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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The climb to Taormina seemed endless. At the beginning, the coach passed easily through coastal towns where we could catch glimpses of the sea, but then we began to climb. And climb. And climb until the bus was prevented from going further. A caravan of mini vans took our group of 28 travelers the rest…
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Even in March, before the heat of the summer comes to Sicily, the weather in Agrigento is hot and dry. Already the soil is dry and the sun is unrelenting. But we have come to this UNESCO site on this day to tour the Valle Dei Templi, the Valley of the Temples, and to visit the…
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Trapani is a beautiful seaside municipality on Sicily’s western coast. It borders the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the waters are an incredibly beautiful turquoise. On this leg of our tour as we were based in Trapani, we explored the wind-swept island of Mozia and the salt pans of Sicily, and we enjoyed a wonderful cooking demo…
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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…
After An Educator's Journey 