This is my original blog. I haven’t updated for years. I keep it as a reminder of the journey.
Please see Broke Teacher for education and Poser Homestead for chickens, recipes, and dead zucchini.
Yoga for Moms
I mentioned before that my son can detect the presence of or intent to do yoga. He is psychic. But today, he was watching a video. I give him way too much TV when I want to selfishly mediate or practice yoga. It never works. Usually, he pounces quickly. "I'm hungry."...
I Need Gandhi: Little Boys and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Give a boy an object and he'll make a weapon of mass destruction. Every time. My son is six. I've watched this phenomena brewing for some time. I'm a Gandhi-loving pacifist. I never push gun toys on The Boy. I don't give him games that promote violence, and we don't...
The Little Things: When Time Stands Still in America
It's 5:30 AM. I'm sitting in the library of the Spruce Point Inn in Bar Harbor, Maine. Bar Harbor is a quaint, nautical village--I can hear the ebb and flow of the tide and the constant warning of the fog horn, as you do in New England nautical villages--the gulls,...
Horror Movie Script: Vacation Planning
I woke up at 4:11 this morning. 411 is for info. 911 is for help. I needed 911. Today's vacation day, and that's the day Moms everywhere must prepare. There are piles on the floor and nothing's really ready. The boy's going wake up on crack, and I'll have to remember...
My Season of Obnoxious
Today's Saturday. Dates and times are irrelevant to me for the next seven weeks until school starts. This is the time of year when you hate me. The time of year when I call you randomly, email you at all times, and disturb you at work. You get annoyed. "I'm working!...
Electricity and First-World Conveniences
$187.74. The electricity bill. That's pretty high. "Did you miss a payment?" Rusty asked. "No. I overpaid." I pay random amounts and usually end up months ahead. Why? I don't know. Bill ADHD. I try to get ahead of the months I know will be higher. This is one of those...
School’s Out: Will My Grammar Return?
School's out for summer. But will my grammar return? Will I be left with words and phrases like "conversating," "presentating" and whatever you call the verb tense that includes "be gettin'?" Will I recognize that nouns and verbs combine to make complete sentences,...
The Zucchini Phantom
My garden is out of control. I disobeyed seed recommendations in all regards. I planted too early, spaced insufficiently, and failed to thin. My peas look like an invasive species about to strangle the town. I lost ten pounds eating only vegetables from the garden so...
Education Should Emulate McDonald’s
It's been the best of years, it's been the worst of years. I had great students, but this was the year I wanted to quit teaching and go work at McDonald's again. I felt standardized, burdened with paperwork, and completely beat up by the media and society. It was...
High School Failure? Here’s Your Speech
Yesterday was graduation. It's a big day. For some, it was the first graduation in their family. Even for those who have seen a few, it's a big, big deal. Parties, high-fives, discussion of the future...nothing beats graduation week. If teachers were in business,...
Getting the Bird
I'm giving an exam. There's a lot of human suffering--the kind that makes a kid have to go to the bathroom. One girl left to accomplish this task. "Miss, there's a bird." "Someone gave you the bird?" This is urban education, man. Toughen up. "No. A bird." Sure enough,...
Disengage
"You seriously think stuff like this should be ignored? I understand that hatred like this will never go extinct, but should it be allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged?" We were discussing hatred and discrimination--hateful comments on a discussion board. My...