Archive for 2022

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that I take my goal-setting and New Year’s resolutions very seriously. Since 2010, I’ve posted my resolutions on my blog, and at the end of every month, I post my progress or lack thereof, and at the end of every year, I report…

Lots and lots and lots of things prevent people from being creative, making things, and chasing their dreams, but of all the barriers holding us back (artificial, self-imposed, and genuine), I think this one – the foolish pursuit of perfection – is the most prevalent and most damaging. The pursuit of perfection, the attachment of…

Someone recently asked me, “Do you really love your students? All of them?” So I went on a bit of a rant in answer to her question. When I was finished, I made a quick list of things I had said, which has since become this list: 12 Truths About Teaching  I suspect they apply…

Every week, I introduce my students to a new musician or band. During the first 15 minutes of the day, as kids spill into the classroom and settle down, I play music and offer some history about the musician or band they are listening to. So far this year, we’ve listened to The Beatles, Aretha…

“The present is infinitesimally small. Just when you think you’re in it, you’re already in the past.” – Charlie Dicks

On Tuesday night, I told a story in my 100th Moth StorySLAM. I’ve actually attended 143 Moth StorySLAMs, but my name is not always pulled from that damn bag. But on Tuesday night, it was pulled again for the 100th time. 100 performances in just over 11 years. About nine stories per year. It’s been…

Questions were posed about the mention of my recent orchestral narration of Jewish comedy folktales. Justifiably so. Essentially, I performed onstage alongside a full orchestra under the leadership of Joseph Ness, who composed the score for the narration and conducted the orchestra. Then, as the orchestra played, I spoke, narrating “The Wise Men of Chelm,”…

I was narrating Jewish comedy folktales in concert with a full orchestra last Sunday evening. As you do. During intermission, I was making my way through the lobby when a man stopped me and said: “Matthew Dicks! You’re the most Jewish Gentile in our community!” I thanked the man for the compliment and pleaded with…

One of the joys I experience as someone who puts things into the world – both on the page and from the stage – is the thankfully rare but hilariously mean response to my thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Last week, I received one of these responses in the form of an email that read: Read…

I believe in eliminating everything from our lives that is unnecessary, unhelpful, and unnoticed. Senseless routines. Needless steps. Meaningless tasks. Get rid of them all. I am well known for my willingness to pilot the “I’m not going to do this seemingly senseless task. Let’s see what happens!” plan. Oftentimes, the answer is nothing. Nothing…