The grievous thrumming in my head sounds like MasterCard’s punch line: Priceless. You know the commercial; it starts with a recitation of expenditures and ends with some heartwarming finding about human relationship, overlaid with that word, “Priceless.”

Except my private punch li… Read full post »

 This is the fourth of a series of G-20 Summit posts. Here are the first, second, and third.

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 Here is some original footage of the police and protesters in Pittsburgh. Please decide for yourselves what the atmosphere was like. 

1. The police video was taken in on… Read full post »

          After hoofing it in Pittsburgh for three days, these exhausted reporters (my sister and I) don't feel like writing a post. So we're just dumping our pictures and videos here for you to judge for yourselves. We're big proponents of independent thinking. :)

~&nbs… Read full post »

Update: Luke Rudkowski, the boy with the bullhorn, was arrested Friday night for failure to disperse. He spent the night in jail.  

 Second Update: See bottom of this post for embedded video from wearchange.org for footage of events leading to Luke's arrest.

 … Read full post »

          Clean energy and green jobs were the themes Wednesday at the rally in Pittsburgh on the eve of the G-20 Summit, the annual meeting of the Group of Twenty world leaders, finance ministers and central bankers. Crackpots were nowhere to be foun… Read full post »

 1. Do other people get a momentary panic when sliding a credit card through the machine at a self-service gas pump, because it says “Slide your card quickly”? I’m always just a little paranoid that I… Read full post »

When Obama spoke against the disinformation about health care reform, he was particularly vociferous about the bogus claim that there are "panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens." He charged that it was both cynical and irresponsible and, finally, "a lie, plain and si… Read full post »

Our local school system is grappling with the "Obama speech problem," suggesting that perhaps they'll require permission slips for elementary students and leave middle and high school decisions up to the individual teachers. Amidst the droves of crazies in my town who are already storming around… Read full post »

 Miss Harp’s kindergarten was full of impulsive boys. As we sat in Morning Meeting going over the weather and calendar, Eduard was in and out of my lap several times, John was turning the globe, Michael was showing off his LeBron James jumps, and Byron had wandered completely out o… Read full post »

     I want to know where I’ve been.

     Yes, yes, I’ve married a fine man,[1] raised three boys, taught English, campaigned for Obama, worked hard in a rigorous graduate program for a degree I’ll likely not benefit from financially, and… Read full post »

Mess with carts

Navigate terrain with sticks

 Catch hail with frisbees

 Contemplate the universe

 Play in the snow

  … Read full post »

      I used to feel really well informed. Sure, I always knew it was a function of time--that I had more than most--but I secretly hoped that others never caught on to that simple truth. So when I could detail the politics of the moment or delve into the history… Read full post »

            I didn’t know how to pronounce the word “Deringer,” and that intrigued the first-grade boys surrounding me; they were used to teachers knowing everything. We discussed the possibilities—soft or hard g, whether… Read full post »

Political and religious ideologues like to say that science is just another kind of religion. Here’s why they’re wrong, why science is not anyone’s religion.

 As a teacher, I’ve marveled at the near impossibility of reconciling the competing philosophies of critical th… Read full post »

     I left the mall’s food court feeling sick.  It wasn’t the food; it was the conversation:  Over sandwiches and diet Coke, my friend had just told me about her experience at her son’s 4th grade lunch table the previous day, and togeth/… Read full post »

I don't notice the competing paper banners until the day is over and I'm exhausted and demoralized. YOU are RESPONSIBLE for your own ACTIONS! goes one, with the lower case letters cursive and blue, the capitals a screaming orange print. And the other, in what the kids call “bubble letters,&rdqu/… Read full post »

Most people overestimate the role that merit plays in their lives, and by “most people,” I mean the vast majority who has seen some measure of conventional success.[1]  By corollary, people underestimate chance, evolution, history, government, and culture as factors that influence th/… Read full post »

Daytime and evening phone banks are qualitatively different. On Tuesday mornings I wax philosophical with Strongsville’s universe of undecided voters about the local homeless man who registered 79 times at the behest of ACORN (I assure them that not only was the man not going to vote 79 times,… Read full post »

I spent some time last fall on the internet looking for a nice chess set. Okay, because I’m a maximizer,* I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect chess set. Each kid was going to get one big present for Christmas—the oldest,/… Read full post »