Inaugural Poetry Discoveries
Like lots of others, I didn’t discover Amanda Gorman until she graced the country with, well, her grace, her presence, and her poetry at the inauguration ceremony of President Biden.
Rock Star Poets
The “Greatest Hits” album. All the greats do it—Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tom Petty, Elton John, Madonna, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mariah Carey—so it only makes sense that poets would do the same thing.
Aggressively Poetic
Leaves caked my front yard, suffocating the burgeoning grass below as I sat on the couch and told myself only one more episode of Law & Order and then I’ll get up and tackle the task waiting for me outside my front door.
Dead White Poets Society
Scads of English teachers have shown the movie Dead Poets Society in class to either begin their poetry unit or to try and inspire an appreciation for poetry. I technically showed the movie to teach media messages as constructs, but residual poetry appreciation was always an added bonus and hope.
The Outer and Inner Beauty of Poetry
Probably not long after Gutenberg slapped some ink on a page, we got the aphorism not to judge a book by its cover.
Generally true.
But even if the collection of poems in How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews didn’t epitomize the craft and power of poetry, the...
Improving Learning Outcomes for Your Busy Students
Toward the latter half of my son’s junior year in high school (he’s a junior in college now), I went with him to the meetings set up by the counseling department for parents and students to plan out students’ senior year. It reminded me of a graduation audit in college to make sure everything is on...
Black History Month: Death by Journal
Okay—circle of trust here. After dropping my youngest child off at college all the way from San Antonio, Texas, to Lawrence, Kansas, at The University of Kansas, I simply said goodbye and drove the 11 hours back home. Except, as soon as I got to our house, I stepped into the hallway bathroom and...
Black History Month: Fits, Photos, and Happily Ever Afters
Back when I taught at Southwest High School in San Antonio, Sharri Peterson, who dubbed herself my work wife, was my school spirit partner. Whenever there was a school spirit dress-up day, everyone knew Sharri and I would collaborate and a selfie would follow.
Black History Month: The Friend You Need
In just the past few weeks, I’ve seen two friends post on social media about their spirit animals.
Neither of them is Native American.
Recently, State Farm ran a commercial where Aaron Rodgers claimed to have a spirit animal.
He’s not Native American either.
Black History Month: He Sees Dead People
My mother tells this story of being so exhausted that she couldn’t get up to rock my older brother, her first child, back to sleep in the middle of the night. But then he stopped crying, and she swears she saw the ghost of her mother rocking his cradle.
