by Mary E. Cronin | Aug 21, 2015 | Cape Cod, Community connections, LGBTQ+
Billy Porter was just in Provincetown for a three-night nightclub engagement. You know, the Billy Porter who won a Tony for the role of Lola in Broadway’s hit “Kinky Boots.” He sang with supreme confidence in a skirt, a killer hat and some kick-ass...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jun 12, 2015 | Conferences-workshops, Uncategorized
Time to unplug and retreat from the hubbub of life for a few days. I am packing the laptop, notebooks and other fun stuff and heading north, for a six-day retreat with writer friends in a house in Vermont. These early days of summer seem like a good time to make...
by Mary E. Cronin | May 21, 2015 | Community connections, Poetry, Teaching, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
I recently received a bundle of letters from the kids at St. Luke’s School in the South Bronx. I delivered a poetry presentation there in the spring, using Jacqueline Woodson’s BROWN GIRL DREAMING and Kwame Alexander’s THE CROSSOVER as mentor texts....
by Mary E. Cronin | May 6, 2015 | Conferences-workshops, LGBTQ+, Middle-grade fiction, SCBWI, Uncategorized, We Need Diverse Books
It’s taken me a while to come down from the clouds after the NESCBWI Conference in Springfield a little over a week ago. The theme of diversity, “Think Outside the Crayon Box,” was delivered in multi-layered and invigorating ways all weekend long....
by Mary E. Cronin | Mar 3, 2015 | Community connections, Teaching
A friend of mine recently used the term “writing as service.” Bells starting chiming in my brain. Writing can be seen as many things: a creative outlet, a hobby or job, a business and source of income, a way of connecting to others. But the concept of writing as a way...