Brainstorms
Never the Pot. Never the Water.
On August 11, 1965, five days after Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law and claimed to have overcome the “last major shackle” of the era, an officer pulled over two black men at the corner of 116th…
Those Jumping In & Going Upstream
With such an enormously busy week, saying goodbye to students, cleaning up a quarantined room, and wrapping up grades, I must confess that the events in Minnesota and its raging aftermath came in waves of unintentional negligence, the part of…
Finding Normal
After staring at the pool for weeks in quarantine, listening to the backyard chimes while I teach on camera from the second floor, I finally took a step into the water and tried to relax. But I’m not good at…
Until You Lose Count
This morning, I met with about 18 of my kids for the first time in two weeks, a chance to experiment with video chatting and interactive slides ahead of next week’s remote instruction. The opportunity to see most of them…
The Evolution of Learning to Deal
Watching the world slowly grind to a halt is pretty surreal, especially when you consider that most of what we all deal with, in terms of precautions and preparations, is almost always local. The bulk of Florida and parts of…
Not Much for Sitting Around
If you stare at a wooden shelf, littered with enormous books, over several years, the wood will start to bend. Or at least, that’s how I attempted to explain “shoulder surgery” to my ten and eleven year old students, so…
On the Course of Impeachment
In the days ahead, one thing is certain. Any decision about whether to impeach or remove the sitting president will not favor any person, any party, or any nation. Certainly not ours. One side may believe they have the facts,…
Somewhere on the Gradient
Over the past year, over the past decade, over a lifetime of religious and non-religious affiliations, I have heard people argue that humankind is inherently bad, at its core, that goodness and civility is learned. I have also heard people…
Searching for Silence
This year, Thanksgiving was a benchmark, a goal, a time for evaluating Melissa’s health. And while I have, on occasion, asked for the prayers of family and friends, I have never actually explained what happened, not to anyone other than…
When the Foundation Breaks
Only a few things were ever truly sacred to me as a child. I trusted in a God I could not see, in a Bible I was told he had written, and, being fortunate, in the visible, unbreakable bond of…
