Unbearably On The Nose But True Symbol Story

I raised these butterflies, if by “raised” you mean paid for them, and carried them processionally around the arc of desks in my classroom, so each student could see them. See? Mariposa. Mariposa. (For the Spanish speakers.) Then I had seven painted lady butterflies in a cylindrical mesh cage. Honestly I was surprised they became […]

Veracruz

Maundy Thursday, I felt an urge to run. It was not my panic urge to run, which is chemical, biological. It reminded me of the people in the book I just read about exorcisms. The people who flinch when you set a crucifix on the nape of their neck. I just felt, not here, I […]

Going Back

This week, one of my male students from Afghanistan was bent over during class. He was really quiet, and wasn’t doing anything. I sat down next to him. “You are sad about leaving Afghanistan?” These last few weeks, we have been learning words for emotions. I chose these for our core words: joy, depression, grief, […]

Walk

What we did at recess was walk. Walk and talk. Our school had plenty of space around it. We walked and talked, and I knew I had an absurdly mature interest in both. Today I will do the same. I signed up to walk a 10k last year, just to say I had. I hate […]