Yesterday, a family friend asked me about building endurance given her quest to run five miles. Given that she prefaced her remarks by referencing my track and field history, this became my starting point for addressing her question. I was around 8-years-old when I first joined a track team so I explained that my enduranceContinue reading “Models Monday: Jogging”
Category Archives: Series
Models Monday: Consolation
As I’ve been reading The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing, a collection edited by Kevin Young, I’ve considered how this book might have worked as a dynamic text. Two songs that I keep playing in my head while thinking about scoring the book, if you will, are Don Henley’s “The Heart ofContinue reading “Models Monday: Consolation”
Models Monday: Barack Obama and Other Models by which to Live
Now that Barack Obama is President of the United States, he symbolizes the possibility of maximizing one’s potential in a way that earlier generations of Americans thought a mere fantasy. For me, Obama represents even broader possibilities regarding how to live in this world beyond where you work. Here are several examples of what PresidentContinue reading “Models Monday: Barack Obama and Other Models by which to Live”
Models Monday: Bob Dylan’s Confidence
Once upon a time, I was in a study group with several very nice, competent, and helpful people. We always began our sessions with a meal and a discussion about what we were reading, watching, and listening to. We all tended to lean towards enjoying the same stories about mountain climbing tragedies and documentary filmsContinue reading “Models Monday: Bob Dylan’s Confidence”
Jazzing Up the Core: Immersed in the Classics
In reading this Huffington post article, I learned about how Lance Underwood, the father of two sons, had the brilliant idea to photoshop his sons into classic album covers. You should check out his Tumblr. My favorite visual remix has to be the one of Underwood’s son as Miles Davis on the cover of BirthContinue reading “Jazzing Up the Core: Immersed in the Classics”
Models Monday: Jazzing Up the Core
As I’ve continued to reflect on standardized tests, I’ve come to another conclusion about their limits. There’s nothing seductive about the thinking they prompt. Conclusions, right or wrong, don’t even hint at the pleasures of puzzling over meaning. Sometimes I wonder if it’s this teaching to the test stuff that makes young people so bland.Continue reading “Models Monday: Jazzing Up the Core”
Models Monday: Test Results
Though I wasn’t feeling well last week, there were a few commitments that I needed to keep…and those few things took all the strength I could muster. One of the most grueling commitments was to my son’s school where I had agreed to proctor a standardized test for the first grade class. Admittedly, it seemedContinue reading “Models Monday: Test Results”
Models Monday: If Two Days Aren’t Enough…
I’ll take three…
Models Monday: The Heart of the Matter
I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, Benji, for the twentieth time this weekend. This very moving film tells the tragic story of the shooting death of Chicago basketball sensation Benjamin Wilson. At the time of his death, the 17-year-old was ranked the number one high school player in the nation and so wasContinue reading “Models Monday: The Heart of the Matter”
Models Monday: Adultery and (Non)Violence
In much of the scholarship one reads about the tragically brief life of Martin Luther King, Jr., one can observe the great efforts scholars make to engage King’s struggles to resolve the tension between a ministry centering on his role in advocating and living a life consistent with the gospels and the private man whoContinue reading “Models Monday: Adultery and (Non)Violence”