One of the greatest aspects of retirement is that, for the most part, I don’t really have to do anything that I don’t want to do. I don’t have to go to work. I don’t have to write these blog posts. No one is telling me how to spend my days. I can wake up […]
September 21, 2024
Public schools have been around for over 350 years in the United States. But over the last 25 years, since Columbine thrust school shootings into our national consciousness, school employees have had to deal with a whole new set of stresses that their predecessors never imagined. Between the too-frequent active shooter incidents in our schools […]
September 7, 2024
Diners at a large potluck dinner party where the invitation simply states, “Bring a dish to share!” attend with a lot of trust. Usually more trust than I possess. There’s no rhyme or reason. People just bring random dishes they are proud of/have time to make/purchase from a restaurant or grocery store, and that’s if […]
August 24, 2024
In the summer of 1985, I remember looking hard for my first full-time job in teaching. As eager as I was to start teaching history and social studies in the Bay Area, there just weren’t any positions available. I would hang out in school offices if I heard rumors of openings, just to leave my […]
June 30, 2022
I have loved not working. Transitioning from a 60 to 80-hour work week to a 0-hour work week was easier than I ever imagined. I have rested, lost weight and become healthier overall, organized my life, increased my time spent on hobbies I love, and avoided being such a pain that my wife wanted me […]
February 3, 2022
I was talking to my friend Kevin last week. Kevin and I have ventured through our public education careers with similar jobs as teachers, high school principals, and finally as superintendents. He has been a mentor and a friend for over 30 years, and I truly appreciate our bond and understanding of one another. Kevin […]
September 15, 2022
We had a wedding last weekend. It was perfect. Well, it was as perfect as life these days would allow it to be. Let’s start off with the challenges. First of all, and damn you COVID-19 for still existing, finding a venue for this wedding was stupid crazy hard. Ryan and Yesi scoured Sacramento for […]
Michael Easter
2021
Read: 2024
Non-Fiction, Reading Now, Spirtuality
After I wrote my blog post on doing something that sucks everyday, my sister-in-law Libby recommended that I read this book. It was an outstanding recommendation. Michael Easter does a wonderful job of telling the story of a highly challenging hunting trip to Alaska, weaving in research on how we 21st century humans have it […]
Patrick M. Lencione
2016
Read: 2024
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction, Reading Now
One of my favorite parts of my career in public education is the teams that I have been fortunate to be a part of. I wrote a post on my love of teams back in 2020, celebrating teams that included: History classes that I taught New teachers (and eventually veteran ones too) at San Lorenzo […]
Marie Kondo
2011
Read: 2018
Education/Leadership, Non-Fiction, Reading Now
I was listening to an architect who specialized in building new schools talk about what classrooms should be. One of his pet peeves was all of the nonsensical and nonpurposeful clutter that occupies many classrooms. He thought that every classroom should contain only those items which are useful for teaching and learning or inspirational for […]
Roland Merullo
2008
Read: 2023
Fiction, Reading Now, Spirtuality
OK. I love this book. It’s one of the few books I’ve read where, after I finished it, I immediately began reading it a second time. I’ve written about it in two separate blog posts, and I have many friends who have read it and loved it after I suggested it to them. It’s a […]
