The end of the school year is always an odd and low key experience. For much of the year, it seems like we are on a long, dizzying rollercoaster ride full of unexpected and sometimes painful twists and turns. The end of the year is like being pulled up, up, up on the ride. Higher…
The News: US returns to 1,000 coronavirus deaths in a day and officials warn pandemic will only get worse (CNN) God: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27…
There’s an old joke – um… two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ‘em says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other one says, ‘Yeah, I know; and such small portions.’” Woody Allen, Annie Hall Imagine a friend badgered you into going to lunch at a…
In less than 2 weeks, I will walk back into my school building with other teachers for the first time since early March. That, of course, is subject to change because plans are apt to be revised when your school is near the epicenter of a COVID-19 hotspot. Recently, a teacher from another part of…
Despite starting in my in mid-30s, I began my teaching career as every educator does, as a very green newbie. Over the 12 years I spent at my first school, I rose from being a novice, teaching geography to bored freshmen, to a department head lecturing to GT students in Advanced Placement classes. My way…
Thinking about the choice between online-only learning and returning to regular classes reminds me of a scenario I share with my economics classes: Assume you could put seatbelts on every new school bus produced each year for $100 million. Further assume that all kids would wear the seatbelts and, as a result, 3 children who…
I am a person who likes a good challenge. Sometimes the challenges are serious and difficult like finishing college later in life, but other times they are more trivial like trying to find something at Walmart. Admitting to myself that I can’t figure diabetes out is tough, but to avoid asking for help with something…
Last week in a post I shared a favorite quote, the gist of which is that people will only act rationally once they’ve tried all the irrational options. About a week ago I found myself having to admit that I’d been acting irrationally for many years. I was diagnosed 20 years ago as a Type…
They blew up the first Pasadena State Bank building today. Yes, I know today we call it an implosion. But this was a building of the 1960s, and in my youth, turning a 12-story steel and concrete tower into dust meant you blew it up. 🏦 More Than a BankGrowing up in Pasadena, First Pasadena…
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” – 1 Timothy 6:6–8 I tend to spend a great deal of time thinking about the future, and I doubt…