My last teaching job was in 1994. When I re-entered the teaching field a few years ago, I noticed teachers were talking about a new-fangled tool called a rubric. What in the world was a rubric? So I used “the Google” (something else that didn’t exist in 1994) and learned a rubric is a chart…
She told me she watched a spotter plane fly around behind her house for a long time. Then came the helicopters, with water bags hanging heavy and low. They dropped bag after bag of water on a fire that had re-ignited in an old burn pile. It’s been a summer of high temperatures and no…
Such lovely tomatoes Matt plucked from his garden pots and put in the window sill to finish ripening. I donned an apron and set about dicing them and making them into bruschetta, while I listened to a panel discussion online about the theology of work. The panel took a question, written by a man who…
Four years ago I walked into my new Spanish classroom and set down my purse on the desk. Me and my purse –that was what I came with, to this incredibly challenging job of teaching. “Newb” is what the young people call it. Brand new teacher with no experience and nothing up my sleeve. I…
It seems old fashioned now, but my family used to go to prayer meeting. A generous handful of us would exchange warm, family-style greetings and then get cozy in the church pews. Then people would start making prayer requests. Somebody would ask us to pray for their aunt who was having surgery. Somebody else would…
In case you ever need to know, there is a place of almost complete solitude, in the C concourse of the Portland airport. I know why. In the walkway, just before you get here, is a play place. This surely acts as a great deterrent. But I tell you to stay the course and walk…
Hey guys, I was really something the other night at a wedding shower. The bride was opening her lovely gifts, and one present was a muffin pan. “You know,” I told the bride, “I use a muffin pan to cook meatloaf, because it takes half the cooking time.” Instant fame. Apparently that was the best…
So this happened a few days ago: That’s right. Me and that man in a hot little Porsche. You know –preacher’s salary and a part-time teacher. That’s how we roll. Or maybe we have generous friends who let us play with their very nice toy for the day. What you need to know is that…
Four years ago I walked into my new Spanish room –with nothing. I knew Spanish and I knew teaching, but I had never put the two together until that day in August. Searching the room, I found nothing but a few games and two sets of outdated textbooks. So I started writing curriculum and building…
Ten people. Two bathrooms. One fridge. Five nights. That’s a recipe for something. Fourth of July forever and always means a trip to my mom’s in Wyoming. This year we threw my daughter and her husband in the backseat for the 12-hour drive that turned into 14 hours because of two unfortunate meal stops in…
Confession: My 30-year high school reunion was this week, and I did not go. Horrible person? Vote in. I saw the names of classmates come up on the reunion Facebook page, but I just kept thinking that after 30 years I don’t know any of these people. They don’t know me. A group of them…
He called on his way home from fishing, but I could tell there was something wrong. “Well, I’ve got a flat tire,” he said. “Oh no. Where are you?” I asked. “Would you believe I’m just a few blocks away from our tire store? Why couldn’t the tire have blown just two minutes later? I’ve…
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