https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog daily 0.75 2023-12-21 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2023/12/21/killer-cells-helping-writers monthly 0.5 2023-12-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/4a062135-ac70-4fd5-b892-dfaf9a032d52/IMG_4062.jpeg Write Club - Killer Cells Helping Writers - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2023/12/8/how-being-outside-can-help-you-writeyes-even-in-winter monthly 0.5 2023-12-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1702058777702-NO19XZBECFZWIXVTP3U1/IMG_4018.jpeg Write Club - How Being Outside Can Help You Write—Yes, Even in Winter - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2023/11/20/should-i-write-during-the-holidays monthly 0.5 2024-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/8e4d2542-a8c9-45bd-9b53-3b788d638299/cocoa-1908020_1280.jpg Write Club - Should I Write During the Holidays? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2023/11/10/yp3qvaft3gsz4nk4a8enfjyq5m49th monthly 0.5 2023-11-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/14502811-26e2-4883-931d-c0d9a843358b/mistakes-1756958_1280.jpg Write Club - Editor Pitfalls? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2023/11/2/can-a-smell-help-me-write monthly 0.5 2024-01-29 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/cb9a33e7-a8e0-4fff-b936-f612e15c4992/candles-2138132_1280.jpg Write Club - Can a Smell Help Me Write? - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2020/5/11/author-qampa-with-rachael-eckles monthly 0.5 2020-05-11 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2019/2/21/yes-writing-can-be-taught monthly 0.5 2019-02-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1550762111276-MQ9QICYYUWOGBPP01R8Q/teach-o-bot.png Write Club - Writing: Inspiration or Perspiration? https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2018/1/30/who-are-you-writing-for monthly 0.5 2018-01-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1517346031041-30NBQZTNHL8J8DTVWVZO/confused+reader.jpg Write Club - Who Are You Writing For? https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2018/1/19/but-where-do-i-start monthly 0.5 2018-01-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1516373179738-SELYFWFYGK9Q2OAGT3KQ/clock-1274699.jpg Write Club - But Where Do I Start? https://www.mathinacalliope.com/blog/2017/7/19/regards monthly 0.5 2018-01-16 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/editor daily 0.75 2021-03-02 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/home daily 1.0 2026-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1500395468632-HKJZVW9793IQVILV2QBB/alphabets-2306479.jpg Home https://www.mathinacalliope.com/contact daily 0.75 2018-01-19 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/teacher daily 0.75 2026-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1547221305217-XOMAF3IZ20EOBOD1BNW2/IMG_1023.JPG Learn - Mathina Calliope Mathina’s writing has appeared in Longreads, Cagibi, Outside, Deep Wild, the Rumpus, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, the Brevity blog, and elsewhere. Read samples of her work. A former newspaper journalist, she has an MFA and more than 15 years’ experience teaching writing to students ages 9 to 89. Mathina’s Politics and Prose writing workshops regularly sell out. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1518109400314-HVO5DCJEOQFHWR4SAHHA/people-2557396.jpg Learn https://www.mathinacalliope.com/portfolio daily 0.75 2023-10-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1582730781682-SYM1W3R7MHZ681MRZDAP/image-asset.jpeg Samples of my published work “Aspirational” (Cagibi) (fiction) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/3664d1ad-54c2-425d-8561-cdb862821dd4/Screenshot+2023-10-11+at+3.05.37+PM.png Samples of my published work “The Backcountry Prescription Experiment” (Longreads) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1578334570752-4W4IKJ38GT1B33X1TSIO/image-asset.jpeg Samples of my published work “The Appalachian Trail Murder Won’t Stop Me from Hiking Alone” (Outside) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1578334021304-Z08VOKXD21A0CSY18BCO/IMG_3531.JPG Samples of my published work “Backpacking in the Woods for 10 Weeks Taught Me How to Embrace the KonMari Method IRL” (Real Simple) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1510173540080-CITRMLWN3B22YK8590BT/387147_10151155235469596_1071576514_n.jpg Samples of my published work "My People Didn't Dance" (Manifest-Station) True, I hadn’t met The Man of My Dreams on the dance floor (actually I had, we just didn’t know it yet) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1578334433097-NXIY6WG0GIKC7UWOH9I8/image-asset.jpeg Samples of my published work “To the Driver of the Bus We Hoped Would Get Us to Our Salseros” (Off Assignment) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1543595365578-JUZI28OX86L62URO0IGJ/book+and+coffee.jpeg Samples of my published work “This is What No One Tells You About Being Child-Free in Your 40s” (Huffington Post) I find no role model or path to help me navigate this. I didn’t do everything I could to be a mother, but I still grieve motherhood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1543595664774-MX7KGTA4BIE7GPOCI91T/IMG_1951.JPG Samples of my published work “I Learned to Love Standardized Tests” (Wall Street Journal) They don’t have to be basic, boring, or biased. A good question provokes deep engagement. