Ch. 6. Mindful Living
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This weekend has been filled with a lot of “huh.” moments. You might know the kind. It’s when you realize something is over, or some priorities need to shift. You can ponder them all you want; you can even know – deep within you – that something has to change. But until the “huh.” moment…
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It was the summer of 1985, I was a rising junior at Towson State University, and I was rebounding from a break up with my high school sweetheart. My friend Bryan decided that a road trip to Kings Dominion Theme Park in Richmond would be a good way to get my mind off of “the…
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As we begin our study of poetry in my English classes, we are preparing for our participation in Poetry Out Loud, a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Instead of reviewing the list of approved poems for the competition, I first take my students through a Daybook writing activity where they answer…
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Since the news of the tragic floods in Texas broke on July 4, I’ve been lifting prayers of love and peace on the social media posts that are sharing the tragic stories of the individuals who were swept away or died as heroes. The algorithms are noticing my trends and are filling my feed with…
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Before I begin, don’t worry if you have not yet read Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library; I won’t be sharing any spoilers in this post. I just finished The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, a book filled with surprises and personal challenges that, at times, made me feel as if the pages were mirrors themselves,…
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I haven’t blogged in so long. And certainly not like I used to. Years ago, my posts were filled with images and quotes, and I was so focused on followers and SEO and stats and – well, you get the picture. Keeping that up became so stifling. Every post was a production. Have I just…
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I just finished reading The Witch Of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, first published in 1958. My goodness, did this book get me thinking about what it means to live authentically. For, I don’t how many years, the idea of living “authentically” has permeated our social streams and, before that, our print stories and…
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What a crazy, oxymoronic moment I am experiencing. Right here in the present. Is this what some people might call an existential crisis? Let me explain. I am a lover of the moment, a hugger of the present and all it has to offer us right now. It has kept me from dwelling too much…
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Earlier today, I looked through my old posts from September months, searching for my 9/11 story. I thought it might be a good time to republish it, simply because my students that I teach now in 2023 weren’t even born when planes crashed into our buildings. I think it’s a lot like Pearl Harbor or…
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For the past month, I have been reading, writing, and reflecting on what we – more selfishly, I – can do about the increasing crises and tensions in America. I posed this question in my May 8th blog titled, “How Do We Act In This American Crisis?“: What am I already doing naturally, on a…
