Thoughts

I wrote the post at the end of this post (separated by space) two years ago in May. I look back at myself last year and the year before and witness the subtle changes I've experienced since that time. On the outside, I am no longer a leadership teacher (for one of the two electives we teach), but a computer applications teacher. I am no longer a student council advisor (in fulfillment of the duty outside the classroom that each teacher bears), but a technology assistant. These are very different roles that I believe characterize the change I've seen in myself over the past years, or that shaped that change. A leadership teacher must be himself ready to lead; must invite discussion of diverse ideas and, therefore, potential conflict about those ideas, and must be a visible presence in the school as his students execute their plans. While the computer teacher is many of these things, as well, he is much less visible. Indeed, students in his own class spend most of their time look...

At each school year's end, my colleague hosts a rock concert in which his guitar students play for the school. It has become a tradition, however, that he asks me to lip-sync to a rock song that one of his students plays, and while he plays on his own guitar. Two years ago, I did so for AC/DC's "Back in Black," and last year, a song by Queen. Three days ago, he asked me to lip-sync for the song "Sharp Dressed Man," by Z.Z. Top. I had never heard the song before then, so I felt a little uncertain about it. Still, both shows turned out really well! I was able to dress up like a "sharp dressed man" and got the little kids to laugh with some added dance. I think even the big kids liked it. In any case, it was a nice end to the week. With the school year nearly over, the year has turned out to be a good one.

Here in California, we use the terms "hecka" and "hella," and apparently in the Northeast, it is not uncommon to hear someone say that a situation is "wicked." In Washington, D.C., you might hear of a "slug," a driver in need of a passenger to drive in the carpool lane.* These are examples of regional colloquialisms, words common to a specific region of a nation. While some of these are still in use today (I hear "putz around," for example, indicating the act of doing nothing in particular), we no longer use many others. Just as words fall out of use, however, new colloquialisms are formed. The Internet, I am certain, increases not only the speed at which new uses of words spread, but also the expansion of these words' use from a specific region to the entire nation, something an NPR author calls homogenization.* Two recent examples come from the political and entertainment spheres. In the former case, Jeb Bush and journalists, ...

At one time in my life, I embraced opportunities of all kinds as they came. I said "Yes" to all manner of offers to serve, socialize, or simply listen. Then came the pain. I found that being a Yes-man was self-destructive. I lacked boundaries, and began to suffer as a result. After recovering from a resulting physical sickness, I compensated for my mistakes by being firm and straightforward with others about whether or not I would be apart of something. Aside perhaps from family events, this meant that I chose to say "no" as often as I once said "yes." I was proud of myself for it, for a time. Then, I began to realize that saying no too often could be just as harmful as saying yes too often. While saying yes too often meant being present to the point of exhaustion, saying no too often involved isolating oneself to the point of loneliness. Neither was healthy. Both were examples of a fear I held. In both cases, I feared asserting my preferences with oth...

I wrote this in response to an article online. I notice now that the response may be too formulaic, but I thought I would share it. [Insert author here], thank you for your thoughts. I would like to address an issue that can come up for new believers or for those who may misunderstand how to experience real change in their lives and add something that may help those who are struggling to be more like their Savior. I fear that some of the vulnerable will hear from this article, taken alone, the message "Try harder, and you will become more spiritual." For those who are not given to excess, diving deeply into God's word and into other spiritual practices can be sound advice, but those for whom excess is their most conscious failing may fall prey to substituting one form of excess with another. I believe that pursuing the pleasure of spirituality (what I see as practicing the spiritual disciplines in order to feel or appear spiritual) can be just as dangerous, and spirit...

A friend asked me today about the most dramatic experience I've had as a teacher. While not all dramatic, these six events are a small part of the memories I've garnered over the years. There are others. 1. I have only had to break up one fight, and it was between girls who were pulling at each other's hair. 2. The first time I had to speak at an eighth-grade promotion was surreal, to say the least. My voice was the only sound amid hundreds of parents, significant others, students, staff, and administrators. 3. I did not realize that I had to deliver a speech I had written for a student at one eighth-grade promotion. As a result, I did not have the speech in hand as we prepared to walk the students into the ceremony. While students were about to walk, I raced back to my classroom, opened my e-mail "Sent" folder to retrieve the speech I had the sent my colleague, printed it, and returned to sit down in front of the crowd with my colleagues. I delivered the sp...