Archive for October 2021

The podcast Smartless is hosted by actors and friends Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. The format of the show is simple: Each week they interview a celebrity guest. Actor, writer, musician, athlete… But the joy of the show has little to do with the people who they are interviewing. They could be speaking…

Standing inside Ben & Jerry’s yesterday, Charlie turned to Elysha, and entirely unprompted, said, “Mom, you didn’t make a mistake marrying Dad.” Elysha looked confused. “I didn’t think I made a mistake,” she said. A few seconds later, he turned to me and said, “Dad, you didn’t make a mistake marrying Mom, either.” Where does…

Not your typical post, but slightly more important than the usual drivel… Hope to see you there! Speak Up Storytelling and Voices of Hope is excited to announce the seventh Speak Up Showcase on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021 at 2 p.m. EST. The show will feature survivors and descendants of the Holocaust and the Rwandan…

I was anxious to read about the concept of the solo honeymoon – this alleged shift in nuptial vacation wherein newlyweds go on separate honeymoons, called unimoons or solomoons, rather than vacationing together following their wedding. The New York Times published a piece on this new trend, which I tend to think is far less…

On Saturday, Elysha, the kids, and I went to visit the annual Fairy House display at Winding Trails. Families, Girl Scout troops, and others spend months building elaborate fairy houses that are then spread out across a path in the forest. Visitors walk through, examining each one, before ending our walk at the edge of…

I love a bench with a memorial plaque. I adore any opportunity to imbue story, nostalgia, and history into this world. I can’t stand to see a building without a name or a library or school named simply after the town or street where it is located. What a waste of an opportunity to honor…

When it comes to the pandemic, where you live matters a whole hell of a lot: The 12 states with the highest case rate for every 100,000 people are all run by Republican governors.   The 13 states with the highest hospitalization rate per 100,000 residents are all run by Republican governors.   The 15 states with the highest percentage of…

I find this hard to believe, but not one single student in my class knows who Fred Rogers was. And Mr. Rogers Neighborhood? Never heard of it. In fact, the adult in my classroom at the time of this discussion – someone much younger than me – has also never seen Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and…

As I was leaving Boston Market yesterday, a meal in hand, I recalled the moment more than twenty years ago when I was hit by a car in this very parking lot. It was a rainy autumn afternoon in 2001. I was picking up food at halftime of a Patriots game. As I walked toward…

My students asked me when I first met Elysha. I told them that I first saw Elysha in a late August faculty meeting as we were preparing to start a new school year. I’d been working at the school for three years before Elysha stepped through the doors as the new fifth grade teacher. I…