The ones you envy. — I worked with one for three years. We both taught middle school and 9th grade English. When she joined our faculty, I thought I’d help her navigate the ins and outs of the school, but she absorbed the culture in 30 seconds. Our lesson plans and instruction were essentially the…

An Employee’s Personal Experience of Being in Charge of Supplies in a Hospital Full of COVID Patients — I was finally able to sit down with my husband and listen to him. He’s a hospital worker. He’s not a doctor or nurse, but an employee who is in charge of the hospital’s supplies, from toothbrushes to pacemakers. On March 11th, when his hospital ramped up preparations for its…

Virtual Graduations are the Right Choice at This Time — Life is so much easier when you shed your myopic vision and see the big picture in situations. One of the gifts of adulthood is being able to handle disappointment with reason and perspective. In this pandemic crisis, school administrators are scrambling to make decisions about issues that never before…

It’s the Same as Trophy Animal Hunters —

A Daughter’s Resolution to Meet her Father and Start a Relationship Will Make You Believe in Fate — By dying on the same day, they have a permanence, a synchronicity, a bond- all things that were so painfully absent for my mother most of her life.

Hearing her words at that moment made me want to abandon my efforts and just sleep — I'll never forget the words my friend said to me when I told her I broke up with my boyfriend, whom I loved a lot. We were 27, and while she was freshly engaged to a nice man, I was trying to navigate a serious relationship with my boyfriend. Until…

As long as celebrities post pictures of thin, surgically constructed bodies, viewers will feel like they don’t measure up — I’ve avoided the mall for years, but recently I went, and something felt different. I couldn’t put my finger on what had changed since my younger days when I cruised the mall, but there was definitely a different vibe. Then it hit me — I realized that store windows displayed…

The One Thing Teachers Can Do To Build Student Confidence — Find Their “Thing” and Tell Them About It Noticing kids’ personal strengths makes them more powerful- give comments, not compliments By knowing their “thing,” they began to define themselves and develop a new type of confidence. “Great job! ``’’ Way to go!” “Keep It Up!” This boring first sentence should seem…

After a traumatic loss, acceptance by others on the fringe helped me move on. — I think a lot about my past twenty-something life, not because I have fond memories of parties, friends, and stupidly wild nights, which I do, but because they were also the darkest days of my life. When my mother suddenly died when I was 21, I had to learn to…