Archive for March 2022

One more thing about Will Smith’s assault on Chris Rock at the Oscars: Over the past couple days, I’ve heard people posit aloud and online that Rock’s response could’ve been more nuanced that night. He could’ve taken a moment to apologize to Jada Pinkett Smith. He could’ve denounced violence of any kind. He could’ve provided…

Elysha and I were discussing the recent ruling by a federal judge that Donald Trump “more likely than not” committed felony obstruction in attempting the block the certification of the 2020 election results. This ruling allows Congress to gain access to emails by John Eastman, a lawyer for Trump and the chief designer of the…

There’s so much to say about Will Smith’s physical assault of Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday night. Much of it has already been said. I’ll simply add this handful of thoughts to the conversation: My students came into school talking about the incident on Monday morning, which means that they watched an exceptionally…

George Weasley from the Harry Potter series had his ear blasted off by a curse from a Death Eater, leaving a hole behind where the ear had once been. Less than an hour later, he was making jokes about it. He described himself as feeling “saintlike.” When pressed upon by his brother, Fred, over what…

I’d like to go out on a limb by saying that the first, best way to end the bigotry, ignorance, and hatred directed against the LGBTQ community would be for certain organized religions and their leaders to stop teaching and condoning the intolerance, marginalization, and hatred of the LGBTQ community through their teaching, primary source…

Jim Krueger, former fifth grade student, recently produced a six part podcast series called The Road that Killed a City, about interstate 84 and Hartford, Connecticut. I listened last week, and it’s fantastic. I learned so much. Jim’s sister, Emma, also a former student, lives in Hanoi, Vietnam, and recently attended my virtual book talk…

Last weekend Elysha said she wanted to go to Cheshire for pizza, ice cream, and a visit to a bookstore. When we arrived in Cheshire, about 45 minutes later, I asked her where she wanted to stop for pizza. “Otto’s Pizza,” she said. Otto Pizza is in Chester, CT. Not Cheshire, CT. She was understandably…

Russia’s censorship agency is considering blocking Wikipedia, specifically because of its Russian-language article about the invasion of Ukraine that tells a different story than the one currently being offered by the government. That has led to Russians downloading the entirety of Wikipedia in record numbers. Right now, anyone can download Wikipedia in any language. In…

The tragedy of the cheetah is that it doesn’t even know that it’s the fastest land animal. It’s champion of the world, yet it has no way of knowing it. I hate that. It’s odd, but I really do. It’s similar, at least in my mind, to Lincoln not living to see the end of…

I had my annual physical last week with a new doctor for the first time in a long time. My previous doctor – and coincidentally Elysha’s doctor as well – retired last year, so after more than two decades with the same doctor, I had to find myself a new one. I had no idea…