Quick note: This is an edited combination of two older posts that I've since deleted. My hearing is still devolving, so I wanted to keep things updated a bit. I was born at the tail end of Generation X, in a group sometimes referred to as Xennials. As Wikipedia tells it, "Xennials are described as having … Continue reading From Analog to Digital: My Hearing Journey
I've written previously about some of the history of my blog. In a nutshell, I started this mess in 2015, and it has changed over the years as I have changed. I would say evolved, but that may be a stretch on both accounts. At any rate, I keep thinking I should do more with … Continue reading Name Change…Again
(Author's note: I decided to take an online creative writing class recently. The class itself was "meh," but a couple of the prompts were fun. One of the weeks we were told to make a list of five things we dislike and then choose one to write about. Here's what I wrote.) One of the … Continue reading Grape Jelly
I don't enjoy writing book reviews. That was by far the most common assignment during the thirty six hours of course work for that period of my life I refer to as grad school. The reviews were exhausting, boring, and from where I stand, mostly useless since all of the books had been reviewed previously … Continue reading Reviews
This past week I began my twentieth year as a high school social studies teacher. After the excitement of last school year, this summer was a much-needed break. In fact, I gave myself more of a break than I normally do.
I was asked recently about my favorite work of art and why it is my favorite. This one stumped me for a bit. If what they meant by "art" is painting, sculpture, and other such works, I don't really have a favorite. I went to the art museum with a friend once. That, for me, was an expensive way to realize that "art" in the traditional sense is not my thing.
When I was little, I remember my older brother was a fan of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That, in and of itself, wasn't particularly memorable. What I remember most was the pin he had that said "Don't Panic!"
I was reminded a couple of weeks ago by my principal how much of a perfectionist I am. Teaching from a distance and not being able to check up on all of my students has been very difficult for me to stomach. He reminded me that I'm doing the work, and that's all I can … Continue reading Perfectionist
Another book recommendation that showed up on my Kindle recently was Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I'd seen the book at the store and on the Internet, but I had no idea what it was about except that it said it was the history of homo sapiens. Kind of a broad topic, but it was … Continue reading Sapiens
One of the nice things about being a history nerd is that it's often easy to find good deals on books. If you're patient enough, even highly acclaimed books will show up in the bargain section of the book store, as recently happened when I found Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton for $5. If it would … Continue reading Hamilton
Reflections Of A Middle Aged Nobody 