Archive for March 2014
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 when I am not at school, I received several emails from students yesterday, including this one: Hi Mr.Dicks. I heard you were sick. I hope…
Read MoreSo 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 absence from intestinal distress. The last time something like this happened to me was on The Music Express at Rocky Point Amusement Park in the…
Read MoreJudd 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 their actors. Then they developed the stories based upon those people. Their predispositions. Their predilections. Their personal histories. I’m fascinated by this. Similarly, the plots…
Read MoreStarting 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 mouse pad. One of my friends still routinely connects a large, bulky mouse to his laptop. For better or worse, my children’s generation (and my…
Read MoreParenting 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 constant stream of whiny negativity from her parent friends on a daily basis. My Facebook feed is an endless stream of blog posts and status…
Read MoreToys 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 and broke our toys at every turn. We would throw our toys out of our second floor bedroom window onto the driveway just to see…
Read MoreA 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 coffee table, but watching them sit and sing and share without complaint or argument astounds me. I’m fairly certain that I would’ve been hitting my…
Read MoreHer biggest fan
I had no idea how joyous a big sister singing to a little brother could be.
Read MoreMy 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 divine. My son’s intense interest in this horse and his attempts to reach out and touch it made my heart ache for that brief time…
Read MoreProductivity 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” consisted of a sweat pants, an old tee shirt and a baseball cap. I had just come from the gym, though I could’ve been just…
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