Mary Ann Carr

Educator, Writer, Motivational Speaker.

Mary Ann Carr, a 30 year veteran educator, began writing mysteries for kids to solve while teaching gifted students. Each of her three mystery books are designed to develop critical thinking skills. Her two "One Hour Mysteries" remain on the publisher's best sellers list and the first of the two garnered national recognition by Learning Magazine as one of 40 "must have" curricular materials.

Mary Ann currently is an educational consultant frequently sought after by school systems to conduct workshops on strategies for differentiation of instruction for use by classroom teachers. Her first book on that mainstream subject, entitled "A Handbook of Timesaving Tools for Differentiation," is scheduled for release by Prufrock Press in the spring of 2009.

Her current projects include a Toolkit to help parents complement the education offered by schools, a series of young children's picture books and a series of CSI-like mysteries to help pre-teenaged children develop critical thinking and deductive reasoning skills while having fun solving crimes at home.

In addition to frequent workshop and speaking engagements, Mary Ann teaches in the College of William and Mary’s summer enrichment program for gifted children and at the Bay School of the Cultural Arts in Mathews, Virginia. She holds an M.A. in Curriculum Development from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

For more on the Educational/Speaking services offered by Mary Ann, and her upcoming "Artist's Way" course at the Bay School in Mathews next fall, click on her Photo above. For more about her books and how to buy them, including sample pages, click on any of the book covers below.

David J. Carr

Website Designer, Writer, Educator

David J. Carr retired from the Virginia State Government service in 1995 after serving in various teaching, research and administrative positions at Colleges, Universities and state Higher Education Agencies in Massachusetts, New York and Virginia. David holds a Ph.D. in higher education from SUNY at Buffalo.

Aside from occasional essays and short pieces in both fiction and non-fiction, David continues to work on a time-travel novel for young adults. The novel, entitled "To Wright a Wrong",  is an historically based "what if" tale built around Orville Wright's "dive brake,"a 1920's invention that played a decisive role in the naval air victories in the Pacific during World War II.

His latest venture is the design of non-cookie-cutter websites for unconventional, creative individuals and their related commercial activities (e.g.; artists, writers, publishers, performers).

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking." - G.S. Patton

For a look at some of the Websites David has designed, in addition to all pages on this site and our joint website, 2CarrsCreative.com, go to:

For more details about David's website design services, go to  2CarrsCreative.com. Note that CBW members are eligible for a $70 discount on all design packages listed.

Out Back Behind The Barn
By Mary Ann Carr

In that secret place where fantasy reigns - By David J. Carr

Out back behind the barn,
I rode the range as Roy Rogers, chasing outlaws
Astride a quilt tossed over a paint-stained sawhorse.
I chased outlaws then ate Twinkies sitting by the fire,
a pile of tiny sticks I had gathered from the yard.

Out back behind the barn,
I paged through the diary Ma bought me at Ben Franklin's.
Bound in red imitation leather, it offered a sympathetic ear
and listened to my secrets each day for almost a year.

Out back behind the barn,
I practiced doing the twist
in my yellow organdy gown, dreaming of my prom.
Then, humming "Teen Angel," I raised my arms
To Pat Boone's shoulder and danced til my hands numbed.
 
Out back behind the barn,
I sat on the morn of my wedding
To Samuel Shoemaker who I met in History 101.
I pictured myself dressed in white,
the lace of my peignoir slipping off my shoulder.
 
Out back behind the barn,
I went in search of little Sam
Whenever he didn't come in for supper.
And there I would find him, sitting as I once sat,
Alone, his eyes focused on sights only he could see.

Out back behind the barn,
I searched the ground the day I turned sixty,
Looking for footprints of children I would never live to see,
I wondered who their Roy Rogers would be
When one day they ride the range, out back behind the barn.
 

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Imaginary trails without end,
Reality abandoned, constraints removed.                         

No one to tattle when the barn almost caught fire.

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Lost in reflections, unedited curiosities revealed.

What would mother think?

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Swaying to music un-played,
An apparition of beauty and cool was I,

The envied queen of my Junior prom.

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,

Is it apprehension or excitement I feel most
 

As my love carries me over the threshold.
Will he notice?

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Where all is right, my childhood sanctuary. 
Maternal panic. Will he be there?
Foolish me, I should know better,
I am my son, my son is me.
 
In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Bent by age, I ponder continuity beyond life.
One by one, descendants appear as tickling breezes.

Does it really matter at all, they ask,
In that secret place where fantasy reigns.