handwritten on February 20, 2019
For many of us, this has been quite a winter. In fact, It would be safe to say it has been the most difficult winter we have had in quite some time. I woke up at 5:00 AM on Wednesday, and I was pleasently surprised. I had anticipated having to go out a full twenty minutes early to my car, rake off the snow, make sure my mirrors were not fogged up, turn on the car, warm it up, load it up with my five thousand teacher bags and then be on my way. Due to my dislike (strong dislike) of driving in inclimate weather I was feeling pretty good. No snow. Clear Roads. Middle of the Week. Life is good.
Just for fun, I thought to myself, I am going to check the radar. Well sure enough, I do not know...
handwritten on February 19, 2019
For whatever reason, I have this mindset that I can never fully finish anything. It drives those who know me absolutely insane. For example, if there are two marshmallows left in the bag, I may eat one and perhaps a fraction of the second, but I can never bring myself to be the very last one to eat the last morsel. This is very clearly why my fridge and my pantry right now are collections of small little morsels just waiting for the right moment to be "saved and eaten." I'm like a little mouse. Just a warning though, it does not create a very organized pantry. Even worse, the "small moment to be saved for later" is generally forgotten and left behind. Then, no new small little memories are...
handwritten on February 18, 2019
For a lot of kids, there seems to be this culture today of trying to "be the best." I just had this conversation with a favorite high schooler of mine. We met up for coffee and she broke down in tears explaining how drained she was of the competitive culture that is high school. And as I began to ask her reveal more of what might be causing her lack of whimsy thereof, she mentioned a few important factors. Comparisons with her friends. Constant discussion of grades. Beside individuals who do not see "friends" but rather "competitors." I asked her, "With all of these great things you have accomplished and high marks, five different activities and volunteer experiences, have you found...
handwritten on February 17, 2019
Through the years, I have always heard friends and people close to me discuss "exploration of interesting places." In our society, we have this mindset that in order to experience a different culture or a different place we must buy an expensive plane ticket, go on a mission, find an Island no one has ever heard of before and then take pictures (filtered and unfiltered) and discuss our experiences. However, many of these trips are not for anyone but ourselves. Going on a trip does not automatically make you a cultural expert. And ironically, the treasure we are seeking, the treasure of understanding and cultural empathy (in reality) lies at home, in our cities and communities.
There is an...
handwritten on February 16, 2019
I think so many of us take for granted the power of warmth. As a kid, during the winter, my dad was always in charge of the fireplace. And you knew it was always going to be a special night because when the fire was in the fireplace, everyone wanted to gather in a single room "by the fire." Actually, one of my earliest memories in elementary school was packing up to head to Buffalo, NY for the holidays and coming into the house where there was already a giant, blazing fire in the fireplace. My grandparents had a fireplace such that it was right on he ground. You could literally sit right next to it and feel like you were on fire. We rotated through the night so that everyone got a chance to...
