Archive for June 2018
Apologies are hard for a certain type of person
Pro-tip: An apology costs you nothing if you’re a decent human being. Also, not so much a pro-tip. Just obvious truth: Cowards, narcissists, and fragile egotists have a difficult time apologizing because they are not decent human beings.
Read MoreThe answer to “How dare you?”
I hate “How dare you?” I hate it so much. How dare you is a meaningless bit of outrage. Argumentative spittle. A waste of three words. A ridiculous rhetorical question designed to express overdramatized personal outrage. We must stop “How dare you?” in its tracks. Bring it to an end. Remove it from the lexicon.…
Read More13 things that make me happy (5 years later)
Five years ago, I made a list of 13 things that make me happy, after being inspired by former acquisitions editor Jennifer Pooley and her own list (which is no longer on the internet). Narrowing it down to just 13 items was impossible, so it was by no means an exhaustive list. Just the first…
Read MoreSpeak Up Storytelling #5: Renata Sancken
Episode #5 of Speak Up Storytelling is now ready for your listening pleasure. On this week’s episode, we talk about finding and crafting stories in your everyday life using my strategy “Homework for Life.” I describe how I discovered two important things about myself that apparently everyone else already knew. Next, we listen to a hilarious story…
Read MoreA celebration of so much more than just a book
On Saturday night, I took the stage at the release party for Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling, and told five brand new stories to an audience of more than 200 friends and family. It was quite a night. My friend, storyteller, and producer Erin Barker once told…
Read MoreWhat would Jesus do?
Attorney General and all-around bigot Jeff Sessions attempted to defend the parent-child separations that are taking place on the southern border this week by citing a passage from the Bible: “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13 to obey the laws of the government because…
Read MoreDunk your teacher
For 19 years, I have been sitting in a dunk tank at my school’s annual spring fair, allowing children to dunk me if their aim is true and they are willing to risk the future consequences of such an action. If you have ever wondered how much joy can be derived from dunking one’s teacher,…
Read More“Lockdown Lockdown” should not need to be a song.
I was student-teaching when the Columbine massacre occurred in April of 1999. I remember sitting with fourth graders on the morning after the shooting, listening to them talk about everything they had seen on television. It was unimaginable. Then, seemingly overnight, it became all too imaginable as school shootings, especially those involving mass casualties, became all…
Read MoreChange. Now.
I saw this fortune the other day and thought, “Someone gets it.” I believe in change. I am a man who has held the same teaching job for two decades, in the same school and in the same classroom for almost the entire time. I’ve watched so many of my friends come and go over…
Read MoreBottom of the cup
I’ve never wanted to host a tea party. Until now.
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