everydayshakespeare
- Bio
- Michelle Ephraim is Associate Professor of English at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Along with fellow Shakespearean Caroline Bicks (Boston College) she writes a humor blog called Everyday Shakespeare. It's delivered fresh Monday-Friday at www.everydayshakespeare.com.
MY RECENT POSTS
- An Open Letter to John Edwards
from Shakespeare's Wives
December 09, 2010 10:47AM - Ophelia's Review of Starbucks
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
September 22, 2010 02:03PM - The post-Yom Kippur Report
September 20, 2010 12:18PM - How I Became a Stock Character
September 06, 2010 10:11PM - Craigslist Tips
August 18, 2010 05:48PM
Everydayshakespeare's Links
An Open Letter to John Edwards from Shakespeare's Wives
An Open Letter to John Edwards from Shakespeare's Tragic Wives
Dear John,
There's some ill planet reigns. I must be patient till the heavens look with an aspect more favourable.
I know when thou hast stolen away from fairy land, and in the shape of Corin sat all day, playing on pipes of/…
Ophelia's Review of Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
New Products at Starbucks: The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin
BY OPHELIA (guest contributor and student, Elsinore High School)
First of all, I'm trying not to freak out right now. I thought I'd be OK back here at Starbucks--I mean, it's been like a year since I saw Hamlet here with that art
The post-Yom Kippur Report
"What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse?
Or shall we on without a apology?"
--Romeo, about to crash the party where he meets Juliet (Romeo
and Juliet 1.4.1-2)
The Post-Yom Kippur Report
Yom Kippur's supposed to be an occasion to think about your bad
behavior, sins, regrets over the past… Read full post »
How I Became a Stock Character
It all started when I got the email with the pictures. Like other faculty members with an outdated online profile picture, I was asked to make a visit to the university photographer. Given that I’m sporting a sweatshirt and damp hair in my current photo,/
Craigslist Tips
Craigslist is a hot topic, and not just in my pathetic little world. First the unsavory story of the Craigslist killer. And, this morning, an interesting bit on NPR about how consumers would prefer to buy from other consumers. I, personally, like to think of my Craigslist purchases as a f-you/…
Aging Without Grace
O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out
Against the wreckful siege of battering days,
When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays?
O fearful meditation!
--from Sonnet 65
Ah, Mortality.
Fresh from yet another birthday (Friday), I took a plunge . . .
I mean, a… Read full post »
Camp Letters from Juliet
July 28, 1593
Dear Mother and Father,
Camp Virginwood is a total, complete nightmare.
I sobbed for the whole time we were at Mass this morning because I just felt so ALONE. Like no one understood me at all. Not even GOD.
The other girls are SO annoying.… Read full post »
When Trees Start to Move, You Know That Things Are Bad
When trees start to move, you know that things are bad.
I'm talking about the end of Macbeth, when Macbeth
realizes that Birnam Woods CAN move--in the form of the approaching
enemy army, who camouflage themselves with branches. The witches'
prophecy to Macbeth (which he had initially found laughable)… Read full post »
This weekend I had the great pleasure of attending my first ever “tot ballet” recital (a.k.a. “The Annual Spring Concert").
Let me start by saying that ballet culture makes me deeply uncomfortable. Maybe I was just traumatized by watching The Turning Point when I was eight. Or maybe
…
Silly Bandz: A Sonnet
Silly Bandz: A Sonnet
In the old age bracelets were not plastic crap,
Or if they were, they came not in such stupid shapes:
But now have Bandz caught parents in a buying trap,
And jewelry’s been slandered with consumer rape,
For since each hand hath put on Bandz's power,
Fouling the fair at a/…
A Letter To Tipper Gore from Lady Macbeth
Dear Tipper,
I know you’re getting a lot of shit about the break-up, so I
wanted to let you know that someone out there knows exactly what
you're going through.
People are speculating that you left Al for another man. Or that
your bout with depression left you all crazy in the… Read full post »
Extreme Parenting
Why My Work Was Not Written by a Jewish Woman
by William Shakespeare
I was obviously wrong in believing that James Shapiro’s newly published Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? had ended this ridiculous authorship debate once and for all. As Shapiro brilliantly argues, I did write my plays.
Fo…
How to Teach Shakespeare to Kindergarteners
Full disclosure: I am very nervous teaching anything to small children. College students are much easier because they are polite in the classroom, even if they are bored or unimpressed.
That said, I agreed to “talk about what I do at work”…
All I Really Need to Know I Learned in My Foot Cast
“How hast thou injured both thyself and us!”—3 Henry VI 1.1.188
It’s Monday, a.k.a. the tenth day I’ve had a cast on my foot. Yes, it’s actually broken, and yes, I did it falling down the stairs in…
Henry V Infuriated by Comparison to David Cameron
Henry V Infuriated by Comparison to David Cameron
Newly minted British PM David Cameron once compared himself to the reformed Prince Hal in Henry IV.
In 2008, Cameron famously compared his “waiting in the wings” status on the political stage to the wild-child Prince Hal’s/…
Fight! Fight! Fight! Mayweather vs. Mosley is a Big Bust
On Saturday night, I experienced my first professional fight: Shane "Sugar" Mosley vs. Floyd “Money” Mayweather on Pay-Per-View. Here’s the coolest part of it: I watched it with a friend who used to be a real-life profe…
Date Night of the Titans
“Date Night” is a reference to the popular Tina Fey
movie. In our house, “Date Night” is also a reference
to the very unpopular movie we saw on Saturday night. That’s
right, I’m talking about The Clash of the Titans:
3D.
My husband lovingly recollects the 1981 film… Read full post »
Here in Massachusetts we’re getting continuous media coverage of the fallout from Phoebe Prince’s suicidal response to her schoolmates’ chronic bullying. We’ve got details on the alleged perpetrators, statements by their lawyers, columnists weighing in on which adults to blame… Read full post »
I don’t know how many Oscar ceremonies I’ve seen, but this year’s was the first that made me feel something other than fat and unfashionable.
I’m talking about that lengthy, complex tribute to director John Hughes, the mastermind behind Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club… Read full post »
When Professors Kill: A Crazy Academic is also a Crazy Mom
“Is she so hot a shrew as she's
reported?”—The Taming of the Shrew, 4.1.18
It’s hard to be a shrew and still get tenure. I did it. But
as we all know, Amy Bishop did not. Reading The New York
Times front page story on Bishop yesterday, I was struck at
the… Read full post »
Curling: What Would Shakespeare Do?
Many famous scholars trace the sport of curling back to the Dutch artist Pieter Breugel’s 1565 painting of people playing with stones on an icy pond. The Hunters in the Snow is just what it suggests: hunters and their dogs returning to their snow-covered village. In the distance,… Read full post »
Valentine's Quiz: What Kind of Shakespearean Lover are YOU?
I met R. in Israel during the summer of 1998. I was doing research for my dissertation; she was studying Hebrew just for fun. From there, she planned to go to Bali.
We became fast friends. Because of her I actually left my computer to travel around Israel. I followed… Read full post »
Will Macbeth Be a Good Video Game?
WILL MACBETH BE A GOOD VIDEO GAME?
Dagger Hero? Grand Theft Scotto?
Yesterday Eurogamer reported that high-power studio Visceral Games ("Dante's Inferno") might give Macbeth a whirl (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/dantes-dev-to-follow-up-with-macbeth).
It was only two months ago th
… Read full post »
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