I recently heard a pastor refer to France as a spiritual wasteland, and this wasn't the first time I had heard this. Twenty-one of our students went to France this past spring break and I asked them if they found this to be true. They agreed that French culture is very secular. Very few people [...]
I teach Beowulf in Literature 12. It's a story about a hero and a monster. I did some research and learned that heroes represent cultural ideals—our best selves. Monsters challenge these ideals—they represent our doubts about who we are. Zombies are everywhere these days. If literary monsters reveal a cultural identity crisis, I wondered what [...]
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens might have been good for Maria von Trapp, but there’s a few things I like too... Fresh sheets, especially if they were line-dried Peanut butter on fresh bread Being in charge of the TV remote My husband’s blue eyes Cuddles on the couch from kids who are far [...]
Over spring break, our family had the privilege of travelling to Hawaii. It was a gift from Heidi’s parents to take some of their family with them to Honolulu.  It seemed unreal as we packed for it—but we did have the opportunity to spend 10 days on the trip of lifetime—one our kids will never [...]
This is my work mug. I've been drinking from it since before my current students were born. There's much you can know about my mug if you study it as a scientist might. One of the tools scientists use is empirical observation. By this method they could determine things like capacity (32 ml), mass, (347.1 [...]
I'm not too keen on flying. I wouldn't say I'm terrified, but even if it's a very smooth flight, I'm at least uncomfortable with being nine kilometers above the surface of the earth. It's not actually a fear of flying; it's more a fear of crashing. To deal with this fear, I have a little [...]
When I was 10, I was a fundamentalist. It was then that I learned in science class that the tomato was a fruit. It's likely that, armed with this new information, I sallied forth to do battle against ignorance—or, rather, against the ignorant. I'd approach my unsuspecting victim and say, "Tomatoes are fruit." Predictably, they'd [...]
