Archive for February 2018
Brothers in name only
Just because our cats are brothers doesn’t mean they are anything alike. One cat licks walls and faucets. The other one is learning math. One his own. With an abacus.
Read MoreTrump’s attempts to gaslight Americans again. And again. And again.
Donald Trump spent the day and evening at his Florida resort yesterday attempting to gaslight the American people via Twitter. He’s clearly a desperate man. We need to be cautious and not allow this gaslighting to work. If you’re unfamiliar, gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a…
Read MoreMy son loves his mother and sister AND NO ONE ELSE.
Elysha Dicks and I took the kids to an evening program at their school last week. While making our way to the gym, we passed some of their work hanging on the walls, including this bit of writing and art from my kindergarten son. I looked at the top of the paper. “One act of…
Read MoreThe best birthday gift for a teacher might surprise you
Here’s one of the beauties of being a teacher. Last night I had the opportunity to perform at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston as a part of The Moth’s GrandSLAM championship. It was the 20th GrandSLAM in my storytelling career, and on my birthday no less. The Cutler Majestic is a spectacular theater that…
Read MoreIt’s time to end the hopes and prayers.
I became a teacher in 1999. This was the same year as the Columbine shooting, so I’ve spent my entire career in the shadow of gun violence in America’s schools. Every year I assure my students that they have nothing to fear while at school. I tell them with absolute conviction that I will always…
Read MoreOne of life’s most important skills
One of life’s most important skills is writing a nasty, angry email, letting it sit for a minute, then deleting it and moving on.
Read MoreThings I Do #10: I don’t look at airline pilots
I don’t look at the pilot when boarding a plane. I’m terrified of looking into the cockpit and seeing a pilot who looks like an idiot or resembles someone who I think is an idiot. I don’t mind shaking the pilot’s hand at the end of the flight and looking him or her in the…
Read MoreA reasonable response to anti-vaxxers
There will come a day when our children or our children’s children will read about the anti-vaxxer movement and say, “What was wrong with you morons?” I will say, “In the early twenty-first century, Americans read about a study in a British medical journal that claimed that vaccinations caused autism, and when that study was…
Read MoreChuck Todd’s litany of vile and shameful events is worth watching
The shame, embarrassment, incompetence, and cruelty that Trump and his White House produces on a daily basis makes is hard to remember all of the horrors of the past year. But it’s important to remember every single one of them as Republicans continue to stand alongside this racist, misogynist, authoritarian ignoramus. For the sake of…
Read MoreMoth StorySLAM: Clara Wants a Sister
This summer I took about 30 young ladies from Miss Porter’s School to a Moth StorySLAM in Somerville, MA as part of a weeklong program on writing and storytelling. It was kind of a magical night for these young ladies, who came from all over the country and the world to attend this program. As…
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