While student teaching in Venezuela, we learned how to have fun with not much money. One of the American teachers had stolen a couple of striped beach towels from an upscale hotel, and she had been sneaking into the hotel pool for years. “Just carry the towel and act like you belong,” Linda said. Christy… Continue reading Sneaking into the Pool
Category: teaching
Peace Corps Fail
It was in the spring of my first year of teaching when the call came. I was at Greenwood Elementary in Greenwood, Nebraska. I had applied to the Peace Corps the year before. They had just seen my application. They wanted to fly me to Chicago for an interview that weekend. They gave me 24… Continue reading Peace Corps Fail
It’s Up to You, Millennials
The shooting at the Parkland, Florida high school is more rotten news you don’t want to think about. But it happened, and those kids are pissed. They lost 14 friends, two coaches, and a young teacher who was engaged to be married. A disgruntled nineteen year old with an assault weapon took them out in… Continue reading It’s Up to You, Millennials
Vote with your Dollars
Two interesting things happened yesterday on social media. 1. Dick’s Sporting Goods announced it would no longer sell assault type weapons or any guns to individuals under the age of 21. 2. I got a conversation of NRA friends to stop saying we are coming for their weapons. I have learned how to vote with… Continue reading Vote with your Dollars
This Little Piggy
After college, I lived in a town with 2000 people and a bunch of pigs — real ones, the kind that grunt and poop and lift the gate latch with their noses. I saw something run past the window of my rented farmhouse. At first I thought it was a deer until I put on… Continue reading This Little Piggy
Cowgirl Tips
After moving to Omaha and teaching for a couple of years across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I grew tired of driving a car that smelled like a mildewed basement. My poor Chevy Monza had suffered through a Nebraska flood back at the farmhouse, and the car stank. I couldn’t afford a new… Continue reading Cowgirl Tips
Too Tired to Boogie
The band room was a freezer. “Vamos a sentarnos en el pasillo, clase.” “What?” “We’ll sit in the hallway today.” It was zero degrees outside. The school district wanted a Spanish class but had no classroom for me. I’d complained a zillion times – when the band teacher held private tuba lessons in his office,… Continue reading Too Tired to Boogie
Flyboy Fail
Offutt Airforce Base is just outside of Omaha. You could spot an air force guy anywhere in town because of his close haircut, back in the day of long-haired hippie dudes. A clean-cut guy in a uniform worked for a lot of women, and I was no exception. We met at a dance bar, and… Continue reading Flyboy Fail
Dance with Me, Young Jeremy
Each dance bar in Omaha ended the night with its signature song. One bar closed with Last Dance by Donna Summer, another used Shout from the Blues Brothers movie (by the Isley Brothers) as its sign-off song. But my fave dance bar closed with the song New York, New York. It seemed an odd choice… Continue reading Dance with Me, Young Jeremy
Teddy Bear With Back Hair
When I lived in Omaha for eight years in my twenties, I dated almost all the eligible men I met in my age range, at least once — shorter guys, smokers, non-dancers, younger guys, poorer guys (I was a school teacher!) and guys with facial hair. But I NEVER dated a guy with back hair… Continue reading Teddy Bear With Back Hair
