The Girvanaca Monthly Report for September of 2025
Back as if I was Asked to Return
September 1, 2025
Happy September and Labor Day, everyone. It looks like you are still here, so I will keep writing. Thanks for your support.
We started classes this past week. I am an adjunct at Christopher Newport University, teaching English Composition and Public Speaking. I love them both, and I love teaching at CNU. This year I decided to require my English Composition students to handwrite their semester journal. I bought old-school composition notebooks for 33 cents apiece and passed them out in class Thursday, along with a bag of stickers. They were instructed to choose a sticker for their notebook. Then I gave them their first prompt:
“Tell me your Lion King story,” I wrote on the whiteboard.
“I want to see at least one full page before you leave this class,” I said.
Here’s the thing: they all immediately started writing. They didn’t complain; they didn’t roll their eyes; they didn’t grumble. They wrote. And all 19 of them filled up that page with their unique handwritten handwriting.
Big deal, right?
Yes. It was a big deal to me. It made my day.
Vestige[ves-tij]:
Faint trace of former presence
The Vestige this month tells the story of a Dad, two sons, three baby birds, a friend named Dennis, and an eye dropper with some kind of bird food gunk. We did our best…
How to Find Joy in 2025:
Listen to tight as hell rhymes of Patty Smith’s “Kimberly”
And I know soon that the sky will split
And the planets will shift
Balls of jade will drop
And existence will stop
Here is a pretty dope live version back when revolt was cool.
The Creative Life of Charles Rhodes
A Non Binding Deposition of a Person I Know
This month I spoke with the head librarian of The Muse Writers Center. Charles Rhodes is a true poet and fan of poetry. He never minces words and will lead an engaging conversation with anyone. So if you ever run into him one day, stop and engage. You won’t regret it.
Girvanaca Writing Update
I’ve been writing. Made a breakthrough in my memoir/novel. I think having you folks to write for has helped me stay on track. I did get a few rejections: Swamp Ape Review and About Place Journal passed on my poems and one of my stories. Oh well. If you are getting rejected, you aren’t submitting.
I have been published a few times. Here is a short personal essay published in an online literary journal, The Wraparound South. Even though the journal seems to be no more, the work is still online in digital “print.” I may cringe if I read it, but you are welcome to: It’s called “Stepping Stone”
“My hope is that by the time I share the link to all of my publications (which aren’t many), I’ll also be sharing news of a recent acceptance.”
Just Another Blog Post
This month’s Just Another Blog Post is part of a series about my trip ‘back home’ in 2019. The more things change, the more they stay the same—except for the new chicken finger chains, of course.
Thanks for reading. Until next month…
For those who are here and want to read more — please, subscribe and share. Follow me on all of the socials (except X and Tik Tok) and thank you for your support. Have a happy and productive September.