When I was young and in school, two poems found me and wedged themselves into my memory like a shim wedging a gap beneath a door. The first was in high school. It was written, said our teacher, by a person in a jail cell, looking out his very tiny window. I remember neither the […]
poetry
Amanda Gorman’s Poem for a New Dawn: “The Hill We Climb”
A friend of mine is an online teacher of 8th and 9th graders this year. Usually an in-classroom math teacher, this year she wanted to teach 100% online due to Covid-19, so she agreed to teach the full slate of subjects to students who opted for full-time online courses. After the holiday break, she had […]
New Year’s Resolutions: How to Douse a Dumpster Fire
The phrase “dumpster fire” seems to have been invented purely for the year 2020. With the year’s passing, most of us are looking with sad puppy-dog eyes at 2021, hoping for a smidgeon of mercy. A modicum of normalcy. An ounce of civility. And a big ol’ dollop of hope. But, of course, we all […]