I spent the day packing boxes, loading them into the U-Haul, and unpacking them in their new location. In this year when I’m not going to have to move to a new house, my school decided to move to a new building. We’ve anticipated the move since the beginning of the school year, but permitting…

the reason we don’t go spinning into space as the world turnsthey say is gravityas though being weighed down is what does it we sat around thedinner table withone who wrote a bookthat mattered to Gingerand was held in placeby the power of words we helped serve dinnerat the shelter with friendsfor folks weighed downbut…

the eighth grader who wants to knowif I’ve graded the paper he turned in yesterday.the neighbor ranting on the listservtaking out his frustration on the rest of us. the guy at the shelter who helped mecarry in the chicken for tomorrow night’s meal.the woman in front of me at Costcowho didn’t seem prepared for the…

The passage for today was Jesus meeting the woman at the well. My sonnet was particularly affected by the following video. Thanks to my friend Down Under, Simon, for posting it. sunday sonnet #23 a woman of no distinction, shecame alone to the well at noon;engaged her in conversation, hecame her reputation to impugn –…

I spent the better part of the morning with some friends from church as a part of a Lenten Bible study. We are focusing on the Beatitudes. As I was preparing to lead the group, I was struck by the fact that Matthew takes just four chapters to move from Jesus’ genealogy to his birth…

Here’s more of Stephen Dunn, once again, from my reading today. These are the opening words to a chapter titled, “The Hand Reaching Into the Crowd.” We live in a graceless age. Accordingly the word grace (in its various parts of speech) has lost power and significance, though it is frequently used. We have our…

It’s the end of the grading term at school, the students are frantically trying to finish the rough drafts of their research papers, I’m faced with grade reports – so I spent my free period reading poetry. This morning as I left the house, I picked up my well-worn copy of Poems to Live By:…

I feel least like a teacher when I turn in the grades and distill the interactions with my students to one single letter plus or minus after weeks of asking them tomake their offerings take their chancesall too quickly all that matters isone letter to somehow sum it up to go on their permanent recordnot…

I’ve been mulling over one sentence that I carried away from the Evening with Garrison Keillor the other night. I remember much more of the evening, but his closing word on one story has stayed with me in a more disquieting way as I have wondered how to write about it. He told us about…

It’s been almost a year since I stepped out of a professional kitchen to return to teaching. Though I still cook daily at home and for friends, I’m not doing quite the volume I once was. One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed is in my hands. Because of the prep work – dicing onions,…