The One

I teach about 90 juniors a year. Ten or fifteen of them will, in the first month of school, identify themselves as troubled. Academically, emotionally, cognitively, what have you. Students who won’t turn in work, won’t study, or won’t shut up or stay awake in class. About seven of those fifteen will leave: change schools, […]

Highway to Hell

As a general rule, I believe in separation of church and state, and church and pop music. Christian rock always struck me as more evil than Marilyn Manson. If you can’t be bad when you’re rocking out– my God, my God, when can you be bad? Religious references and echoes are a different story. I’m […]

Touch

I love kissing the cross almost as much as I loved kissing the Torah at Simchat Torah. I’ve participated in the ritual twice, and each time I was blinking back tears. Sure, I have secretly caressed my Complete Works of Shakespeare, the pale green hardback one that all the English majors have. But the Bible […]

Wined and Dined

Only once a year were mass quantities of wine served in the basement of the Lutheran church: on Maunday Thursday. Someone had a lamb roasted. The lamb was a source of stress for me and my sisters. We didn’t eat lamb at home (we weren’t that exotic) and visions of wooly Jesus-guided lambettes danced in […]