Random Catharsis/This Teacher: What They Don’t Understand (9/12)

Today was day #1 of teaching my favorite novel, The Great Gatsby, to my third period English class. I’d been looking forward to that moment all weekend because I was interested to hear how that particular class defined success. “Alright, everybody,” I uncapped the Expo marker and faced the board expectantly. “What do you guys think of […]

This Teacher: Career Moves (8/29)

Sometime in March or April (it doesn’t matter), I called a college friend of mine who is a teacher and asked her a simple, but probing question: “From the beginning, tell me about your day–your best parts, your worst parts, and everything in between. What do you do all day?” We were on the phone […]

What They Never Told You: Document Serial Numbers (#1)

As I was typing up my recent catharsis about having our house broken into last summer, I had a brief flashback of reading Kim Gruenenfelder’s A Total Waste of Makeup. If you haven’t read it, one of the best things it does is explicitly give hints, tips, and truths that we learn in life although nobody ever told us. […]

Random Catharsis: What the Thieves Stole (7/5)

Although it’s been nearly a year since our house was broken into, this is the first time that I’ve really said what I’ve been thinking and feeling. For my sensitive readers, I want to warn and apologize for the colorful language I’ll be using in this post. I’ve had and will have better days–just not today. Background: […]

Travel ’16: New Orleans, Part III (Fun Stuff)

Go to New Orleans. There’s not much else I can tell you about the city other than you need to visit it at some point in your life. Alright, maybe there are a few things I can say… No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, and no matter how old you are […]

Travel ’16: New Orleans, Part II (City Structure)

Before I get to the things that make New Orleans a unique place to visit (next post), I want to note that this trip opened my eyes to just how much damage a hurricane can do. Yes, I grew up in Central Florida and I’ve seen my share of bad weather, weeks of rain, and […]

Travel ’16: New Orleans, Part I (The Food)

Leave it to me to eat the touristy food in new cities; I’ll take that “burden” with a smile and some grains of salt, thank you very much. Although it took a great deal of arm twisting on my part, I can finally review my favorite food from my spirit city. New Orleans is known […]

Creative Words: People Watching in Jackson Square, New Orleans (6/9)

I’m ridiculously behind on my blogging (I know and I’m sorry), but with reason–pretty words have been floating around in my head for the last few weeks. I’ve been drafting most of them, but by far, the most successful writing I’ve done lately is to just get snippets out of my head and onto a […]