Since it’s officially the Christmas season, I’m re-posting my Christmas story as my contribution to the holidays. This story is included in my book Stories Short and Strange, available on this website and on Amazon.com in both hardcopy and downloadable formats. Thanks, Santa I guess I shouldn’t complain. I live in a nice house on
When I was about ten years old, my grandfather showed me how to wiggle my ears. It took some time to figure out how to control that muscle (it actually goes from the eyebrows back), and they don’t wiggle very much, but they do move. This always seemed like a good life example — if
It’s true. The academic staple of substitute teaching is showing a video. And after being a substitute for over thirteen years, I can’t tell you how many movies I’ve had to watch. The absent teacher can pick any type of movie, but some subjects are more predictable than others. For science classes, Bill Nye the
There is a teaching job that appears periodically called an “Extra Certified Position.” The job can have several purposes, like giving teachers time to write educational plans for special-needs students or helping out with testing. But since I don’t know for sure what the job is until I arrive at school, it feels like playing
In case you haven’t heard, we’ve had another amazing athletic performance. On Sunday, September 16, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya (of course) set a new marathon record in Berlin — 26.2 miles in 2:01:39. That lowers the men’s record by 78 seconds. That means Kipchoge averaged 4:38 per mile. (For comparison, the world’s record for ONE
Time magazine’s cover story this week is “The Life of the American Teacher.” (Shown is one of the three cover photos.) Since teaching is my third and current career, this issue got my immediate attention. While I haven’t had time to read it yet, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share my
Teamwork. It’s important in any organization, essential in the military. And once you learn how important it is, you never forget. Even when you’re 70 years old. My reminder came at the Providence Hood To Coast Relay on August 24-25, 2018 (https://hoodtocoastrelay.com/htc/). Classmates from my alma mater, the Air Force Academy class of 1970,
This is original writing, just not by me. It was sent to me by a friend, and was attributed to the New York Times’s annual lexophile competition. “Lexophile” describes those that have a love for words, such as “you can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish”, or “To write with a broken pencil
This is the kind of clever writing I’d like to do, but I’ve never been able to. These were sent to me by a friend; the original author is unknown. This Should Keep You Busy For A While — – Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned? – What if my
It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a national park. But on a recent trip with family, I visited three — Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, and Badlands. Over the years, I’ve visited every major park except one — Yellowstone. I’d heard so much about this park, and I was eager to see for myself. I wasn’t