Ken Ronkowitz
@ronkowitz.bsky.social
📤 68
đź“Ą 44
đź“ť 703
Teacher, poet, grandfather and yet still a Jersey boy. Carpe diem, carpe noctem. Carpe omnia!
As a kid, I did a lot of armchair adventuring. Still doing it.
loading . . .
Three Adventures in an Armchair
Last weekend, I wrote about a man who made a flight in a lawnchair. This past week I have been doing some armchair adventuring that sent me back into my youth. But I was solidly seated in a chair on the ground. As a boy, I read the Classic Illustrated comic book version of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and imagined myself a castaway on some island.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/19/advenures-armchair/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
about 21 hours ago
0
0
0
I’d like to imagine that books are just trees having dreams. - Matt Haig
about 22 hours ago
0
0
0
A friend gave me directions to a place where I’ve never been and ended by saying “You can’t miss it.” He has no idea of what I’m capable of doing. 
1 day ago
0
0
0
Leo & Tom, da Vinci & Edison. Genius and journals and notebooks.
loading . . .
The Genius of Leo and Tom
I have written before about Leonardo da Vinci, a creative genius, and about trying to think like Leonardo. I was fascinated with Leonardo even as a child. As an adult, I read How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb, which really got me thinking about Leonardo’s approach to thinking and creating. I even taught several workshops using that book and his…
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/18/the-genius-of-leo-and-tom/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
2 days ago
0
0
0
The Answer to Life Is 137
paradelle.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/1...
loading . . .
The Answer to Life Is 137
When Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, he wrote that “The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42.” He was joking,…
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/137/
2 days ago
0
0
0
Grandfather Clock Moon Dials I wrote about a "Grandfather Moon" this week and how the full moons may have connected to the Lenape and other Native Americans at one time. If you are lucky enough to own a grandfather clock, you probably have a moon dial on it. It was something that was added by the…
loading . . .
Grandfather Clock Moon Dials
I wrote about a "Grandfather Moon" this week and how the full moons may have connected to the Lenape and other Native Americans at one time. If you are lucky enough to own a grandfather clock, you probably have a moon dial on it. It was something that was added by the English to these fancy, tall clocks in the early 1700s.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/grandfather-clock-moon-dials/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
2 days ago
0
0
0
reposted by
Ken Ronkowitz
Pamela Milne
3 days ago
I'm going to see the film this weekend. I doubt that I have the time or the willpower to read Homer before that. So...
theconversation.com/mapping-the-...
loading . . .
Mapping the Odyssey – what you should watch, read and listen to this week
A Greek epic hits the screen, books about women’s bucking expectation stories and the queen of pop’s return.
https://theconversation.com/mapping-the-odyssey-what-you-should-watch-read-and-listen-to-this-week-287721
0
0
1
In Opposition
#poem
We pass each other all day moving in opposition like Jupiter and the Sun...
writingtheday.wordpress.com/2020/07/16/i...
loading . . .
3 days ago
0
1
0
The Zen of vacuuming a rug.
loading . . .
The Zen in It
I was vacuuming a rug today and I thought back to the first weekend I spent at a Zen monastery. While there, I was assigned as my work to vacuum the library. Everyone was given some task. I had requested the garden, so I was disappointed to get vacuuming which didn't seem as "Zen" to me. In monasteries the work practice is called…
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/17/the-zen-in-it/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
3 days ago
0
0
0
DAMSELFLY
#poem
This young lady in elegant blue sits before me, wings demurely together...
loading . . .
Damselfly
This young lady in elegant blue sits before me, wings demurely together. Smaller than a flying dragon, but no demoiselle en détresse, some Medieval chivalric code dubs me this day her wandering knight-errant. Damselflies are flying insects that are smaller and slimmer than dragonflies and found on every continent except Antarctica. They are gentler, smaller, and more sensitive than their powerful dragonfly cousins, but they’re still a force to be reckoned with and occupy a very similar niche as agile predators both in the water and in the air.
https://writingtheday.wordpress.com/2026/07/17/damselfly/
3 days ago
0
1
0
If you lived today as if it were your last, you’d buy up a box of rockets and fire them all off, wouldn’t you? ―Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days
4 days ago
0
0
0
About the origin story of the film BACKROOMS.
loading . . .
What Is In Those Back Rooms?
There is a 2026 science fiction horror film called Backrooms that is based on Kane Parsons YouTube series. What started as an unassuming photograph of empty, yellow-lit rooms became a viral horror legend in 2019, when an anonymous post suggested it depicted a mysterious dimension hidden behind reality. The plot in brief is that furniture store owner Clark finds a doorway to an infinite maze of yellow office rooms.
https://ronkowitzllc.com/2026/07/16/what-is-in-those-back-rooms/
4 days ago
0
0
0
The Afterlife
writingtheday.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/t...
loading . . .
