The Holmes Brothers‘ “If I Had a Boat” has been stuck in my head for about a week now. It’s fantastic. It’s one of those songs I could listen to on repeat and not get sick of it. I’m writing about it for a few reasons. First, I just want to share. It’ll make your…
2021 was something. It just started like three weeks ago, but tonight is the last night. That was different. It’s customary to end the year with a little retrospective and far be it from me to break with customs, so here goes. The main lesson from 2021 is pandemic related, of course. We learned just…
The political left has an anti problem. They are anti lots and lots of things: antifascism, antiracism, anticapitalism, antiwar, anticorruption, and on and on and on. All those antis are fine (although some are more fine than others), but I think they form a large part of the left’s branding problem. The right is anti…
Gym Teac Sorry, physical education professionals are not given the respect they deserve. There’s the old joke, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach gym.” Nothing could be further from reality, though. Despite the spoofs and stereotypes, they quietly do about the most difficult job in education. Let’s start…
The CDC changed their COVID guidelines again. Now, if a person is asymptomatic after testing positive, they only need to isolate for five days instead of ten. Of course, this happens as the headlines are screaming about record setting infection rates. This is quite typical of how the pandemic has been handled from the beginning….
Before college, the longest amount of time I’d ever spent outside of Connecticut was nine consecutive days. I knew that things were different in other places, but I still took it for granted that I could get all the stuff I knew in Connecticut pretty much anywhere I might go. I didn’t go very far…
Politics has been polarized for a long time. Everyone knows that. But it feels different lately, probably since Obama became president. It feels like a type of identity politics has taken over across the political spectrum. It’s no longer confined to leftists and activists. A result of that is a growing importance in demonstrating allyship….
Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be about peace on earth or anything like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with wanting peace on earth. On some level, I do, but it’s a very vague, diffused feeling. It’s not a real wish. I always feel like it’s a cheat when people say they wish for…
I have a longstanding tradition of shopping on Christmas Eve. It’s the one day a year where I can honestly say I like to shop. I’ve probably been doing it for thirty years now. I’m sure it started because I’m a natural procrastinator. It’s turned into something I look forward to every year, though. What…
Every holiday season, at least since the advent of social media, I see people asking other people to be aware of people who struggle during the holidays. They want us to be sensitive; to watch what we say and do. As far as I can tell, the requests for sensitivity rarely come from people who…
