January 25, 2013

Learning to Live Creatively – One Show and One Good Habit At a Time!

On January 7th, 2013 I embarked on a new adventure: hosting, writing, and producing my own radio show! My show airs on KRUU-LP 100.1 FM. KRUU is a noncommercial, community radio station. Volunteer hosts produce nearly all its programming. I’m thrilled to be a part of this creative community! While its broadcasting power–supplied by solar energy–is low, people all over the world can access its programs via live streaming and the archives on kruufm.com. Many friends helped me celebrate the launching of this venture by stopping by the radio studio in the cultural district of Fairfield, Iowa.

I named my new show “The Studio.” Creative people thrive in studios. My new show is broadcast from a radio studio, and I’m learning things I never thought I could by spending time in this new-to-me kind of studio. Some of the guests I’ll have on “The Studio” work in art studios, fitness studios, music studios, writers’ studios. By coaxing different kinds of creative people out of their usual studios and into KRUU’s radio studio, I hope to broaden my and my listeners’ understanding of what creativity is so we can learn how to slip more of it into our lives. “The Studio” is not just a place to me: it’s also a curious and receptive state of mind.

Jill Farmer, Life Coach

The premiere episode of “The Studio” featured Certified Master Life Coach Jill Lingwall Farmer. Jill’s mission in life is teaching fun, open-minded men and women how to overcome their belief that there’s not enough time to get everything done. Jill shared client-tested strategies for streamlining to-do lists so that they reflect our deepest motivations in life and ensure satisfaction and success. A former TV anchor and consumer issues reporter, Jill’s a summa cum laude graduate of Drake University’s School of Journalism. She’s received Emmy Awards and other accolades for excellence in reporting. Her book, “There’s Not Enough Time…And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves” was published in 2012. I’ve seen real improvements in my life after putting Jill’s strategies to the test. Piggybacking–grafting new good habits you want to form onto old good habits you’ve previously developed–really works! So do the other strategies Jill shared. Tune in, and give them a try!

December 6, 2012

National Geographic Editor Discusses Angry Bird Books

The new National Geographic Kids book, Angry Birds Playground Animals: An Around-the-World Habitat Adventure is visually stunning, packed with fascinating facts, and would make a great educational and entertaining gift for young children. Becky Baines edited the book and Iowan Jill Esbaum wrote the text. Tune in to kruufm.com Friday, Dec. 7 at 1 PM CST or Monday, Dec. 10 at 8 AM CST to hear Becky explain the collaborative, creative process involved in producing high quality nonfiction for children.

November 28, 2012

Reuse & Recycle to Make Room for Baby

Michelle Edwards and Room for the Baby

Michelle Edwards will talk about juggling writing projects on KRUU Friday, November 30th at 1 PM and Monday, Dec. 3 at 8 AM. Listen via live streaming here. Then visit Rosie Witherspoon’s At Home Store on the Fairfield, Iowa town square during the Art Walk on Friday, Dec. 7th for Michelle’s book signing. She’ll read from her two new books, Room for the Baby and A Knitter’s Home Companion, against a backdrop of Rosie’s gorgeous yarns and colorful, carefully selected toys. (Read about Michelle’s book of gem-like essays, knitting patterns, and recipes in my earlier post here.)

November 24, 2012

Acorn Squash All Dressed Up

A farmer friend gave me three large acorn squash, a vegetable that’s begun to bore me. It’s nutritious and visually stunning, though, with its rippled green exterior and hollowed orange core. Here’s what I did to reignite my interest in acorns.

After halving the acorns, I scraped out pulp and seeds with a serrated grapefruit spoon. Then I bushed the interiors and exteriors very lightly with olive oil.

Next I whisked together a small handful of crushed dried sage from my garden, about a teaspoon of honey, a couple short squirts of fig vinegar, and a tablespoon or so more of oil.

I brushed the sage mixture over the squash interiors. Then I spooned the remaining mixture into the acorn hollows.

I baked the acorn halves cut side up on a baking sheet at 350° F in my oven for about 45 minutes (until the acorns pierced easily with a fork). I could’ve served the acorn as is, but I wanted to add stuffing. So I prepared stuffing ingredients while the acorns baked. Using ingredients I had on hand, I minced 1/2 a yellow onion, a large tart apple, and a cup of celery. Then I sauteed this mixture in a large skillet with a little olive oil over medium heat. When the onions were aromatic and the celery just tender but not soggy, I tossed in a scant cup of dry, packaged savory bread stuffing and a handful of sliced almonds. I didn’t add salt or other spices, relying instead on the stuffing mix for flavor. After two or three minutes, I took this off the heat and stirred.

When the squash finished baking, I removed it from the oven and divided the stuffing equally, filling the six halves. Then I returned the baking sheet to the oven for about 15 minutes.

To enhance the plate’s visual appeal, I served the squash with lightly sauteed broccolini, orange slices, and cottage cheese garnished with toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Cherry tomatoes would pair well, too. So would brown or basmati rice and vegetarian or regular link sausages.

