I love Rites of Passage stories. Not only the big ones, like going into the woods and killing a lion, but the small rites of passage that are everywhere. We need to pay more attention to these rites of passage and the power they have in our lives. I recently wrote about one of my...

I see a lot of people getting beat down by quarantines, COVIDS, and crap. In fact, I wrote last week how COVID 19 was trying to win. Today, I came across Simon Sinek’s 2016 interview “This Is Why You Don’t Succeed.” In teaching my high school English class, I watch this video each year. I have used…

“Why should I join a club? I don’t need to pay MY money to use MY Jeep on MY public lands!” I have belonged to four-wheel-drive clubs most of my life and this is a fight I have been having most of my life. My Dad belonged, and still belongs, to the Umpqua Valley Timber…

I follow a teaching blog written by Dave Stuart, Jr. I stole this assignment from him and set out to write an example essay to model for my students how to complete this assignment. However, as I started writing, it struck me how much everybody — teachers, students, parents, workers — could use this information for working-from-home success. In…

Photo by Wade Austin Ellis on Unsplash My wife started freaking out in the front room. I heard her screaming, cussing, yelling, thrashing about, and I leaped up from my desk in the office and sprinted to the front room, ready to fight the Russians, the aliens, or the home invaders — whichever external foe...

I hate Prom. I know: unpopular opinion with schools cancelling Proms this year. But my hatred of Prom started way before the Corona virus took it away from the 2020 Seniors. Every year, for the last 20 years, I give the Prom lesson in my classes on the Thursday or Friday before Prom. Since I’m…

Pro tip: it isn’t Homeschooling, as I see people complaining about on Facebook. Teachers are remote teaching and parents are in the house during the implementation and practice phase. If it were homeschooling, parents would be planning the lessons, gathering the resources, and grading the outcome. It gets worse, parents. Be cautious about what you complain.

I needed out of the house. 

For the last month, I’ve been really good about staying at home. There have been multiple days where I don’t leave the house except to walk the dogs. When I get to the weekend, I need to get out and do something.

Meghan King Edmonds, for those like me that don’t know who she is (Bravo TV) During Corona Break 2020, I have learned many new topics from my wife and many new nuances about my wife. For a review, feel free to see “What I Learned During Self-Quarantine With My Wife.” Today, she taught me about social...

According to Urban Dictionary, a dumpster fire is 1. A complete disaster.
2. Something verydifficult that nobody wants todeal with. The example sentence they give for context reads This project is a complete dumpster fire. Urban Dictionary might as well update their new example to Joe Exotic, et al. is a complete dumpster fire. Most everybody who has watched Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness now has complete connotation of the term dumpster fire.

I grew up in Western Oregon where the ever-present rain makes a sprinkler system unnecessary. When I moved to Southern Idaho and the desert, I was ecstatic to have a sprinkler system. I loved adjusting them and figuring out how to bring the rain to the desert. I still love watching my sprinklers do their work. Getting up early on a too-be-hot summer’s day and watching the sprinklers do what they do, bringing water and cool to the world, is a form of fatherly meditation unmatched in suburbia.

Yesterday, the Corona virus broke my heart.

Because of Spring Break and custody agreements, I haven’t seen my kids in three weeks, since March 16. A lot, and I mean A LOT, has changed in the last three weeks. I was supposed to get them for a week Friday. On Thursday, my daughter texted me and told me she had a fever and sore throat. Same for her mom. To add evidence to the argument, I found out Tennyson and her mom had been at the Fred Meyer that recently had a confirmed COVID case from a worker.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, there are currently 290 million students out of school. In February, China was the only nation mandating school closures. Just a month and a half later, 22 countries on three continents have closed schools. Schools bring normalcy and safety to a great number of students….

I miss being able to stop by a friend’s house for a beer. I will never take this for granted once we get it back. I should have got a haircut before non-essentials closed. I have to put a hat on for online meetings. My wife married a really, really, really funny person. My wife…

My wife and I are both teachers. After two weeks of Corona/Spring Break, our district is implementing online learning, starting this week. Sunday, early, we went to our high school classrooms to get what we need to teach online — possibly for the rest of the year. Even thinking about what I needed to get…

The day started a little cold — but an expected cold — for a late February day. As the day went on, bright blue skies and a big orange sun made the day feel even warmer than the 55 degrees it warmed up to. My son, Brock, and I slept in a little and met Howard…

I’ve been a high school football coach for 22 years. For 10 years before that, I spent most of my time chasing a football dream, playing for as long as I could. For most of my life, football has made making decisions easy. There is a right way and a wrong way and while I don’t always pick the correct decision, most of the time my black and white view on life has been “easy.”