michaeljarmer

#69: Screen Dilemma (Left To His Devices)

Screen Dilemma (Left To His Devices) If the boy were left to his own devices he would be playing a video game or streaming some show on the damn iPad all day long. The bad news is that sometimes he is left to his own devices and I agonize about my shitty parenting. Sometimes IContinue reading “#69: Screen Dilemma (Left To His Devices)”

2013 in review: Not Bad

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog. I’m not sure if people are interested in this thing or not, but the WordPress.com helper monkeys sent me this report and offered me a link that would allow me to share it with my readers, so at least in the opinionContinue reading “2013 in review: Not Bad”

On New Year’s Resolutions, Or, On Having Blogged A Bunch and the Dangers of Repeating Oneself

I began composing a blog entry this morning about New Year’s Resolutions. The direction I was going felt compelling. I was proud of the opening paragraph. I was on to something and feeling clever and witty and all of that jazz. I was also feeling a bit of deja vu, like somehow, I remembered writing,Continue reading “On New Year’s Resolutions, Or, On Having Blogged A Bunch and the Dangers of Repeating Oneself”

#68: On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son

On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son Yeah, I know about bronies. I was introduced to this term by a student, an 11th grade boy who wrote an essay about being a brony, part confessional, part defense of the show’s merits, partial explanation of the idiosyncrasies of this particular kid. AtContinue reading “#68: On Watching an Episode of My Little Pony with My Son”

#67: The American Atheist Endorses The Pope

He reads that the Pope has nothing against him, in fact, sees him as an equal, every bit as deserving as the most devout religionist. He sees the Pope coming out for those who are coming out and for those who have been forever out of the closet. He sees him saying that market capitalismContinue reading “#67: The American Atheist Endorses The Pope”

Hey, That’s My Bike

I could not remember the title (Reality Bites); all I could remember was that some character in a film I saw a long time ago had a band called Hey, That’s My Bike, and one, I thought that was the coolest band name in the world, and two, I couldn’t stop thinking about this phraseContinue reading “Hey, That’s My Bike”

#66: The American English Teacher Doesn’t Want His Student To See Him Using Facebook

So, the student stops by the house of his English teacher to pick up a younger member of his family who’s taking music lessons from the English teacher’s wife, and he comes into the study to say hello and the English teacher minimizes his Facebook page so that the student doesn’t know that this isContinue reading “#66: The American English Teacher Doesn’t Want His Student To See Him Using Facebook”

#65: Quality of Life

Quality of Life The story goes that my parents at one point made official a “do not resuscitate” order in the event of some cataclysmic approach of eternal darkness–and then, at some later point they changed their minds, in order, I can only guess, to live as long as they could live. That cataclysmic eventContinue reading “#65: Quality of Life”

#64: Black Friday

I Well, it’s darker. Yesterday the skies were blue and clear and today there’s a cold cloud cover and there’s rumor of snow. I’ll believe it when I see it, and sometimes I wonder if we will ever see snow here in the valley of the Willamette again, what with the warming. What a strangeContinue reading “#64: Black Friday”

#63: Pilgrims at the Table

Pilgrims at the Table I understand that on the first Thanksgiving there was no meal between Pilgrims and Indians, there was no peaceful gathering around a turkey or anything in particular having to do with corn, but rather, John Winthrop’s declaration of a “day of thanksgiving” when he received the news that 700 Pequot IndiansContinue reading “#63: Pilgrims at the Table”