Kids in the Canyon

The Four Freedoms: Looking Back to Realize the Future We Want

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the New York Historical Society’s Norman Rockwell exhibit and was deeply moved by his paintings illustrating Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms. Roosevelt presented the Four…

Back to School

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” —John Dewey With summer vacation winding to a close, it is time once again to think about getting ready for a successful…

Which Children Matter?

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” (Nelson Mandela May 8, 1995) There has been a lot in the news about…

Packing Up Another Year

When I close the door of my classroom on the last day of school, it always feels like a surreal experience. How can this school year be ending? Didn’t I just meet…

The Subliminal Messages of Parenting

As the school year comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the impact we, adults have on the children in our lives. “Children Learn What They Live,” the classic poem…

Writing Our Own Stories

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. —Albert Einstein Teaching is a career that…

Wish List

  “And I feel like we don’t often talk about this expectation of martyrdom—that without question, you’re going to be a hero in that situation.” —Sarah Plumitallo, February 24, 2018, NPR, All…

The Buck Stops Here

I think a lot about what I can do to help this troubled world from my small place on this planet; the perspective is so different from inside the Topanga bubble. Here…

Life is Grand

This year, as a treat for myself, I planned a birthday trip to the Grand Canyon. I wanted to gift myself a Lifetime National Parks Pass, which I became eligible for this…

Glancing Behind, Looking Ahead

We have reached the last month of the year, a year that for many of us has brought changes, uncertainties, hopes and wishes for a brighter future in the year ahead. We…