I accidentally brushed my teeth with butt cream the other day, and yes, it was gross. I’d had a long day at work, stayed up late writing, and watched the baby for a while, so I was completely beat. By the time I got to brushing my teeth for the night, I could barely see…
I am not civil, nor am I wild. I am something in between. When the path ahead splits in two, I move with a considerate instinct. I don’t rush, but neither do I sit idle. I watch, I observe, I sense, I choose. To carefully step into the wildand find wild civility. I’m not sure…
I read online today that the FBI likes to hire teachers—and I’m starting to see why. I’ve officially survived my third week as a middle school teacher at a Title I school, and let me tell you, it’s a lot. Every day my list of duties seems to grow a little longer. The kids demand…
I got suspended back in seventh grade—now I teach it. I wasn’t a “bad” student, but I didn’t always follow the rules either. Looking back, I still wonder how I ended up here. I enjoyed school well enough, but certainly not enough to imagine doing it for a living after graduation. My suspension came from…
I’m no stranger to heat, but South Carolina weather is something special. The past couple of weeks have been pleasant enough, but yesterday the sun returned with a vengeance. When I got off work, I opened my car door, and a literal cloud of steam rolled out. If you’ve never experienced that, imagine putting your…
Four years ago, just as I was beginning to take writing seriously, one of my favorite childhood authors visited my hometown for a book signing. I remember standing in a long line of children at Barnes & Noble, waiting for my chance to show my support. My plan was simple: walk in, tell him I…
Every morning, I stand in a long school hallway for about thirty minutes. At first, the place is quiet, calm, and orderly. Kids trickle in before the bell, slowly filling the pathways. Then, as more arrive, the quiet slips away. Soon, the hallways swell with life, and I find myself adrift in a sea of…
Video game design involves a lot more than coding and character art. Those are big parts of it, sure, but I’ve noticed something interesting: just because you play video games doesn’t mean you’ll be good at designing them. You’d think that years of gaming would qualify you to work on them, but that simply isn’t…
You’d be surprised what a simple conversation with a teenager can accomplish. This week, I hit new heights of stress with one of my mixed 7th and 8th grade classes. I tried everything—calling home, emailing parents, sending a student to the office, setting new rules, rearranging seats—and nothing worked. Until today. Every other class I…
I got to walk to work today, and it afforded me my first real look around this new city. Fortunately, the weather cooperated. (We’ve been having massive rain and thunderstorms the last couple of days.) In fact, it was even a decent temperature—which is saying something, because I haven’t experienced a decent temperature here until…