The Afterlife
Turning compost, I think about the afterlife… #poem #ronka #tranformation
https://writingtheday.wordpress.com/2025/06/11/the-afterlife/
4 days ago
0
0
0
COSMOGONY
#poem
The birth of the universe. My birth. Origin quests of mythic scale, human scale....
loading . . .
Cosmogony
Cosmogony - noun, branch of science that deals with the origin of the universe, especially the solar system. The birth of the universe. My birth.Origin quests of mythic scale, human scale. From Big Bang to my ancestors' bedrooms. Atoms, genes, and family all have lineages.We see only traces of this story. Where do humans belong in the universe? …
https://writingtheday.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/cosmogony/
5 days ago
0
0
0
Poets Online - the blog: Emily Dickinson, Children's Poet
loading . . .
Emily Dickinson, Children's Poet
Blog companion to PoetsOnline.org - a site of inspiration for poets since 1998.
https://poetsonline.blogspot.com/2026/07/emily-dickinson-childrens-poet.html
5 days ago
0
0
0
Summer night-- even the stars are whispering to each other - Kobayashi Issa
#haiku
6 days ago
0
3
1
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” —Marcus Aurelius
6 days ago
0
0
0
Vive le 14 juillet! Governments take note.
#BastilleDay
6 days ago
0
0
0
A failed meditation can still turn into a successful afternoon nap.
7 days ago
0
0
0
If I did own a DeLorean car, I would only drive it from time to time.
7 days ago
0
0
0
Fate and Chance. Winning the lottery. Getting hit by lightning.
loading . . .
100 Million Dollars or 100 Million Volts
The last time I bought a lottery ticket - and lost - a friend said, "You have a better chance of being hit by lightning." I checked. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot — matching all five main numbers (1–70) and the Mega Ball (1–25) — are 1 in 302,575,350. The odds of being struck by lightning in America in a given year are one in 1.2 million.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/12/100-million-dollars-or-100-million-volts/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
8 days ago
0
0
0
I suppose that it is possible to live as full of life in 70 hours as it is in 70 years. - For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway No. Been there. Can't do that
8 days ago
0
0
0
“Accept suffering and achieve atonement through it — that is what you must do.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky Another quote that I don't agree with
8 days ago
0
0
0
Remembering Lawnchair Larry Walters and his incredible and crazy flight in his balloon-powered lawn chair.
loading . . .
Ground Control to Lawnchair Larry
Larry's chair displayed at the museum On a July day in 1982, Larry Walters took flight in an aluminum lawn chair, lifted by 42 helium-filled weather balloons. Lifting off from San Pedro, California, he soared to 16,000 feet while drifting into LAX airspace. He was high enough that commercial pilots radioed sightings of him. With freezing temps and lower oxygen levels, Walters had to pop balloons with a BB gun to make a controlled descent.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/11/ground-control-to-lawnchair-larry/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
9 days ago
0
1
1
I'm more on board with this, Al. "“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus
#optimism
10 days ago
0
1
0
“To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.” — Albert Camus Not Al's best thought.
10 days ago
0
0
0
Thinking about how I often, in the middle of the day or night, I am looking for some lost object, or word, or a piece of information.
loading . . .
Lost and Not Found
I wrote recently about a Billy Collins poem about "Forgetfulness," and tonight I'm looking back at it and at a blank post on the screen and trying to remember what I was going to write about here for the weekend. I label this post with the category Think About It, but maybe you should not think about this too much.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/10/forgetfulness/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
10 days ago
0
0
0
“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
11 days ago
0
0
0
It’s not that we have such a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. -Seneca The old Roman stoic knows me so well 
12 days ago
0
1
0
Another of my
Matinee Film Club series with Montclair Film
selections - TUNER
loading . . .
Matinee: Tuner
For my Matinee Film Club series with Montclair Film, I like to choose films that are a bit out of he popular circle of commercial films. Summer is a bit more difficult because it's the time of potential blockbusters and summer fare and documentaries, international films and "art house" films are less likely. I did The Devil Wore Prada 2…
http://ronkowitzllc.com/2026/07/08/matinee-tuner/
12 days ago
0
0
0
Sometimes I dream in my waking moments And walk in my sleep - Nathaniel Hawthorne Walking is an optimal time for dreaming.,,
#poem
loading . . .
Walking Dreams
Sometimes I dream in my waking moments And walk in my sleep - Nathaniel Hawthorne Walking is an optimal time for dreaming. Better to dream when you are awakewhen there is a chance that you will remember the dreaming and put itinto reality rather than let it drift away into the darkness and blanketed warmth of sleep, so that upon your awakening you turn to your still half-sleeping wife saying, "I just had a strange dream. I walked into a forest with Hawthorne."
https://writingtheday.wordpress.com/2026/07/07/walking-dreams/
12 days ago
0
3
0
And like the Moon, we must go through phases of emptiness in order to become full again.
