Jail

For the last eight months or so I have been visiting some inmates in a nearby prison a few times a month. When I was first approached about doing this I was caught off-guard. It’s nothing I would have thought about doing on my own. It’s not that I was averse to doing it, it’s just it never occurred to me. I don’t look at myself as a save the world and embrace everyone kind of person, ready to wrap my arms around the poor misunderstood unfortunates, etc, etc. Nor do I think I am a hard-ass, why should…

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You Can’t Go Home Again

Author studies ceramic mosaic of sun, sky, clouds and flowers at Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico

This past week I’ve spent a few days back at the school I retired from last June. One day was a straightforward substitute teacher job for the grade I taught for 17 years. The other 3 days I was helping to grade the New York State Assessment Tests that are given by the state to the students every spring. It is 3 days where the students are pulled from regular routine and forced by the state to take time-consuming exams that are, my my opinion, often very poorly thought out. An example of this is penalizing students for not…

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