love how it looks, and I am thrilled with how this has opened up cabinet space.
    2. John also reorganized my shelves to make common dishes and cookware easily accessible. I’m really grateful for his sense of design.
    3. We got takeout from our favorite Chinese place, and it felt so decadent.
    4. I got to lead a yoga nidra practice via Zoom as part of the Austin Wellness Collaborative Corona Series.
    5. Every episode of Brooklyn 99 fills me with delight.

  • The Best of It: Hearth and Home Edition

    Turmeric-coconut curry with pork from the March Bon Appetit
    1. This morning I woke up without sinus congestion for the first time in I don’t know how long.
    2. Chris Morocco’s turmeric-coconut curry with pork recipe is both easy and amazing. John and I ate nearly the entire thing.
    3. My weighted blanket arrived this morning, well ahead of schedule. I can’t wait to sleep under it tonight.
    4. The Le Creuset French press is wonderful. Ceramic definitely keeps coffee warmer longer.
    5. Adopting a pretty new house plant that I found left on the curb during last night’s walk.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Listen

    Go to a restaurant or coffee shop that’s has a decent crowd in it. Ideally, it will be busy enough that there will be multiple conversations going on around you at once. Sit down, open your notebook or laptop, and listen. (And don’t forget to order something to support the establishment!) See what snippets of conversation you can pick out. Write things down. You don’t have to follow just one conversation. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. Pick out sentences, phrases, and words. Write them down as they happen. Let everything be fragmented and disjointed. I recommend listening for at least 30 minutes.

    Once you’ve gotten a solid amount of material, you can go one of two ways. First, you can find a phrase or sentence that really resonates with you, and build a story or poem using that as your inspiration. Alternately, you can take your hodgepodge of sentences and create a poem using only what you’ve transcribed.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: A City that Mistakes Itself for Another

    Write a persona poem from the perspective of a city that has mistaken itself for another. How has it changed its weather, its climate, its flora and fauna. What are the buildings like? Do we know why the city is experiencing this confusion? Can it be resolved?

    (Inspired by Saundra Goldman, who posted earlier this week that Austin had apparently mistaken itself for Seattle.)

  • Another Go at the 30/30 Project

    Back in 2013, I participated in the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project, an ongoing fundraiser for the press in which volunteer poets commit to writing a poem a day for 30 days, and those who are inspired by their work can make donations in their honor.

    I had so much fun in 2013 that I knew I wanted to participate again. I’m writing alongside a slew of amazing poets, and having fun. My initial poems have come from The Daily Poet prompts and politics. The title of my Day 4 poem popped into my head while I was washing dishes.

    You can check out the May 30/30 poems here. If you’re interested in donating, you can do so here.

  • Big Poetry Giveaway Winners!

    With the help of a trusty random number generator, I have determined the winners of the Big Poetry Giveaway!

    Jessica Goodfellow won America Zen: A Gathering of Poets

    Laurie Kolp won We’re Smaller Than We Think We Are

    Congrats, poets!

    I also won two books in the giveaway, and I’m thrilled. I always love getting new poetry in the mail.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: Happy Dog Edition

    Keeping it simple this week. A line and a photo:

    A happy dog transcends language.

    Happy Simon!
    Happy Simon!

  • MFA All The Way!

    I remember seeing an ad for the UT-El Paso Online MFA in Poets & Writers magazine back in 2011 (or maybe early 2012). Even before I knew much about the program, I was excited by the prospect of being able to pursue an MFA online, without having to leave Austin. (Heck, I didn’t even want to go for an MFA yet, and I was still intrigued.)

    Yes, UT-Austin has not one, but two excellent MFA programs (one at the Michener Center, and one through the English Department), plus we’re adjacent to Texas State in San Marcos. But I never had a gut feeling that these programs were right for me. They’ve produced a lot of great work and have wonderful faculty, including some of my favorite poets. But I still never quite got the sense that these were programs that were right for me.

    I kept re-visiting the UTEP Online MFA description every 4 or 5 months over the next couple of years. There was always a reason to talk myself out of it. I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t sure I wanted an MFA, I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it, I was getting divorced, and on and on. I kept finding reasons not to apply.

    But toward the end of 2014, things began to feel settled. I also felt I was in a place with my writing where I was ready for the challenges an MFA could bring. It was the next logical step in my career path. So I applied.

    The funny thing about the process was, I dreaded writing the statement of purpose. I still remember how much I struggled to write one in 2005 when I was applying to graduate school the first time around. But as it turns out, this time it wasn’t so bad. Maybe because I have a stronger sense of purpose at 31 than I did at 21.

    So I applied, and I waited, and waited… and I found out last week that I got in! I’ve already received a course description list, and have an advising call tomorrow! The program starts in August, and I can’t wait. I look forward to meeting my other five new classmates when we convene in our digital space this fall.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: (No) Makeup Edition

    Image via theeverygirl.com

    As a product loaded with gendered norms, makeup can cause a lot of unnecessary grief. Women who don’t wear it get criticized. Women who wear too much get criticized. The internet is full of tutorials for how to wear makeup without looking like wearing any. Some women reject makeup, and others feel like they need it.

    And if you’re a man who wants to wear makeup, you might encounter your own set of criticisms. Rock stars can get away with it. But an average guy can’t necessarily just wear some eyeliner and blush because he likes it without facing criticism (and that’s putting it mildly).

    Think about our cultural standards surrounding makeup, and then consider your own associations with it. Do you like it? Hate it? See it as wasteful and unnecessary? Want to try it but don’t want to face people’s judgement? Do you yourself judge people for their makeup habits?

    Use this reflection as the jumping-off point for a piece of writing. It can be personal, political, or both.

  • Weekly Writing Prompt: How to Fail

    Pinterest Fail is a site where you can see photos of Pinterest tutorials gone horribly awry. Browse through the site to see all the ways in which the projects can go horribly wrong. Then find a Pinterest tutorial that looks fairly complex. Write an alternate version of the tutorial describing how to fail at whatever it is the tutorial is telling you to do.