Story is a powerful way to build compassion and bridge understanding between cultures. Story has the power to heal as well as teach.

Beyond Boundaries · Essays and tidbits from Nancy Bo Flood

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo

April 14, 2022

A poem by Joy Harjo, poet, activist, educator, 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States, Mvskoke [Creek] Nation

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John F. Kennedy

JFK and Poetry

April 12, 2022

May I share a quote from John F. Kennedy that I keep above my desk?

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sunset

Water is Magic

April 5, 2022

Let us continue Celebrating Water.

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Water's Children

Water’s Children

March 29, 2022

Water: a book, a poem, a brief essay … a continuation of the celebration of water.

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Walking for Water

March 22, 2022

Water is precious. Water is life. Water is unfair, but this doesn’t have to be.

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The Giver

Mental Health: The Giver

March 15, 2022

Lois Lowry: “I think it’s something that literature does, that writing does, that speaking about things does. It keeps our hearts from breaking.”

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Gone to the Woods

Mental Health: Reading Paulsen’s Autobiography

March 8, 2022

A few weeks ago, someone was asking about books that touched upon—or included—domestic abuse/ family violence. Paulsen’s book is an autobiography.

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Romancing the Dark in the City of Light

Writing the Story of Mental Illness for Young Readers

March 1, 2022

I have been pulled toward the subject of suicide since I was a teen despite its stigma, and worked on my first suicide hotline when I was eighteen. That’s because as an adolescent I struggled not only with depression but with some periods of suicidality, and I understand the dangerous power and seduction of it when one is suffering mental despair.

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