When my English 12 students finish MAUS, we’re moving on to THE COLOR PURPLE. I’ve never taught it before and was floundering over ways to approach the book. Part of the district curriculum requires seniors to compare three different versions … Continue reading
Steven Harper Piziks
Over the weekend, Darwin and I went to an apple orchard. These places abound in Michigan, an apple state. They’re half U-pick, half amusement park, half bakery. The apples aren’t any cheaper than the store AND you have to pick … Continue reading
The Census Bureau is only planning to ask about sexual orientation on their pre-survey which asks people what barriers exist that prevent them from taking part in the census (CBAMS). https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/sexual-orientation.html This is a major problem. Originally for the upcoming … Continue reading
I found this display at Meijer: The left is for girls, the right for boys. … Continue reading
Earlier this summer, my husband Darwin and I traveled to Ireland. We saw Dublin and Newgrange and Loughcrew and thousand-year-old walls. We drove on the left, we ate bangers and mash, we climbed the Hill of Tara. But mostly, we … Continue reading
It’s tax time! No, really, it is. When you’re a writer, it’s always tax time. Why? Because so many things you do or buy qualify as deductions. But you have to keep track of them. Mileage when you drive downtown … Continue reading
The New York Times posted this article about students and writing. Go have a look and come back: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/education/edlife/writing-education-grammar-students-children.html It’s interesting and shows a number of teachers who have different approaches to solving the problem of students who can’t write … Continue reading
Yesterday, Darwin and I were watching a Big Name Spy Thriller on DVD. It had the same plot every other spy thriller uses: STEP ONE: Spy Protagonist learns of an object he needs to get hold of in order to … Continue reading
I wrote an article about using puppets in play therapy for autistic children and sent it to [NAME REDACTED] magazine. It received an enthusiastic response from the editor, who said they wanted to publish it. No mention of payment in … Continue reading
A while ago, I heard about the book UND WAS HAT DAS MIT MIR ZU TUN? (AND WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ME?) by Sacha Battyany. It’s about a man who discovers that in 1945, his great-aunt, who … Continue reading