Scars and glass and wonderful memories
Earlier in the week, I mentioned that there is still glass in my forehead after a 1988 car accident that sent me through a windshield forehead first. I want to…
The danger of the double contraction
I'd've. That's a word. Not in the dictionary, but I stumbled upon it while reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to the family last night. A double-contraction for…
50 times around the sun
I celebrated my birthday yesterday, and like everyone who has celebrated a birthday in the United States since around March 12, 2020 (except for the selfish, pigheaded idiots), I was…
Coincidentalism: Want to join?
On December 23, 1988, I was in a head-on collision in my mother's 1976 Datsun B-210. I was driving through Mendon, Massachusetts, on a snowy afternoon when my car slid…
He doesn’t know the half of it.
Last week, as Charlie and I were reading about Thomas Hooker, founder of the Connecticut colony, he said: "Thomas Hooker has a really weird name." So said the boy who…
The 5 rules of punishing children
Back in 2017, a judge in Hawaii ordered a defendant to write more than 140 “nice” things about his ex-girlfriend after he violated a protection order. “For every nasty thing…
“I told you so” makes sense
As you may know, I maintain an "I told you so" calendar as a part of my Google calendar. When you tell me that the Patriots will finish in last…
Science will save us.
In the 1970s, the CIA created a laser-guided, liquid-fueled dragonfly-sized drone. In 2017, researchers equipped a real genetically-modified dragonfly with a solar-powered backpack and steering implants to turn it into a…
Milo in prison
A few years ago, I'm teaching storytelling to former gang members who now work in the community, helping teenagers avoid the same mistakes that led them to their imprisonment. During…
Make new things. Maybe even never-before-seen things
One of the lessons that I try to drive home to students (and the adults who I coach) is the importance of being someone who makes things. Rather than simply…
