writing

Be Like Me: Just Write Five Different Blog Starters and Don’t Hit Publish

March 11, 2012 Jose

Sometime after Monday, I thought I’d have the hang of this blogging thing again. I was fairly confident that I could crank out some really good topics for my blog, and possibly a few tweets related to these extensive pieces. I would carve out my usual 8pm to 10pm schedule for my blogging process and [...]

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Kick In The Door, Wavin’ The 44 [On Writing To Kick Ass]

January 29, 2012 Jose

One of the questions people ask me is how I do this. Whatever this is. I’m reminded of this every semester or so when a random professor asks students to read my blog for their course or pick a teacher blog that best exemplifies their core beliefs. While privileged to have people read my often [...]

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The “The” in The Jose Vilson … and You

September 30, 2011 Jose

Thank you, and you, and you. I know I don’t say it enough, but all the RTs, shares, and praise keeps me going at times when I’ve wanted to stop writing. This blogging, written from one’s gut instead of one’s throat, takes a certain amount of people power to fuel the writers’ engines. This writer [...]

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Five People I Wish Would Write A Damn Book Already

August 19, 2011 Jose

Before I begin, I’d like to dedicate this space to one of my first students ever, Bianca Espinal. She’s part of a program called “Broadway’s Next Star” and I would love it if you visited the site, watch her perform “Rolling In The Deep,” and hit “Like!” Because I’m positive you’ll love that voice of [...]

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Shadowboxing [To 50K and Beyond]

July 11, 2011 Jose

Writing these days has been an exercise in shadowboxing, fighting myself on the way to the completion of this first manuscript. Similar to my blog, I decided to stay away from topics that could hurt my professional aspirations and / or provide any openings about my past or present love life. Unlike my blog, however, [...]

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A Letter To A Writer Who Doesn’t Want To Hear It

June 5, 2011 Jose

Dear burgeoning writer, Please don’t take this the wrong way, but we need to talk. It’s the same talk my editors had to have with me after my first few submissions, and one that I never had to have again afterwards. You see, for writers that care, the act of writing is a personal craft, [...]

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On Writing This Particular Book

February 25, 2011 Jose

I‘ve learned a few things about writing this particular book. It’s definitely not like other books, but it is my book. I’m writing it because it’s about time I culminate the 1000+ blogs I’ve written in between my earlier private site, a few other sites, and this one, which accounts for about 741 of my [...]

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This Writing Is Less of a Run, More Like a Dance

February 7, 2011 Jose

Someone recently asked me (and I’m omitting the person’s name because it wasn’t a public question): A quick question? Do you feel like you have to be “politically” correct when you write your posts? This type of writing? It’s less like a straight run or a drive down a road, and more like a dance. [...]

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Writer’s Block: Less Like a Wall, More Like a Brick

December 29, 2010 Jose

Writer’s block is a fictitious little monster we feed every time other non-recreational activities make us succumb to their urgencies. More than half the time, writer’s block isn’t about a lack of talent or imagination; ideas often pop up on the way to a friend’s gathering or in the middle of a conversation with yourself. [...]

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This Writer’s Obligation

November 21, 2010 Jose

Today, I read another ridiculous anti-educator post, this one by Thomas Friedman, another journalist who has something to say about education. There’s a boatload of people just like him now at the center of the discussion for education, people who didn’t have much of an opinion since the last time they told their teacher that [...]

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