Today we are all looking at the words of Abraham Lincoln, born 200 years ago today. We also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, another man whose works continue to shake society. That must have been an amazing planetary alignment the day these men were born. At school today we were…
Category: Refelections
The Land of Arrested Development
My room has become the haven for boys so intensely geeky, so not self aware of their own stereotypicalness that they make me laugh every day. Right now this is what is happening: Someone’s iPod is plugged into my speakers playing a mix of Yngwie Malmstein, Matchbox Twenty, and the Mai ai Hee guy (O-zone)…
Facebook (breathe)
My niece is a wonderful woman. She lives in Florida with her husband and children, and her best friend from high school is her brother-in-law. My niece has stared down a lot of demons in her life, but lately they have come thick and fast. In the past two weeks she lost a childhood friend…
Cinema Hat Trick
Three films that I try to find a way to use every year. I was a film student at Northwestern back in the days of the feminist film aesthetic of the late 70s. What I discovered then (along with the fact that I can fall asleep watching a film in a minute) is that are…
Something About Daisy
Yesterday I had the very best discussion of Daisy Miller, the novella by Henry James, that I have ever had with a class of juniors. I have had this book on my reading list six times, and it was this year that the discussion was lively, honest, funny, and unlimited. Why? I can think of…
40 years ago -1969
I was in the 5th grade. Things seemed pretty scary. We had survived 1968. Assassinations, marches, the Chicago Convention. We had yet to experience the horror of Kent State. On Jan. 20, Richard Milhous Nixon was sworn in as the nation’s 37th President. I had the same out of body feeling years ago that I…
I hate dioramas.
I’m just saying. My daughters in the sixth grade are on their third set of dioramas for the year in Social Studies. As a modality – once – I’m okay, but this is crazy! And they come back from school like boomerangs in just a few short days. How does this teacher even begin to…
7 things meme
Like Kelly Christopherson I haven’t officially been tagged on this one, but with two open invitations from plurk friends, I’m guessing that I shouldn’t worry and just jump in. So, seven things that you don’t know about me: I love to sing. If I could just figure out how to wrap it into my day…
Cross Posting – Pie Wisdom
This was originally posted on my family food blog, but I thought that I should have it here as well. If you’ve already read this there, please pardon the redundancy: Paul C over at quoteflections asks: What is your skill which has been developed through practice and experience? You have respect for this skill and…
Should I stay or should I go now…
I’ve been wrestling with a question this last week. The teacher who took my position as seventh grade English teacher is leaving for points east, Boston specifically. She’s been a delightful colleague and we will miss her. At the end of the break my old boss, the head of the middle school, asked me to…
Jubilee Photo Album
That darn 99 things meme and Michael Doyle’s comment has got me thinking about the year (fall 1985 to 1986) I spent on a boat – a 75 foot, sloop rigged, Ted Hood designed motor sailor. Well, I’ve tried to write about this and I find that I can’t write about it all at one…
99 things meme
I’ve seen this in a few places the last few days – at Susan Sedro’s blog most recently (and she references Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog where I was immediately intimidated by his revision of it). THE 99 THINGS MEME Things you’ve already done: bold Things you want to do: italicize Things you haven’t done…
Living on the Lip of Insanity 