The UMC vs Fear: Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Churches do NOT have to have an official vote about disaffiliation with the UMC.
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Seeking Wisdom
Note: this was the first post I wrote on a blog site I dedicated solely to education. And just in case you don’t know: all the things I feared are more true now. I started this blog intending to write about education issues regularly. For a long time, I’ve been in the front lines in urban education, then in the
Read moreOrwell Was Right
Note: I wrote this before Edward Snowden, and when the world was more innocent, even post-9/11. Clandestine. That’s a word I don’t hear very often any more–a fabulous word with rather seedy, sinister undertones. Civil rights. That’s a phrase I don’t hear very often, either. I think there’s a correlation there. You doubt me? Consider Chicago. The video surveillance system
Read moreMy New Campaign
The negativity of the English language is upsetting. Consider the following: you can be disgruntled, but how many gruntled people have you ever seen? you can be disingenuous, but there are apparently no genuous people among us! you can inadvertently do something, but who admits to doing things advertently? superheros get to be impervious, but never pervious. See the problem?
Read moreReading my Mail: My Opinion about Banning Teachers from Wearing Jeans (Spoiler: I disagreed)
This is the letter I sent to my superintendent in 2006 protesting the edict that teachers could not wear jeans. It started quite a firestorm of emails, but I still don’t wear jeans. I still have an attitude about it, too. Every once in a while, I feel strongly enough about an issue that I have to at least register
Read moreAutumn Bouquet, NOv. 2000
I’ve made an odd discovery. Every time I talk to a savant I feel quite sure that happiness is no longer a possibility. Yet when I talk with my gardener, I’m convinced of the opposite. ~Bertrand Russell This is a picture of my Christmas cactus, blooms bursting open on every stem. I’m always confused, then curious, then thrilled when I
Read moreMake a Joyful Noise!
“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye land/ Serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing../Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise/ Be thankful unto him and bless His name.” Psalm 100: 1-2,4 Every once in a while, I need reminded that music is fun. I get all tangled in questions of
Read moreThanksgiving Challenge
“If this isn’t good, what is?” Kurt Vonnegut It’s 9 am, and I’m sitting in a lobby at the Ohio Northern University Chapel. My daughter Bethany and three other Lima Senior students are in the chapel, practicing music as part of the ONU honors choir, and the guest artist is the woman who played Ariel on Broadway’s version of The
Read moreProof That I’m Getting Too Old: Teaching Edition
Teaching is a young person’s job. At least now it is. With all the ills of society being blamed on teachers, the brave, confident people who go to college now to become teachers seem to walk into their first classrooms not just certain they are prepared, but somewhat disdainful of experienced teachers. We’re the ones to blame for the mess,
Read moreArchive ONLY 55 is NOT the Limit
(2021 Update: This post was aspirational, meaning I did some of it, but most…nope. Or at least not yet.) In celebration of my birthday this year, I decided to set 55 challenges for myself. My basic guidelines are somewhat arbitrary: the challenges have to be something that would be out of my comfort zone or daily experience, something that I
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The Wave Returns 