Brainstorms
Finally, a First Draft
Two years ago, I set off to write a book about the experience of teaching, the reasons why most of us stay and the reasons why some of us still end up walking away. As of this afternoon, 157 pages…
Letter to a Congresswoman
Congresswoman Murphy, As the elected voice of Florida’s 7th District in Washington, your service to the nation on January 6th, under looming, unprecedented threats against the Capitol, will forever be marked as courageous. I am not an elected official, but…
When She Talks About Peace
Most of us understand silence. We know what it means to find a quiet place, away from the roads and the crowds and the noise. We know how important it is to our peace of mind and our sense of…
The Quintessential Optimist
Reading a presidential memoir, for any American, is normally an act of retroactive curiosity. And no one does it quickly. The pages are densely littered with information no longer relevant to anyone but the most issue-specific historians. But when those…
Post-Election Reflection
Dear Republicans, I’m writing to you as an independent voter. And to be clear, I’m not writing to lecture you, or to tell you that you were wrong to vote for Mr. Trump, this time or last time. Believe it…
All Those Bitter Elections
For almost twenty years now, two of my favorite Americans have also been one-term presidents, John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. It wasn’t their presidencies that drew my affection, but their principles, their love of family, and their…
Hijacking Hypocrisy
People used to tell me that right and wrong was black and white, that for someone to talk about doing right while they were doing wrong was hypocritical. Growing up in a Christian family, my first memorable exposure to this…
Analyzing Incarceration
This afternoon, I spent time studying 20+ years of arrest and incarceration data for the State of Florida. Because, you know, I like to have fun on Saturdays. Feel free to share the graphic I created below, as it warrants…
The Right Time to Say Something
Over the past decade or two, perhaps longer, you’ve almost certainly heard, or come to the conclusion, that debating is worthless, that trying to convince someone that their views are misguided, or foolish, or harmful, is impossible. So why try.…
How Fiction Travels in True Stories
Years ago, I used to sit in church and scribble comments along the edges of a paper bulletin, a way of quietly responding to and criticizing the sermon in real time. Hardly a Sunday would go by that I didn’t…
