On Being A Word Toting Rebel

May 6, 2020 by Anna Blanch Rabe
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word toting rebel
Are you a rebel without a cause?  Are you a word toting rebel?  Writers of books, blogging gurus, and professors alike often want their students to argue against something. You must have a counter-point, they say, for you to get attention. There must be an argument, a thesis, which will anchor your paper.  Indeed, I teach my students the importance of a strong thesis in order to write a persuasive argument. However, I struggle with extending encouragement to stir the pot without skin in the Continue reading →

Productivity Tools for Academics, Lawyers, and Professionals

April 20, 2020 by Anna Blanch Rabe
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Productivity doesn’t have a finish line; it’s an evolving set of methods, skills, and task management habits. This is especially true when considering productivity tools for academics, lawyers, and professionals. Some time ago, I wrote a post offering some advice and links to productivity tools I found useful. I thought it was time to revisit the topic and reflect on what I’m finding most helpful now. This article is part of our effort to offer advice for research tasks and professional development, like using plain English Continue reading →

Want to be a world changer? Pull up a chair or build your own table

March 31, 2020 by Anna Blanch Rabe
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Want to be a world change quit waiting for a gilded invitation
Want to be a world changer? Pull up a chair or build your own table. Quit waiting around for your gilded invitation! I am often so focused on getting things done, that I don’t much care if I’ve been anointed one of the chosen ones. We need to be careful of comparing our messy beginning or middle with someone’s else’s resolution or polished delivery. I know sometimes it might feel like you’re not being given the same opportunities that others get. It’s hard and sometimes Continue reading →

Essential Archival Research Kit

April 26, 2019 by Anna Blanch Rabe
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Preparation is essential to making the most of limited time in an archival research library. One of my secrets to getting the most out of time is archival and reference libraries is my “essential archival research kit”! The Essential Archival Research Kit Readers card Laptop (and chargers/power cord) A pad of paper or research notebook Endnote Pencils, eraser, sharpener Outline of research Business cards Change for lockers, photocopying (though you may need to carry a Plastic form of currency if you’re anything like me), and Continue reading →

Survival Kit for Graduate Students

April 16, 2018 by Anna Blanch Rabe
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A survival kit for Graduate students you say?! For some of you, it may be a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, hence: Coffee does more than Milton can, to justifie the ways of God to Man. There’s a variation on that quote from A.D. Houseman, if you know it. For others it may be getting your necessary 10 hugs a day –apparently that’s the number we all need to thrive — and for others still a hearty belly laugh! I am not Continue reading →

31 Things We wish Someone had told us before we Started Graduate School

April 13, 2018 by Anna Blanch Rabe
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What we wish someone had told us before we started Graduate School. This post was originally published on Goannatree, a blog I wrote for 6 years. It was a post that received many many comments and that readers seemed to find helpful. This is updated. _____________________________________________________________________________ There are those lessons you learn from facing the fire and walking through it. Those things that you read and know will change the way you think about your life. This list is definitely an outpouring of the former, Continue reading →

5 books to help you grow

April 9, 2018 by admin
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5 books to help you grow rabe legal writer legal marketing non profit leadership
My reading has always been somewhat eclectic so don’t be suprised by these 5 books to help you grow. From legal treatises, works of theology, summaries of psychological research, and literature from a variety of english speaking traditions – I thought i’d share some of the books that have been lugged around in my suitcase and graced my nightstand early in 2018. Tables in the Wilderness My first book for 2018 was “Tables in the Wilderness” by Preston Yancey – in those heady days after Continue reading →

Work from anywhere: practical tips for location freedom

November 18, 2017 by admin
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I’ve spent much of the last ten years traveling. I’m all about figuring out how to work from anywhere. A large part of that also involved working in the “fringe hours” and making the most of working on research and writing projects in the midst of travel. This post does include affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy for more information. I have worked beside pools, in parks, on buses, on long road trips as a passenger, in countless hotel rooms, internet cafes, friends’ kitchen Continue reading →

Want to be a better writer? 6 Questions to Ask

January 22, 2017 by admin
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better writer
Writing well, (to be a better writer) both for comprehension and for style and beauty is an art form that requires continuous improvement: improvement in form, style, learning the rules so you know when to break them, learning when to rely on the classical forms of rhetoric and when to seek to cut through the brush and find new and uniquely you ways of expressing yourself. Metaphors, synonyms, antonyms, similes. Beauty, ugly, honorific, soporific, deriding, motivating, cutting, seeking to find solace in the past or Continue reading →

You are not special

December 8, 2016 by admin
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A few years ago I spent six months in between positions in higher education working in retail hospitality: a cafe in a busy mall. I wrote this reflection in the midst of that experience. Each Christmas I am reminded by the lessons buried deep within muscle memory from that time. _____________________________________________________________________________ Working with ‘the public’ for the last four or five months, one pervasive attitude has struck me as being detrimental to our communities growing and thriving. It’s something that I don’t see the church Continue reading →