I went to the dentist this morning. The was nothing wrong, it was my semiannual cleaning. Like most people who are lucky enough to have dental insurance, my dental insurance is not the same as my health insurance. I have a separate insurance card for the dentist. Mine happens to be the same provider as…
Some time between my childhood and now, the kid economy disappeared. When I was young, I had a paper route and I shoveled driveways. When I was in high school, I scooped ice cream and when I was in college, I washed dishes and cooked. I had friends that were lifeguards, camp counselors, mowed lawns, etc. Now, most…
One of my jobs is at a community college as a writing tutor. It’s mostly a fun job, but about once a week I will get a student whose problem is, “I don’t know how to start.” What the students are describing is writer’s block. Luckily, writer’s block is not a problem I’ve experienced. But…
Today is Presidents Day. I want to do something a little different. Rather than ranking the presidents or trying to find some historical quirk to talk about, I want to talk about my presidents. I have been alive during seven administrations. I want born during Ford and am in the middle of Obama. It will…
Towards the end of last year, I was browsing in a record store and ran across a new release of a Freddie King concert from 1968. Since I’m a fan, I took a closer look. The bulk of the album was record live at the Fillmore West in 1968. There are two bonus tracks, one from…
I have often said that there is no thing more worthy of a holiday than love. This, however, is not the dominant view. Most people seem to see Valentine’s Day as the ultimate Hallmark Holiday. People complain because they are single on Valentine’s Day or they complain because it creates obligations they don’t want. It…
I wrote a post the other day where I complained that the nature of academic racial language forces the conversations about race to be too self conscious. As an aside, I also mentioned that this same language is polarizing and alienating. Not that anyone asked, since no one ever leaves comments, but I thought I’d…
Today is February 12th, Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, so it seems appropriate to say a little something about him. But, I don’t really have anything to say that hasn’t already been said a million times before. So, I’m going to take a different tack and use Lincoln’s presidency as a jumping off point for a more…
For starters, I don’t pay any attention to the Grammy Awards. I think the last time I watched was when Milli Vanilli beat out Living Colour for best new artist. The Grammys generally don’t bother with music I enjoy, so I don’t bother with them. This year there was apparently a bit of controversy when Beck won…
There are certain basic life skills everyone should have. It’s one of the major failures of our educational system that many people lack them. What’s worse is that most people are never offered the opportunity to learn these skills in school. This list is far from complete, but it’s a start. 1. Sewing – I’m…
