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Good ideas are a dime a dozen. Never settle.

I often say that the worst thing a person can do is find a good idea and not strive for a great idea. Settling for good means you will never be better than good.  Years ago, I ran races around Connecticut modeled after the television show The Amazing Race. Teams of two raced around the…

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The Education Secretary is knowingly endangering children

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos opposed Donald Trump’s reversal of Obama’s transgender restroom policy because she worried that the reversal would hurt and potentially endanger children in schools. When faced with the choice of supporting Trump’s reversal of the policy (which he promised not to do during the campaign) or resign, DeVos opted support the policy…

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Tiny moments like this is why I teach

My students were reading the first scene of Hamlet yesterday, trying to determining the meaning of the language using background knowledge and context clues.. In the first scene, Horatio says of Hamlet’s father’s ghost: This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it,as needful in our loves,…

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Do you dine properly or dine like heathens?

Prior to the pandemic, and hopefully again soon, Elysha and I would often go to dinner with our friends, David and Shera.   They are some of our favorite dinner companions. In fact, David’s friendship is one of the best things Elysha has ever given to me. David was grudgingly dragged to the rock opera that…

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I was stupid when I was young.

My daughter Clara – age 8 – in the midst of eating breakfast and watching Blues Clues, just asked me who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016. “Are they talking about The Nobel Prize on Blues Clues?” I asked.  “No,” she said. “I was reading something about inspirational people in the world yesterday. And…

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The glory and might of a good old fashioned pillow fight

Back in the early 1990’s, when I was living in Attleboro, MA with my best friend, Bengi, in a home we affectionately referred to as The Heavy Metal Playhouse, we engaged in some of the most epic pillow fights in history. After sunset, the shades would be pulled, the lights turned out, and anywhere from…

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Men who grumble about jeans and sweaters are stupid.

Back in December I wrote a piece about the stupidity of forbidding jeans in the workplace. Just a couple days ago, I wrote a piece about the stupidity of bemoaning casual dress in America. Yesterday a reader sent me this story about North Dakota’s Governor Doug Burgum being asked to leave the North Dakota Senate…

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5 things to remember when bemoaning the proliferation of casual dress in America.

The next time you bemoan (or hear someone bemoan) the proliferation of casual dress in Americans today, please remember these five things: For centuries, clothing was specifically used to identify social class, gender, and age. It’s only been recently that Americans have been able to break free from these culturally imposed norms and express personal…

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