Archive for August 2021

I played golf with Charlie on Sunday. A glorious afternoon as always. This is Charlie’s first season of golf, and for the first time, he decided to score his round. “I’m putting my name on the scorecard,” he declared. When I returned to the cart a few minutes later to record my bogie for the…

I’m pumping gas. I’m wearing a mask because I put it on to use the restroom and didn’t take it off. I forgot it was even there. The man at next pump looks over and asks, “Why are you wearing a mask?” He sounds aggressive. No curiosity in his tone. More of a challenge. So…

The problem with educational leadership is this: Every step on the career ladder takes a person farther and farther away from students. If you want a higher salary, greater responsibility, an elevated title, and everything else that comes with leading a school or a school district, you must spend your time primarily in the company…

On Wednesday, I was trapped in a seemingly endless TSA bubble – airport and airplane – for 19 consecutive hours. On Friday, I was trapped again for 16 consecutive hours. Friday’s bubble from hell included numerous delays, an aborted landing seconds before touching down, a broken jetway that trapped us on the plane for an…

I have seen one thousand red tailed hawks in my life. They soar overhead as I play golf, monitor students  at recess, and play in the backyard with my kids. If you live in New England, chances are that a red tailed hawk is flying nearby. Yet I had no idea that as they soar…

Kayaking with Charlie earlier this week, we passed by a dead fish floating on the water. Charlie stopped paddling, looked across the water at me, and said, “Death is very peaceful, but the moment of death… that will not be peaceful.” It’s never great when your son somehow finds the single shard of existential glass…

Rough day. Awoke at 3:30 AM catch a 6:00 AM flight to San Fransisco via Detroit. My plan was to land in San Fransisco at 10:30 AM and spend the day touring the city before working the next day with a client. I checked my phone as I popped out of bed. A text message…

I was speaking to the person cutting my hair yesterday. Both of us were masked even though both of us are also vaccinated. As she began to cut, we  lamented the apparent step backwards our country has taken thanks to the Delta variant.   “If everyone who could get vaccinated would get vaccinated,” I said.…

Not only has South Korea handled the pandemic far better than the United States: 40.69 COVID-19 deaths per million compared to the 861.71 in the United States 2,104 total deaths in South Korea versus 613,679 in the United States … but they also kick ass in the banana department, too. Brilliant. Right?

I spent Saturday at Yawgoog Scout Reservation, my favorite place on the planet, touring Elysha and the kids around for Alumni Day. I took them to all of my former campsites and many of my haunts. I sang them the camp songs. Told stories. Jogged some great memories of my own. Yawgoog is a magical…