13 days ago
0
0
0
If
#Barbie
is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends and even a boyfriend? 
13 days ago
0
0
0
adding Pamela Milne's substack to my reading list
pam4bear.substack.com?r=l41lg&utm_...
loading . . .
Pamela Milne | Substack
poet & professor who probably lives north of you. Click to read Pamela Milne on Substack. Launched 2 hours ago.
https://pam4bear.substack.com/?r=l41lg&utm_campaign=subscribe-page-share-screen&utm_medium=web
13 days ago
0
2
0
There are only two ways to live your life. One is to act though nothing is a miracle.  The other is to act as if everything is.” -Albert Einstein
14 days ago
0
0
0
Why do we have a counterclockwie preference but clockwise timepieces?
loading . . .
Counterclockwise
I grew up in a world of analog clocks on the wall and on my wrist. In school, we learned how to tell time with a wooden clock that the teacher would move and we learned that the “little hand” marked the hour and the “big hand” showed the minutes. I never really wondered why the hands moved in a particular direction, but the circular motion to the right became “clockwise." It carried over to things like turning a screw in or tightening a bottle cap, and "counterclockwise" did the reverse.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/05/counterclockwise/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
15 days ago
0
0
0
President Washington liked to treat White House guests to barbeque and ice cream.
loading . . .
George, Ice Cream and BBQ
George Washington loved to serve ice cream while hosting guests at the White House, and spent thousands of dollars on ice cream in a single summer. An accounting record from 1790 reveals that Washington spent $200—roughly $6,300 today—on ice cream. Records show that America's first president purchased a "cream machine for ice" as early as 1784. It was apparently his favorite treat to serve while hosting, even though it was an involved (and expensive) process that required a dedicated cow and ice cut from a river in freezing temperatures.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/05/george-ice-cream-and-bbq/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
15 days ago
0
0
0
Advice
15 days ago
0
0
0
“You will generally observe that of all Americans, your foreign-born citizens are the most patriotic, especially toward the Fourth of July.” - Herman Melville, White-Jacket, or the World in a Man-of-War
16 days ago
0
0
0
250 years ago - after 2 days of revisions - we had a Declaration of Independence.
loading . . .
To the Next 250Â Years
250 years ago, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Those delegates voted for the colonies to break from Great Britain on July 2, then, like any good writer, they spent two days revising the draft. Fireworks have been part of the Fourth of July since the first celebrations. This year, roughly 850,000 fireworks are due to light up the nation's capital tomorrow, potentially breaking a world record.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/04/to-the-next-250-years/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
16 days ago
0
0
0
16 days ago
0
0
0
Want to have a more authentic July 4th meal that resembles a menu from 1776?
www.tasteofhome.com/article/1776...
loading . . .
This Is What a Menu from 1776 Would Look Like
Colonial Americans were doing some pretty fascinating things with cornmeal and whipped cream.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/1776-menu/
16 days ago
0
0
0
On July 4
loading . . .
On July 4
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/04/on-july-4/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
16 days ago
0
0
0
"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." - John Adams, July 3, 1776
loading . . .
17 days ago
0
0
0
"35 Words at 35,000 Feet" We are not flying or falling. Floating.
loading . . .
35 Words at 35,000Â Feet
Wings trembling over the shimmering filigree coverlet - a maiden's bed, empty in morning sunlight. Gravity, a weak force, leaves us alone. We are falling. We are flying. No, not really flying, or even falling. Floating.
https://writingtheday.wordpress.com/2026/07/03/35-words-at-35000-feet/
17 days ago
0
0
0
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” - philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who received few party invitations
18 days ago
0
0
0
We are halfway through 2026. How are you doing so far?
loading . . .
How Was Your First Half of 2026?
We are 182.5 days into this year is exactly half the year. Happy Half New Year! We think of half a year as six months but the 365 days doesn't divide as neatly as a calendar. Some people see this point as a god time for reflection and recalibration. How are you doing? Any things you want to change in the second half?
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/07/02/how-was-your-first-half-of-2026/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
18 days ago
0
0
0
Looking at before we recognized teenagers and how attitudes have changed.
loading . . .
Before There Were Teenagers
Once upon a time, and for most of human history, there were no "teenagers." Oh, there were people between the ages of 13 and 19, but you were either a child or an adult. The word “teenager” first entered the lexicon in 1913. (I like that it was 19thirteen.) But it took some some decades before the word on its current significance.
https://paradelle.wordpress.com/2026/06/06/before-there-were-teenagers/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social
18 days ago
0
0
0
He who hesitates is not only lost, but has Miles to go before the next exit.
#NJturnpike
#nj

19 days ago
0
0
0
If you find it difficult to laugh at yourself, I would gladly do it for you. - Groucho Marx
20 days ago
0
0
0
Load more
feeds!
log in
