Words of encouragement
It’s a rare thing when the worst part of feeling the worst ever is missing work because it means missing your students. Lest I forget how much I miss them…
So much for “Vomit-Free Since ‘83”
After 31 years, the phrase “Vomit-Free Since ‘83” no longer applies to me. Apparently I have a stomach flu of sorts, which resulted in the loss of a 31 year…
Judd Apatow’s Freaks and Geeks determined the plot. My characters do the same.
From an interview with Judd Apatow, I learned that the characters and plot for Freaks and Geeks (a television show I never watched) were designed around actors. First they found…
Starting early
To think that I didn’t begin using a computer until I was eighteen years old, and I was an early adopter. I have students who have great difficulty using a…
Parenting does not suck. It’s just that some people suck at life.
Slate’s Ruth Graham recently wrote a piece entitled “My Life is a Walking Nightmare.” Why Do Parents Make Parenting Sound So God-Awful? Graham does not have children but experiences the…
Toys don’t mean as much when you’re not allowed to play indoors.
My siblings and I did not take good care of our toys. We did not keep track of pieces. We were never careful with fragile parts. We smashed and crashed…
A different kind of sibling love
I just can’t imagine that my brother and sister and I were ever as copacetic as my children are when we were little. Yes, my kids are sitting atop a…
My little farm boy
Having spent the first eight years of my life (prior to my parents divorce) living on a horse farm and next door to a dairy farm, I found this moment…
Productivity tip #3: No one cares (or even notices) what you look like.
I ran into a friend at the grocery store on Saturday morning. After exchanging pleasantries, he said, “I admire you. I could never leave the house like that.” “Like that”…
