I was surprised to discover that my local library’s two copies of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1969 Slaughterhouse-Five were checked out and that I would have to wait my turn at it. I then…
History in the News
Expressing his overwhelming faith in the civic responsibilities of the American people and commenting upon the political mess we are all in, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut recently proclaimed, “They’re not…
A phalanx of yellow buses poured black students to the curb and across the street. The white boy waited for the Crosstown 31. His mother told him that the ancient yet ornate…
The licensing process for educators requires a semester of student-teaching overseen by a master teacher who welcomes the teacher-wannabe into the classroom for some real instruction with real students. The process includes…
I am really grateful for the guys that collect my trash every week and that the sanitation department tells them what to do with all that stuff after they pick it up.…
Historian Carter G. Woodson announced in 1926 that the second week of February, which includes the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, should be celebrated as Negro History Week. One of…
During my career as an educator, I usually ate lunch alone. I never really enjoyed spending time in the teacher’s lounge. A principal once asked me about this and wondered whether or…
About thirty years ago, I served on a jury in a case regarding the government’s power of eminent domain. In this case, the government had claimed private land in order to build…
When the English began populating North America in the early seventeenth century, the colonists inevitably drew some conclusions regarding the continent’s indigenous population. Perhaps most significant is that these “noble savages”—to use…
I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that most people settle into a certain way of thinking and never let go. In my quest to not be “most people,” I…