ENG213 students:

The following are links to some of my favorite “This I Believe” essays.  Each one has text you can read, plus an audio recording of the author reading the piece.  I suggest listening as you read.  Dozens more are here.

Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne:  “I believe we have the power to create our own happiness. I believe the real magic in the world is done by humans. I believe normal life is extraordinary.”

Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham:  “I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God.”

Jazz bassist Christian McBride:  “I believe people have become tighter, meaner and less tolerant than ever. I never remember people being so uncool.”

Former Boston deputy arts commissioner Catherine Royce:  “I believe that I always have a choice. No matter what I’m doing. No matter what is happening to me. I always have a choice.”

English professor Sarah Adams:   “If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: ‘Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it’s good luck.’”

San Francisco Chronicle editor Jon Carroll:  “I believe in the power of failure.”