Recently a friend of mine, someone I've known most of my 42 years on this Earth, called late one night and told me his father had unexpectedly died. I hadn't seen his father in years, and the last few times were merely in passing, but the news floored me. Honestly, it hit harder than it … Continue reading A Memory of a Father
"Now hold it just like this, like a frisbee, but smaller." His large, dark, rough hands would move my chubby little fingers on the oblate river rock. "It's all in the snap. In the wrist. You have to get low and snap your hand forward, but hook the rock with your finger so it spins. … Continue reading Parenting Lessons from Skipping Rocks
Yesterday, on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr's assassination we received the news that a student at my high school drove his truck to the school flying the Confederate flag. The flag was nothing new, a common occurrence around here. The noose in the bed of his truck was not. Today, I learned … Continue reading Discovering I Teach a “Racist”
For the past month, I've seen houses in my neighborhood losing the battle against Early Decoration Syndrome. Christmas has been slowly invading the neighborhood, with a fringe of Hanukkah for good measure. I've decried the unwanted invasion, the insidious nature of the Holidays months before the date actually arrives, the constant barrage of Christmas commercials and … Continue reading This Holiday, Give More Love, Less Stuff
We all have those times in our lives where there is a definitive moment, a life changing realization, where things will never be the same. For many of us, it involves something amazing. Perhaps you found God or religion in the unlikeliest of places. My pet sitter found Buddhism in my bathroom once when I … Continue reading Life Changing Moments are Overrated Anyway
I wonder if things would have turned out differently for the Olympians if Zeus would have ever climbed down from Mt. Olympus and just played catch with Ares. Or Hephaestus. Or any of his dozens of children for that matter. I wonder that if he took a more modern role in raising his children, there … Continue reading The Dwindling Mythos of the Father-figure.
