Last year I spent a lot of time in my fifth-grader’s classroom. I got to know the classmates pretty well, and they often surprised me by how warmly they greeted me, in class, in the hallways, and even if I saw them while we were out and about.
This year? Those faces that were [...]
I wonder why this phrase has dropped out of common usage? Certainly the practice itself hasn’t.
It’s been awhile since anything has grabbed me as much as this: Walter Wink’s “Engaging the Powers.” I was simultaneously fascinated, challenged, inspired, and just plain amazed. If you’ve ever thought about hierarchies and power systems and wondered whether there isn’t a better way … wonder no more, there is, and Mr. [...]
NPR had a story this afternoon about the Icarus Project, a group of people who are trying to reframe mental illness. As their website says, they believe “that when we learn to take care of ourselves, the intertwined threads of madness and creativity can be tools of inspiration and hope in a repressed and [...]
Of course, he does this on a regular basis, but this essay was particularly affecting. While I often have the same kind of questions about people I meet, I beam them through my eyes over my defending forearms, as if to say, “Which way are you going to hurt/attack me?” RLP, as is [...]
My daughter was rather dramatically ill in the middle of the night — the kind of ill that involves a shower, a massive bathroom cleanup, and a complete change of pajamas and bed linens. Needless to say we are all a bit bagged out this morning.
I just looked in to her room to see if [...]
People who ask this question to be polite usually get a polite “Fine, thanks, and you?” from me. But for people who I think might really care about the answer, I try to come up with something a little more interesting. “Upright and functional” is one favorite.
No one happened to ask today, but if they [...]
I imagine that most people who were ostracized as children develop a heightened sensitivity to the dynamics of social groups. If you’re not part of a group, you have the luxury of observing it almost as an anthropologist, identifying leaders, followers, permitted and prohibited behavior and dress.
My own sensitivity gets a workout whenever I approach [...]
