Month: October 2016

Recently, Jose went into the hospital. He had to have a surgery to find the source of an ongoing and debilitating pain in or around his stomach. As I understand it, doctors operated on him several times for the same pain over the course of the last two years. In…

Nick and I walked the dogs the other day and talked about politics. The election season is so pervasive that it seeps into the life of a 14 year old. Who would I vote for? he asked. I turned to him. The dogs pulled at the leashes. There was a…

When Corby Skinner announced that Canoeing the Great Plains won the creative nonfiction category in the High Plains Book Awards, I felt a sudden lift. I looked around and people were applauding. The sounds came through tinny and indistinct. Someone hooted. People smiled. Someone patted me on the back. The…

As a teacher, I sweat over student grades. It matters. Those grades become a permanent part of a student’s life. When my students go on to college or university—and I hope they do—the admissions people won’t be looking at what kind of people they are. Certainly, many colleges and universities…