1. Word problems. You remember them. I know you do. You remember hating them. I know you did. Certainly my students do. They don’t even try to disguise their groans when I assign a few. On this day, I had them write their own. That was the assignment. Not to solve a word problem. But […]
Yearly Archives: 2020
He Taught Her
Sun, 22 Mar 2020, 04:11 PM (-06:00)
We had been doing polynomial long division which spooks a lot of the kids. There’s a lot of writing involved in that procedure, and you have to be meticulously neat. They prefer synthetic division where you just write down numbers instead of all those pesky variables, and it’s easier to stay neat. It was morning […]
The Eggs Go Fast
Sat, 21 Mar 2020, 11:25 PM (-06:00)
On Friday night I told Ben that I planned to go to the farmer’s market the next morning to get eggs. He’s the market manager for the downtown market and the one in Sunset Valley, which is where we usually go. “If you want eggs,” he said, “get there before the market opens. The eggs […]
Getting More Ice
Sat, 21 Mar 2020, 04:49 PM (-06:00)
1. Leaving For Town Their ice chest is good, but it’s not a Yeti. They periodically look at them but recoil in horror every time they see the price tag. It’s just crazy. And as he’s let the fair and industrious Trudy know, thanks to his cousin Stevie’s stories when he was young, he’ll never […]
South Llano State Park
Sat, 21 Mar 2020, 03:03 PM (-06:00)
1. We Went Camping We glamped four nights at South Llano River State Park this past week in a rented vintage VW Vanagon. The weather was mostly cooperative. It rained hard two nights, but the days were great. Not hot. Not cold. No bugs. Camp fires every night. Mercifully out of reach of the nearest […]
Customer Service
Mon, 20 Jan 2020, 01:17 PM (-06:00)
1. What Andrea Told Me I was stranded in Dallas. It was Friday on a three day weekend. I had just arrived at Love Field to catch a connecting flight to Chicago Midway, but that flight was cancelled due to a winter storm. At the customer service desk, I spoke to a woman named Andrea. […]
A Seven Hour Commute
Mon, 20 Jan 2020, 10:58 AM (-06:00)
1. The Usual Commute People are sorry that I have commute to Bastrop to teach. How unfortunate, I imagine it goes, that he must drive so far. But here’s the thing of it. There is time, and there is space. Yes, it is farther than I have commuted before, but it is briefer than the […]
A Girl of Few Words
Sun, 19 Jan 2020, 05:13 PM (-06:00)
1. Boarding the Plane I had boarding pass C12. The plane was mostly full. It was going be hard to find a seat like this which had enough room for my backpack in the nearby overhead bins. There was a middle seat available in Row 2. “Is that seat taken?” I asked the woman in […]
The Number 7 Slot
Sun, 12 Jan 2020, 10:23 PM (-06:00)
It was Friday afternoon of the first week back at school. Week one is difficult for me. My feet start hurting again. My voice falters and Throat Coat is in order. I am tired, even though we just had two weeks off. I know it will be better next week, but it just doesn’t seem […]
Anand Giridharadas
Sun, 12 Jan 2020, 01:55 PM (-06:00)
Anand Giridharadas, as his about page begins, is a writer. He is the author most recently of Winners Take All which sadly, in spite of a valiant go last summer, I have not finished. (So many books, so little time.) Why I didn’t stick with it, is beyond me. His writing is a joy to read, […]