Archive for July 2023

Someone asked me about my recent weight loss and how it was accomplished. In truth, many people have asked me about my recent weight loss, but just one person this week—last night. I understand the question. Since January 1, 2023, I’ve lost 36 pounds, which is admittedly a lot of weight over seven months. But…

Earlier this year, my student took an interesting approach to Wordle. Clever. Right? And depending on your disposition, funny, too. At least I thought so. But also a good lesson for us all: Games (and perhaps almost anything in life) can always be made more fun and more interesting by simply adding a new layer…

I took the kids to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History during our time in Washington, DC. It’s not my favorite museum. Like the Natural History Museum in New York City, it’s filled with inert objects and dead things: Taxidermied animals, rocks, gemstones, fossils… Most of the exhibits bore me, and the taxidermied animals make…

In 2002, golfer Brian Harman held a one-stroke lead entering the final hole of the U.S. Open Junior Championship. He hit his next shot into the water and would go on to lose the tournament. In 2017, Harman entered the final round of the U.S. Open with a one-stroke lead. He couldn’t hold on, ultimately…

Here’s my vision: I’m driving down Starr Boulevard in my town of Newington, CT. I come to a traffic light and stop. I remove my phone, click on the app, and instantly, I am transmitted information about the name of this street. Why Starr? Why the double R? Is the street named after a person,…

Storytelling has taken me to some unexpected places. Most recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’ll be doing some work with the FBI in the coming months, pertaining specifically to storytelling and communication, which afforded me the chance to visit the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, with my family and some friends a couple of…

During our recent visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, DC, the kids and I had the chance to see the famous Hope Diamond up close. If you don’t know the history of the Hope Diamond, it’s worth reading—a fascinating tale of crime, intrigue, politics, mystery, and revelation. The diamond is displayed in…

On the first day of class, photography students were divided into two groups: On the left side was the quantity group. The professor told them their grades would be based on the total number of photos they took over the course of the semester. On the right side was the quality group. They were told…

The United States announced on July 9, 2023, that it had destroyed its last stockpile of chemical weapons, making it the last of eight countries that had declared reserves under the Chemical Weapons Convention to destroy them. The United States once had 30,000 tons of chemical agents. Russia had at least 40,000 tons. Today, neither…

I’ve spent some time with the Mohawk nation of Canada, teaching them storytelling, and over the years, I’ve worked with people of indigenous origins many times, but otherwise, I don’t have any friends or current colleagues who descend from indigenous people. At least as far as I know. So I find myself wondering: How do…