Honoring the journey—then and now
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I’ll admit it; I’m a snob
It’s back to school time! Surely, you’ve noticed. Parents and caregivers navigate the seasonal aisles of their favorite department store, list in hand, squinting at packages as they try to find the proper-sized ruled paper and colored binders. Teachers elbow out other customers as they overload their shopping carts with composition books, multi-packs of scissors,…
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What comes after the to-do list?
A journey to redefine retirement How would you define “to do?” There’s nothing particularly hard about the question. Especially if you’re a “doer“ like me. It means to get things accomplished. To stay busy. To work. Since my early days in college when I worked thirty hours a week teaching kids and adults how to…
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When doing the right thing kicks your butt
Giving blood was always a thing for some of my family. My grandpa belonged to the hundred gallon club. My mom did, too. Okay, my brother says it couldn’t possibly be a “hundred gallons.” Ten gallons maybe? Every chance they had, they went to Ball Memorial Hospital in our hometown to give blood. Following suit,…
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Is this pervasive chemical ruining our health?
Sometimes, I find a video that makes me fear for humanity. Often it’s connected to what the average American on the street doesn’t know. Alarming! Other times, it’s about politics. Irritating! This morning as I scrolled through a Facebook gardening page, I stumbled across something different. and it was scary! I watched it twice, once…
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Why I dread the happiest time in my students’ lives
After spending a year as a retired high school English teacher, I just returned to my former high school to participate in the commencement ceremony at the invitation of a graduating senior. It’s an honor to be asked and part of a lovely tradition that allows seniors to choose a staff member to hand them…
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Let’s ditch the tech
In today’s classrooms My heart was warmed today. And it had nothing to do with the near-record heat and humidity in the Midwest. No, it was a group of teachers who warmed it: eleven elementary, secondary, and post graduate teachers gathered for this year’s Invitational Summer Institute (ISI), conducted by the Indiana Writing Project Teacher…
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Chasing our Quaker ancestors from a log cabin in the woods
It was beginning to seem like a game of tag… to find out as much as possible about my three times great aunt, Mary Jane Edwards who went South with her sister Lizzie– my three times great grandmother– to teach freedmen right after the Civil War. And it was filled with stops and starts, dashes, and…
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A celebration of the muumuu
The closest I could come to the muumuu of my aging hippie friend was a Chambray dress hidden on the clearance rack at Walmart. Prefaded, loose and long. As I wriggled my arms inside its buttery fabric and let it fall over my head, it granted me instant permission to be free. Free from importance.…
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Homemade jam, anyone?
It shouldn’t be this hard for a teacher! I can read, right? How did my ancestors, or even my mother do it? Making jam shouldn’t be such a challenge! Spring arrived and suddenly I was surrounded by friends who were sharing their plans for planting, canning, and freeze-drying their produce just as I was beginning to…
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Together we grow
To my journaling educator friends We met, a pod of varied ages, values, upbringings, expectations and expertise. But all who spend our days hoping to ignite a spark in others. We gather according to the calendar to read and listen, to chuckle and giggle, to sigh and frown, but mostly to write– or draw or…
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