Professor Thaddeus Lowe’s Hydrogen Balloon

UP Blow it up, Professor Lowe. Blow it full, let it puff up, over the rim, higher than all walls, all churches, all hills Sulfuric acid and iron could make buoyancy as joyful as Mary Poppins’ ceiling tea party as goofy as Charlie, pre-burp, bobbing up, up, full of carbonation, pre-fan that will chop you […]

Charles the beloved

I watch many videos about British history. I like one about Charles VI of France. Riding into battle, someone dropped a spear, which hit a shield, and he PTSD’ed into killing four of his own guys before he could be restrained. Takes guts to restrain a king. Like Martin Luther going to to toe with […]

training day

We sat in the pews and looked forward. There were nerves fluttering in the air, though there was no need for fear. Right? Three men strode into the sanctuary and called out, “We’re looking for Jennifer!” I was told, at a Holocaust teaching training, not to ask students, what would you do? What would you […]

March in February

We were reading a science fiction story in which the people do not eat real food, but only some kind of artificial goo. “That’s like what my cousin had,” a student said. “She was out of her mind and drank drain cleaner, so they had to feed her through a tube.” “Whoa,” I said. “That’s […]