In my senior year of high school, I went on a trip to Ashland with a bunch of Garfield students I had never met before. On the last day, I gave everyone a "warm fuzzy," a little note telling them something specific I appreciated about them. It felt good to think about what to say and to give them this gift completely out of the blue.

I think I learned about warm fuzzies in Camp Fire (and their antithesis, cold pricklies). The terminology might be a little cutesy, but it's a good idea, a really good idea.

I've been writing praise notes to other poets. Not for every poem. I read a lot of good poetry. But every couple of weeks I'll take an extra few minutes to find an email address for the poet, tell them something specific I like about their work, and thank them. Inevitably, even if they are a big deal poet, they write back to say this was just the lift they needed. They hadn't been writing much recently, had been losing confidence, and then along I came out of the blue.

Of course, I get the benefit of thinking a little more deeply about their work. They feel good. I feel good. It's good.