school

In the Beginning…

Hello all! Happy 2019!!! It’s great to be back from winter break! How’s the new year starting off for you? For me this time of year is, honestly, a cold, slippery slump. This grey, perpetually icy-rainy season mires me down in a paralyzing form of self-reflection. But it’s not negative. I first wanted to write…Read more In the Beginning…

The Pendulum of Empathy

“Why empathy?” Silence. “Why compassion?” Silence. “Why should we care about each other?” No one answered. It wasn’t that we didn’t want to answer, we simply struggled to find the best reasoning for it. Perhaps we had never asked ourselves these existential questions before. Perhaps we couldn’t find an answer that wasn’t trite, naïve, or saturated…Read more The Pendulum of Empathy

An Unburdened Childhood

We stepped inside the public bus and hurriedly inserted our reduced-fare youth tickets into the clunky scanner beside the sullen driver. As the vehicle began to pick up speed, we ambled down the rows searching for vacant seats, they were usually in the back. The bus was full of tired commuters heading to work that…Read more An Unburdened Childhood

Improbabilities

“We won’t all be great. Most of us will never be famous for anything, never discover anything, never invent anything useful, never win any awards. We may never achieve our dreams or even meet the goals we set for ourselves. Despite what the advertisers, preachers and politicians promise us, greatness will only be reserved for…Read more Improbabilities

What Do You Mean by “We”?

"What do you mean by we?"  These are the words of a favorite college professor. The question startled me, like an abrupt slap in an otherwise pleasant conversation. I couldn't find the words to respond. At the time, I had been a very enthusiastic student. I attended university like Darwin the Galapagos. Out on my own for…Read more What Do You Mean by “We”?

The Wreck of the Hesperus

I remember the cool darkness as I stood backstage. My fingers were tingling, my stomach was churning, I was both excited and nervous—the classic symptoms of stage-fright that I was experiencing more and more that year. Mrs. Wozniak, my fourth-grade teacher, had nearly forgotten about the event in the auditorium that day. With just minutes to […]