November 21, 2012

Susie Hathaway Helps Women Stay Healthy & Strong

Susie Hathaway, Strength Training for Women

Susie Hathaway, Safe Strength Training for Osteoporosis Prevention

Susie Hathaway helps women over 50 stay active and strong. Certified as a personal trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine, she’s an active volunteer for the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Her newsletter and exercise-advice blog provide tips on how to stay healthy, strong, and independent during the second half of your life. Susie recently wrote, produced, and released a home-exercise DVD called Susie Hathaway’s Safe Strength Training for Osteoporosis Prevention.

Hear Susie discuss women’s health and how she learned to write, produce, and edit a DVD during the Writers Voices radio show on Friday, Nov. 23rd at 1 PM CST or on Monday, Nov. 26th at 8 AM CST via live streaming on kruufm.com.

“Knitting is a life!”–Michelle Edwards, A Knitter’s Home Companion

This Thanksgiving season, I have many reasons to be thankful. For example, as producer and host of “Writers Voices” on KRUU 100.1 FM, I chat with fascinating people, like Iowa City author Michelle Edwards. Here’s an excerpt from her book, A Knitter’s Home Companion: “Loops, wrote Elizabeth Zimmermann. Knitting is about loops. Loops to the end of time. Making them, I have knit myself a life.”

Hear Michelle discuss knitting, writing, and life Friday, Nov. 30th at 1 PM CST or Monday, Dec. 3rd at 8 AM CST via live stream on kruufm.com. You can also meet Michelle in person Friday, Dec. 7th in the At Home Store on the Fairfield, Iowa town square during the December Art Walk.

October 22, 2012

Eula Biss on Video Essays, Creative Nonfiction, and the Vaccination Controversy

Award-Winning Essayist Eula Biss

Eula Biss and her former teacher Marilyn Robinson are speaking Wednesday, October 24th at 7 PM in Iowa City’s Englert Theater. Eula discusses video essays, creative nonfiction, and her work-in-progress nonfiction book about the vaccination controversy in a “Writers Voices” show that will be broadcast today at 8 AM via live streaming on kruufm.com. Eula’s book Notes from No Man’s Land, received the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. Her work has also been recognized by a Pushcart Prize, a Jaffe Writers’ Award, and a 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library. She teaches writing at Northwestern University. Her essays have recently appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Best Creative Nonfiction and the Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Nonfiction as well as in The Believer, Gulf Coast, Columbia, Ninth Letter, the North American Review, the Bellingham Review, the Seneca Review, and Harper’s. Eula holds a BA in nonfiction writing from Hampshire College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa.

October 18, 2012

Heather Alexander, Assistant Editor, Dial Books for Young Readers

Heather Alexander, Assistant Editor for Dial Books for Young Readers, acquires books for all age ranges, from picture books through young adult novels, and ushers them through the publication process. She edits the wildly popular Charlie and Lola picture books and also edited Jeanne Ryan‘s thought-provoking debut YA novel Nerve, in which a naive teen girl gets enmeshed in a deadly anonymous online game of dares. Heather will discuss what’s new in books for children and teens on “Writers Voices” on KRUU100.1FM Friday, Oct. 19 at 1 PM CST. Tune in via live stream tomorrow at kruufm.com.

October 12, 2012

Philip Goldberg: How He Became a HuffPost Blogger

Philip Goldberg with Cheryl Fusco Johnson at KRUU

Many people ask Philip Goldberg, author of American Veda: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West, how he became a religious-issues blogger for The Huffington Post. During our Writers Voices radio interview today, Philip explained what happened. Waiting at a bookstore to begin giving a book talk, he was thinking about how few people were there to hear him speak. A woman came into the store looking for something she thought she’d left behind. She noticed Philip standing by a sign advertising the topic of his talk and said, “You should be a blogger for The Huffington Post. My daughter’s an editor there.” Was this a lucky break? Or was it a just reward for the many years Philip spent researching spirituality and honing his writing and speaking skills through repeated practice?

October 6, 2012

Lois Lowry At Iowa City Public Library

Lois Lowry Signing a Book for Dori Hillestad Butler

Author Lois Lowry Signs a Book for Author Dori Hillestad Butler

Iowa children’s authors helped pack the audience for Lois Lowry’s visit last night to the Iowa City Public Library. For a standing-room-only crowd that included many young readers, Lowry read from and discussed the inspiration for her new book, Son, the fourth in her popular and award-winning Giver Quartet.

Iowa Authors Wendy Henrichs, Jan Blazanin, Linda Egenes

Writers from Iowa City, Coralville, Fairfield, and Des Moines exchanged news while Lowry signed books. Saturday morning at the Coralville Public Library, Des Moines author Jan Blazanin taught a workshop on plotting techniques. Wendy Henrichs, Network Chair for Iowa’s Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, organized this event. Fairfield author Linda Egenes was one of the many Iowa authors who attended Lowry’s reading and Blazanin’s workshop.

← Previous 1 … 3 4 5 … 9 Next →