Category: Notions
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Even in elementary school, I felt that reading comprehension tests were little more than exercises in restating the obvious. These tests often seemed to measure little more than our ability to regurgitate facts and details rather than allowing us to truly engage with the material. For me, the sign of good writing is if you…
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Grandiloquent is the adjective form of the noun grandiloquence, which means, “a lofty, extravagantly colorful, pompous, or bombastic style, manner, or quality—especially in language.” (Merriam-Webster) From that Merriam-Webster page, we learn that it’s one of many English words descended from the Latin verb loqui, meaning “to speak.” To be grandiloquent is, in short, to speak…
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In high school I became obsessed with the concept of the definition essay. Blame the SAT prep we were constantly doing in English class, I suppose. Between begrudgingly scribbling out five-paragraph essays with absolutely no effort put into them, I started taking some word that I wanted to vibe with and just tried to not…
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Self-motivation is a strange creature. People love to preach about building good habits, as if stacking enough of them together will build you a better life. Sure, routines have their place. But no habit will save you if you don’t know why you’re doing the thing in the first place. More than anything, I’ve always…