A few years ago my writer group friend Vanessa Diffenbaugh submitted the first pages of her new novel for me to critique during our next meeting. Vanessa always wrote with courage. I expected to like the pages.

I didn't expect the pages to yank my heart… Read full post »

The word recession would be pretty if I didn't know what it meant. It's whispery like water flowing over stones.  As with gonorrhea and effluvium, it sounds kind of nice unless you know (or have lived) the meaning.  Meaning changes everything.   

Here is a list of some American Dre… Read full post »

My friend Lora is getting married this weekend.  A wedding is one of the few important rituals we have in our culture.  We make a big deal about weddings and we should.  Marriage is important and sacred, but weddings celebrate more than marriage.  Weddings mark transitions of iden… Read full post »

There is a good man shortage in America.  Read the news if you don't believe me.  We are in a good man drought. I know some good guys, and if you're one of  those, don't think I don't see you. However if you are taking money you haven't earned, ignoring your… Read full post »

Nobody makes one of my favorite things anymore.  In a mid nineties corporate takeover that rocked the foundation of my world, Bic swallowed up Sheaffer and decided to stop production of their inexpensive and glorious fountain pens.   
All through college and my early twenties I c… Read full post »

Two of my novels are about teenaged boys whose parents have failed them completely. The characters are left alone to try to grow into good people in a world filled with violence, greed and mayhem. In other words, stories not unlike the real lives of most of my… Read full post »

I have to say what I feel about bestselling books full of obvious advice.

Do you know what I mean by obvious advice? Maybe you are at a party and casually mention that your muscles are sore from a workout. You’re only mentioning this to make conversation or to draw attention… Read full post »

 I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

Without ever having felt sorry for itself.

            D.H. Lawrence

I thought of the D.H. Lawrence poem “Wild Thing” today while… Read full post »

I acquired twelve sons last August.

The charter high school where I work has an advisory program in which a teacher looks after a group of around twelve students, ideally over the course of their entire four years.  The advisory class meets for thirty minutes every school day.  We study, si… Read full post »

My shoe is broken.  The button on the strap popped off before Thanksgiving and the piece of leather flaps around when I walk.   The shoes are my only real pair for work.  When I bought them two years ago I needed them to last a little longer than they did.… Read full post »

Don’t admire me for being a teacher.  Teaching is easy.  There I said it.  My secret is out.

Teaching has been easy for me since I was a twenty-one year old college graduate taking credential classes at night and substitute teaching during the day.  The district office paid… Read full post »

I attended a private screening today of Davis Guggenheim’s documentary Waiting for Superman.  I sat in the theatre alongside other teachers, heads of universities, candidates for school board, administrators of local charter schools.  Afterwards, a panel made up of a recording star, a… Read full post »

The other day my two daughters and I went to the neighborhood pool.  My teenager put sunscreen on her little sister.  Then she took her hand and led her to the big pool where she carried her to the deep end.  Where she tirelessly held her arms out to catch the… Read full post »

I was seventeen years old during the summer of 1987.

I was a young seventeen.  Imaginative but wholly undisciplined.  Deeply in love with my boyfriend.

My boyfriend and I had few shared interests.  He didn’t like swimming or dance clubs.  I had… Read full post »

I stand in front on the classroom.  I’m still and waiting, dry erase marker in my hand.  You will not run into me at the grocery store or the pool.  It’s so weird to see your teacher out and about.  You expect your teacher to be in the classroom.  When your… Read full post »

A student called me a sponge today.  He said I absorb everything people say to me.  I think he meant it as a warning to other students.  Watch out for this one, she’s tricky.  She’ll absorb you.

 I do absorb the energy and stories of the people I… Read full post »

Imagine working over the course of a year with a large group of good people.  They are energetic and intelligent people, each with a fascinating story that they have unveiled to you slowly as you’ve earned their trust over dozens of daily trials and errors and proofs that it will all… Read full post »

          We faced the great expanse with the Shiprock in the far distance.   Mom pressed her forehead against the gritty earth in a silent prayer to the mountains. 

            I wrap/… Read full post »

I know I'm shallow.  I don't want to hear it.

1.  Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.  Visually juicy and the soundtrack is so good it makes me want to bite someone.

 2.  Bandits.  Gorgeous, funny, and has everybody in it I like.

 3. Brother From Another Planet.  Ea… Read full post »

One of the most important people in my life is moving away. She is my friend Vanessa and she and her dashing and brilliant husband and gorgeous children are moving three thousand miles away to Boston in a couple of months.

My husband is my best friend but… Read full post »

Addendum:  Two of my students won the Regional Finals and are going on to L.A. for the Finals! 

I’ve always hated the saying those who can’t do, teach.  Teaching is a lot of doing.   Not only is the adage insulting, it is inaccurate. … Read full post »

A few weeks ago, a teacher died. 

I only knew about his life and death because Hollywood made a movie celebrating his success teaching AP Calculus to poor, inner city students.  The movie was called Stand… Read full post »

Teaching high school seniors in springtime takes some serious patience.  I’m talking Patience.

 In April and May of the twelfth grade, seniors turn into giant two year-olds.  The whole world is opening up to them at once and it’s all too much too fast.  Their emoti… Read full post »

I stopped dyeing my hair last October.  Then when I turned 40 in December, I made a thing of it.  I decided not to dye it at all during my whole year of being 40.  It would be the hallmark of a return to my authentic self.   Maybe I would blog… Read full post »

1. Jesus never got to be 40.