Welcome to my blog! My name is Abby and I am, hopefully, in my second-to-last semester of the Harvard Extension School Journalism Graduate Program. I’ve taken all of the core classes at this point, so feel free to ask me questions.

Over the next few months, I hope to use this space to talk about my experiences in the J program and how I think you can get the most out of yours. I will also tell you more about my own writing background, why I started the program, what my concerns are, and what it’s like to be back to school in my 40s. And of course, I welcome your comments.

But let’s talk about today. Like most journalism students, I am a news junkie who is looking forward to tonight’s debate. While I take the election seriously, I also think there is no end to the humor we can find in it. No one does this better than Elinor Lipman in her book “Tweet Land of Liberty,” a collection of rhyming tweets about the election. Lipman pledged to write one poem a day until the election, and she continues to do so. To keep up, follow her @ElinorLipman.

Last week I attended an event at Brookline Booksmith during which 12 authors, including Anita Shreve, Wally Lamb, Michael Lowenthal, Mameve Madwed, and Suzanne Strempek Shea, to name a few, took turns reading Lipman's rhymes. I laughed until I cried. Besides my personal interest, I was tweeting live from the event for Talking Writing magazine, where I am an intern this semester (more about his in subsequent blogs. You can follow the magazine @talkingwriting). 

Part political savvy and part Mother Goose, Lipman’s rhymes sang in my head. I found myself tweeting in rhyme as I listened. 

I’ll leave you with one of my favorites by Lipman:

Debate tonight on CNN, Must I sit through this again? Curse Obama! Voice your hate! Next you'll blame him for Penn State.

At the end of the event, Lipman signed my copy of the book, “For Abby, champion fellow tweeter.” Way cool, yes?

Cheers! Abby