Archive for June 2019
The cusp of summer
He’s been waiting all year to make use of this gift. The bathtub doesn’t quite cut it. Just three more days until summer vacation for him, his sister, and his parents. There are so many blessings to being a teacher, but as teachers with young children, there are none greater than the two months that…
Read MoreSmile and wear sunglasses
One of the many doctors who I’ve gotten to know through my work with Yale New Haven Hospital was explaining the science of biofeedback to me. It’s fascinating. Biofeedback is the idea that your brain is always monitoring and sensing what is happening in your body, and it reviews the information being received and uses…
Read MoreSpeak Up Storytelling: Matthew Dicks
On episode #53 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Elysha and I talk storytelling! In our followup segment, we read letters about Homework for Life from two of our listeners. Then Elysha departs for the rest of the episode, and I play a story of my own. Amongst the many things I talk about include:…
Read MoreTooth fairy economics
Charlie lost his front tooth this week at his Little League practice. Non-baseball related. A couple weeks earlier, he lost his other front tooth, leaving a gap in his mouth large enough to drive a train through. It’s hilarious. When a child loses their tooth in our home, the tooth fairy brings that child a…
Read MoreMaybe some things won’t change
I know that growing up is inevitable. Clara is ten years-old, finishing her final week in elementary school, and growing like a bean. She’s growing up. I’m fine with all of that. But I really, really hope that it doesn’t mean that she’ll stop drawing pictures like this.
Read MoreWe don’t know how our stuff is made.
I’ve become convinced that the people who don’t make stuff will never understand how stuff is made. I listen to podcasts where hosts ask writers and artists about how jokes are written, screenplays are developed, and stories are crafted, and the questions they ask rarely make sense to the creators of these things. When you’re…
Read MoreNevers
Knowing that I have a novel coming out in November written solely in list form, a friend recently offered me her “Never List.” It was good. So I made my own. I encourage you to make one and share as well. _____________________________________________ Never used an illegal drug in my entire life Never bought a lottery…
Read MoreWinners get ice cream. Losers get nothing.
I was sitting at Charlie’s Little League game yesterday, thinking that we might get some ice cream if the game ended early enough, when I suddenly remembered something from my childhood: When I was playing Little League baseball, you only went for ice cream if you won the game. As a boy, this made sense…
Read MoreCheck out Jared Kushner looking stupid, afraid, and bumbling.
There are a lot of takeaways from Jared Kushner’s interview with Axios: I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen someone less prepared for an interview. This is exactly how an interview should be conducted. If you can’t say that birtherism wasn’t racist, then you think it was racist. If you can’t say that Trump’s Muslim…
Read MoreSpeak Up Storytelling: Aaron Wolfe
On episode #52 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling! In our followup segment, we shout out several dedicated listeners and discuss the benefits of dot journaling. In our Homework for Life segment, Matt talks about how a small moment in the present can often be connected to a similar…
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