“Katrina” sounds accusatory to me now. It used to be a comforting word. I knew this woman named Katrina enough to ask to share her table at coffee, on one of those outrageous days when people who don’t normally drink coffee are bored or cold or whatever and they invade my coffee sanctuary as stupid […]
Read More RavagedAt my elementary school, there were these huge trees with deep scoops in the trunks, and great gaps between the roots. We would build little lean-tos with twigs and leaves, and called these fairy houses. Carl Jung used to futz around with blocks, building a castle, and then a real dwelling for himself, echoing the […]
Read More What’s My Name?When school ends, people often ask how I’m doing, and I say, “Well, I’m not feeling like myself quite yet.” I mean, I need a little more time away from the intensity and responsibility of teaching. It’s been four days since school ended. Just today I sweated through the classroom cleanup and whisked my plants […]
Read More DumbWhat protects you, at the end of the school year, is that you are so tired. My first few years, I was frustrated by how dead and hollow I felt. I wanted to feel sad to lose that group of kids, but they were like ghosts to me in the last weeks of school. Or […]
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Going On 