We thought, as teachers, that we had seen it all. We thought we had endured every kind of stress imaginable. We thought we had this adaptability thing down. And then COVID-19 hit. And in the span of a day or two, we had to create a whole new learning environment for our students. We had… Continue reading Teaching in a Strange New Land – Hope for Teachers & Parents
These poems were written at various times over various situations, and I share them, not as a plea for pity, but as a reminder that if you’ve ever felt these things, too, you’re not alone. I write to process how I feel – and at different times, I’ve felt all of these things. In the… Continue reading Poems from the Lonely Nights
I thought it would look different – This suffering. I thought I’d be ready. I thought I’d embrace it piously. But no – It came unexpectedly, Cutting into my world With talons of fear and confusion. This suffering Didn’t bring a jail cell Or a physical attack Or a sudden hurricane. But… Continue reading When You Thought Suffering Would Look Different
A couple of summers ago, I read the newer science fiction book Ready Player One. I realize there’s also a movie that came out based on the book, which I haven’t seen, so I don’t know how similar it is. But the story is set in the year 2045 in a dystopian society that has… Continue reading We Were Made to Be Held
It seems unreal. It seems like a scene from a movie. Like something we would watch and think, “Wow, that’s crazy! I’m glad that would never happen to me.” And yet – it has happened to me. It is happening to me right now. For the first time in my life, I went to the… Continue reading When the World Seems to Have Stopped
If you live in Washington state, you may (or may not) have been aware that a bill passed this last week to require public schools to teach “comprehensive sexual health education to all K-12 students.” After reading a friend’s well-thought out and well-researched Facebook post on it (which I wholeheartedly agreed with and will reiterate… Continue reading We Do Need to Talk to Our Children About Sex
If you’ve been tracking with me this year, you know of my focus for a deeper, more undistracted year. I wrote about my goals for January, which were sort of a template for following months – then I followed up with them at the beginning of February in this post – and now it’s time… Continue reading Social Media-Free Mornings
The Vintage Girl 