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1534188367437-XKQ576QJXU3KK3Q9W8HX/IMG_6296.JPG Samples of my published work "A Dream to Disconnect" (Streetlight Magazine) Before my hiatus from modern life, I relished the idea of digital disconnection. Like many of us, I blamed a fusillade of social-media fueled dopamine hits for clipping my attention span and cluttering my mind. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1500663379037-Y8CGN7XMBQEE6O9TNPQR/image-asset.jpeg Samples of my published work "How NOT to Prepare Your Students for MAP" (NWEA blog) "[T]hey were the kids whose parents were reading to them in the womb, the kids who would do well no matter what. The kids in the more urban school did fine precisely because its culture ignored the high-stakes hubbub. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1506114013704-O4CP609W41CHASC9JSAK/IMG_6018.JPG Samples of my published work "I Quit My Job at 43 to Hike the Appalachian Trail" (Prevention) Another gnat buzzes in my ear, wings whirring like tiny helicopter blades poised to cut. I raise my arm to wave it away but really, what's the point? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1500403473391-LZCVH3LYBJRHDV34SW14/professor-1996115.jpg Samples of my published work "Wait Till Next Year" (Washington Post) For a while, it worked. I went in each day with renewed energy, saw my students through tender, concerned eyes and used love as a verb. Slowly, though, the other stuff crept back in. (Photo by Liderina/iStock / Getty Images) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1500493918829-C14AWHW4F6BWTPE8RKHO/Screen+Shot+2017-07-18+at+2.28.28+PM.png Samples of my published work "Why We Dance" (The Scene) His hand remained suspended for a moment while he cocked his head and stared past me for a beat. He squinted, nodded as if to himself, and then looked at me again, eyes widened. He lowered his hand and I hooked my fingers over his. (Photo by Mike Jeon) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1500403195050-P8LXVXPFZIL18MQJYE4P/IMG_6562.JPG Samples of my published work "Tough Times” (The Trek) As humans interested in transformation or peak experiences, we put ourselves intentionally in discomfort’s way precisely because we know it is through this kind of deprivation and denial that we can begin to “re-see” and re-appreciate simple things. (Photo by Nastco/iStock / Getty Images) https://www.mathinacalliope.com/kudos daily 0.75 2019-07-01 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/about daily 0.75 2026-04-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/59077def03596e470a345c84/1507328607807-5SP56KMSIRBM6HY01E8I/D80A7701.jpg About ABOUT MATHINA I'm a writer, developmental editor, and writing teacher in Alexandria, Virginia. My work has appeared in Longreads, Outside, the Rumpus, Creative Nonfiction, Cagibi, Wall Street Journal, Brevity, Deep Wild, Off Assignment, and HuffPost, and Jane Friedman has run several of my craft essays. I have an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College and have attended Bread Loaf and Yale writers' workshops. I've been teaching writing for more than twenty years — at Politics and Prose, the Smithsonian, writing festivals; and in college classrooms. Before that I was a newspaper reporter and then an elementary school teacher, which is how I ended up spending fifteen-plus years developing educational assessments. My most recent day job was as a speechwriter in the Civil Rights Division at the (Biden) Department of Justice. Right now I'm revising a literary novel and taking on developmental editing clients. I work with fiction and narrative nonfiction writers who are serious about craft. When I'm not writing, I'm renovating the house, throwing salsa parties, or singing karaoke badly. https://www.mathinacalliope.com/k12 daily 0.75 2017-07-24 https://www.mathinacalliope.com/partners-bedford daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390505394162-W51WFS0M8F9TXWY7LPDY/chambers-10.jpg Partners https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390409437321-Q9EZYDA52XWMFWJIQRU6/logo-2.jpg Partners https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390409437266-8DADKO4VSI8O9JEYQ58I/logo-4.jpg Partners https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390409437284-U9500QOC95REDBT90G9L/logo-1.jpg Partners https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390409437242-8SZY5F04GD012C425QZ6/logo-3.jpg Partners https://www.mathinacalliope.com/home-alt-bedford daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390500612440-PGQSIY8KL9F7T5VIXQLO/chambers-2.jpg Home Alt A better world Starts with a choice Contact Us https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390500503574-5BAPXZO9U06UV61P49UO/chambers1.jpg Home Alt Sustainability Starts with you Join Us https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390500933384-LII4SRIPHFYOUFX0UCXC/chambers-4.jpg Home Alt A better world Starts with a choice Join Us https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390504287124-HQ8GNX1JCE22V047MSQ9/chambers-8.jpg Home Alt Preserve Nature Join Us https://www.mathinacalliope.com/projects-bedford daily 0.75 2025-04-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390597386640-3KVLE657DTIG7GJ4AQE2/tumblr_mjdttrQLOJ1rkz363o7_1280.jpg Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390513704892-X6RLQ8I6CZ7RH14SLT95/tumblr_mjco89cUVY1rkz363o1_1280.jpg Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390513762052-20QA8XOF4PAJV9MQ8VIT/tumblr_mlsetsKySj1rkz363o4_1280.jpg Projects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/52a74d9ae4b0253945d2aee9/1390513827835-7X0ZFXSD0X2H8JVTM0G7/tumblr_mqvsd7ij1c1rkz363o1_1280.jpg Projects