A Letter to My Younger Self

Posted June 8, 2023

Filed under Life

Dear Younger Self,

There really is no easy way to tell you this, so I’ll just say it, you will have regret. You will step on someone’s toes when you meant to leap over them and yell when you should whisper and wear the wrong thing to the right place. You will dance when you should sit and sit when you should dance. You will hate what is good for you and love what will leave a mark. Your regret list is already a long one, and Act Three is only beginning. But for the most part these are moths or confetti or frosty regrets; trust me, they will not linger forever. Each will cause you to pivot or stumble or need a rest. Afterwards you will rise stronger. Each time. My best advice? Have faith in yourself.

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Pomp and Circumstance

Posted May 25, 2023

Filed under Life

As the school year rolls into a June stop, I always like to press pause and ask my Seniors to reflect on their first 18 years, and consider imparting some advice on their peers. To that end one of their final assignments is to write a Valedictorian Speech, regardless if they will give one at Graduation or not. I write a Commencement Speaker Speech, regardless that I will not give it at Graduation. Seems like a task worthwhile for all of us to do these last days, don’t you think? The other day, during Period 3 we each stood at the podium on the auditorium stage, and addressed each other with all the pomp we could muster. I can assure you, they move me to laughter and tears every year, and I am always in wonder over their wisdom and optimism. This time too.

Tonight, I will share my speech with you.

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No, it is the guns

Posted March 30, 2023

Filed under Life

As most of America is still reeling from one mass murder and bracing for yet another, I find myself wanting to do little else than scream in outrage to not think at all about the epidemic of gun violence that dominates our lives. Not thinking is winning, mostly. After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School on that crystal clear December 14th morning in 2012 I felt certain that change would come about, that we did not want to be a country where children would be valued less than profit gains for weapon’s manufactures, but as failed law after failed law dissolved into shameful inaction, part of my belief broke. Government has failed to fix this problem here in this United States of America. Thanks to the NRA and their fully weaponized lobby, much policy is run on greed by the ultra-rich who foster illusions for those they disregard. But this is old news. There is no new shaming news left for our Republican Senators to shine on us: we know them by their own voting history which has earned them high NRA ratings and burgeoning cash rewards. But there is always a new twist on who or what to blame coming from their media spots and I am sickened by the garbage they spread.