It is an outrageous thing to be a teacher. It assumes that someone knows something others don’t know. That is not so difficult to conceive when someone knows how to read or do math, but once we advance past the fundamentals it isn’t so clear-cut....
Millions of tons of debris from last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan is making its way across the Pacific to our western shore. It will be yet another year before the bulk of it arrives. Needless to say, it will be unwelcome as it...
My wife and I had the splendid opportunity to visit one of our former students. She is teaching in a one room school in Vermont. What we observed was idyllic. Nestled in a rural environment surrounded by the glorious Green Mountains is a place every...
Have you ever gone to Olive Garden and totally stuffed yourself on the breadsticks so by the time your meal arrives you couldn’t eat another bite? Other restaurants bring you chips and salsa or chips with spinach and artichoke dip. They call them appetizers. Are...
Hopefully a lot of people bought a new car on President's Day. The sale prices on new cars on President's Day look pretty good. Most of us grew up without a President’s Day. That didn’t happen until the mid-eighties. Most of us had a day...
An icy wind cut into us this evening as we entered Friendly’s for ice cream. It was almost cold enough to make us go back to the car. Almost – not quite. Once inside we were rewarded by a precious four-year-old little girl with brown...
The last words of the American Declaration of Independence are, “we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”Eighteen of the 54 signers had their homes burned and looted either by loyalists to the throne or British troops. Two of...
I am sitting here looking at a purple stain on my shirt sleeve. I have absolutely no idea where it came from. It looks like grape jelly but I haven’t been near grape jelly today. This is very much like character stains – flaws. Some...
While observing a student teacher in a third grade classroom this morning, I noticed one very spiffy young man wearing a dress shirt and tie. He had his hair slicked down and wasn’t wearing socks with his shoes – very preppy. I asked if he...
In 1978 our older son played for the Yankees. I don’t recall ever missing a game. I was very proud. His uniform is part of our family treasure trove. When we moved to New England we proudly displayed it on the stairway wall. Often I...