After An Educator's Journey
Out of the classroom & into the universe
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Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
Category: Braindroppings
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Since Covid, I have long wanted to get back to travel. In the abstract I embrace it and its uncertainty; in reality, travel and planning intimidates me. In 2020, when we were both (nearly) retired, we were anticipating a trip to Ireland, our first overseas adventure since 2015. I have the travel books to prove…
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I was a high school student in the late 1960s. Education was a lot different back then, though not necessarily the “Leave-it-to-Beaver” high school experiences depicted on television. Starting with my junior year, our English classes switched up a bit from the standard fare English coursework to mini courses. I don’t know who came up…
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This week I happened on a NYTime story about an amateur photographer in Paris. Raoul Minot, was an employee of Le Printemps in Paris, and an amateur whose resistance to Nazi Occupation of France took the form of documenting 1940s Paris. M. Minot made thousands of photographs, often adding commentary or explanation, knowing that making…
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I was and I am devastated by the results of yesterday’s election. It appears that a person who to me represents all that we, as humans, should avoid is the selection to lead the United States. In case you missed it, I am including this clip from Jon Stewart. I think there is a lot…
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Spoiler alert: she was. This is my maternal Great Grandmother, Minnie Palmer Flournoy who died about a decade before I was born. I know of her from the stories told by my maternal grandfather, her son, and my mother, her granddaughter. Born around 1859 or 1860 to Missouri pioneer parents (Minnie later listed her birth…
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On September 17, 1887, my paternal grandfather, Emanuele Concetto Puglisi, was born in Linguaglossa, Sicily. His life story is rather remarkable and serves as a reminder given the context of what is happening currently in this country. Emanuel was the last born to his parents, Rosario and Antonina who had 13 children. In fact he…
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Pictured from Left to Right: Me, Z with her Pépère, and me again Our granddaughter turns six in the next week and a half. It often seems as if we were meeting her for the first time just a few months ago, not getting ready to celebrate her 6th birthday. The awareness of the passage…
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I heard a new term yesterday and I really wanted to write about that, but Adrien spoke to me and in that split-second, the word was wiped from my brain. As I get older, the act of immediately forgetting something I’d like to remember annoys me. It also terrifies me for obvious reasons. Trying to…
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There is a particular beauty in writing when it resonates. I connected with this piece in today’s New York Times by Margaret Renkl, and through Ms. Renkl’s writing, I’m reminded of the power of observation of the natural world, of quietly reflecting on the order of the universe. I’m reminded that the natural world has…
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The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ALAN WATTS Alan Watts Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved January 5, 2024, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alan_watts_386511 This quotation has a particular resonating truth for me. No longer able to make sense of the changes in our world politics,…
After An Educator's Journey 