Perhaps, they love teaching and learning. And while they may not love children just because they’re children, they love the idea of helping young people reach their full potential, navigate the waters of young adulthood, use their minds well, think about important things, become more humanely human. It’s all noble, noble, and good. And yet, something isContinue reading “#74: The American English Teacher is Worried about the Burnout of His Colleagues”
Category Archives: Poetry
100 Poems by April
The title of this little blog post, I realize, is deceptive. Please know that you will not find included herein 100 poems by a person named April. Rather, it is my hope and goal (hence, this public announcement) to write my 100th blog poem by April 1. My rationale is, initially, silly. In April ofContinue reading “100 Poems by April”
#73: Unstuck In Time (Don’t Know Much About History)
The student reading a William Stafford poem mistakes the 1930’s for The Civil War in America—when, you know, there were electric elevators. The first impulse, if only inside of a thought bubble, is to make fun, but the second, more reflective response is a deep sadness. The kid is unstuck in time and unstuck inContinue reading “#73: Unstuck In Time (Don’t Know Much About History)”
#72: Potter Author Trending
First of all, I’m embarrassed that I took the bait, hook, line, and sinker, in the sidebar list of stories “trending” on the Mighty Social Network; secondly, I’m ashamed I clicked on this particular subject matter, an author I am only nominally interested in–an author for which only in the very most minimal way couldContinue reading “#72: Potter Author Trending”
#71: The Slippery Preposition
A friend of mine posted this quote from a guy named Karl Pilkington: “We’ve had the stone age, and we’ve had the iron age, now we’re in the pissing about stage.” I liked it, both literally and figuratively. But it got me thinking about how I was supposed to read that lovely preposition. When IContinue reading “#71: The Slippery Preposition”
#70: Chicken Cordon-Bleu Road Kill
Chicken Cordon-Bleu Road Kill On the way to work I lost my lunch. I was bicycling, and, as the result of some user-error, I suspect, some packing mishap, my lunch went flying out of my pannier and into the middle of the road. I had packed Chicken Cordon-Bleu, a beautiful and abundant serving from aContinue reading “#70: Chicken Cordon-Bleu Road Kill”
#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)”
#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”
michael jarmer 