My article on fostering in-class participation skills, curiosity, and confidence was posted at Education.com today.

My Book Beat review of Sherman Alexie’s War Dances, a collection of new short stories, poems, and musings, is published in the San Mateo Daily Journal today. Alexie’s stories draw out our shame, fear, and vulnerability, and he has an incredible ability of revealing our human flaws and needs. He is subtle in doing this, but the effect of his storytelling can be quite emotional.

I’ll be uploading photos from my cruise to the Caribbean to this Flickr set over the next several days. I’ll try to post as many of my favorite shots as possible. I had packed two film cameras and stocked up on black and white and color rolls — it’s too bad I didn’t end up taking them along on most of my island excursions…

I’m back from Princess Cruises’ Twitter press trip in the Western Caribbean. I wrote a handful of trips on Trazzler highlighting some of my favorite excursions on the islands. In case you weren’t able to follow the #FollowMeAtSea Twitter stream each day, here’s a list of the trips. (Note: If you don’t have a Trazzler account, you may only be able to read up to five trip pages. The solution? Either sign up for an account or clear your browser history to start anew.)

Itinerary

Arrival: Miami and Ft. Lauderdale

Epitomizing Business-Chic at the Miami Airport in Florida

Watching Yachts Pass Through the Drawbridge in Ft. Lauderdale

Princess Cays, Bahamas

Pondering a Shade of Blue in the Waters of Princess Cays, Bahamas

Escaping from the Crowds Along the Rocks in Princess Cays, Bahamas

Photographing Colorful Cottages on Princess Cays, Bahamas

At Sea

Circumventing Cuba on a Massive Ship in the Caribbean

Brushing Elbows with the Crew on Your Cruise in the Caribbean

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Cycling the Island Neighborhoods of West Bay in Grand Cayman

Finding a Turtle’s Sweet Spot at the Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman

Letting Your Imagination Run Wild in Hell in West Bay, Grand Cayman

Roatan, Honduras

Tasting Roatan’s Local Culture in Flowers Bay, Honduras

Cozumel, Mexico

Swimming with Dolphins in the Warm Waters of Cozumel, Mexico

Scootering the Streets in San Miguel de Cozumel in Mexico

Admiring a Mayan Goddess Along the Sea in Cozumel, Mexico

At Sea and Return to Ft. Lauderdale

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay in an update. The Twitter cruise has been more busy than I’d thought it’d be. Since I left and thus lost my laptop charger while tired and delirious at the Miami airport, I haven’t been able to use my computer, which has really been unfortunate because losing access to my own laptop is the equivalent of trying to do things with my other hand. My guest, Angel, brought her Mac, so I am lucky to even have access to a computer in my mini-suite, but of course not having your own computer just isn’t the same.

I was given an iTouch from Princess Cruises, which is pretty awesome. I’ve been carrying it with me to use, but my BlackBerry has been reliable so far. I’ve felt busy since the trip started and it’s been hard to keep up with others’ tweets; there are many things I’d planned to do daily—sound blogs, keeping up with the #followmeatsea stream, and posting to Flickr often—but whenever I have a free moment I just want to lie down, relax, and enjoy my time…

Tomorrow, we’re at sea all day and are en route to Grand Cayman. We’ll tour the ship in the afternoon, and perhaps hang out at one of the pools. I’m tweeting from various Trazzler accounts, as well as my own.

Cheers,
Cheri

In one week, I’ll hop on a red-eye flight to Miami and will be en route to Ft. Lauderdale to get on board Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess. I’m joining travel journalists on a seven-day cruise to the Western Caribbean on a hosted trip from Princess Cruises, stopping in Grand Cayman, Roatan (Honduras), Cozumel, and Princess Cays, a private island in the Bahamas.

My friend and I have booked onshore excursions: biking, visiting a turtle farm, and snorkeling in Grand Cayman; hanging out with dolphins and relaxing on the beach in Roatan; exploring Cozumel in a scoot coupe; and finally kayaking in the ocean in the Bahamas. Since this is a Twitter press cruise, I’ll be tweeting about my experiences on these islands — and writing about my favorite excursions and unique and noteworthy places on Trazzler. It will be fun to ditch the city for a week to lounge, sip cocktails, and explore under the Caribbean sun.

If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow @Trazzler to read trip tweets throughout the week of November 7-14. As appropriate, there may be tweets about the trip on the regional and obsessions accounts, including @Trazzler_Mex (Mexico), @Trazzler_SoFla (South Florida), and @Trazzler_Beach (Beaches).

Look out for this hashtag, too: #FollowMeAtSea

During the trip, I’ll post photos here, on Trazzler, and hopefully on Flickr as well. It all depends on how much time I spend by the pool or at the buffet table…

Stay tuned!

P.S. Many thanks to the folks at Princess Cruises, as well as the Trazzler team, for making this trip happen for me and my guest.

Photo taken at the Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver, BC.

While Japanese gardens have been a longtime favorite, I’ve gotten more exposed to classical Chinese gardens, too, and the mastery of detail and meticulousness of grounds are equally stunning. Read a bit about Vancouver’s garden, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, in the city’s Chinatown.