Some things are hard to give fit tribute to. No matter what we may say, it always seems to fall short. On those occasions, I’ve found that it can be better, actually to avoid “giving fit tribute” but instead approach the matter “sideways” by focusing on one concrete detail – of the...
What Teachers Make
posted by DJL
It’s National Teacher Recognition Week and so all week I’ll be posting on teachers, teaching practices, and education more generally. Why? Because I don’t think there is anything more important for our future than how we are educating our children (and ourselves) right now. Which means that teachers are incredibly important. But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the kind of attention given teachers in the media and from politicians in recent years. Politicians, in particular, have heaped all kind of blame on our teachers for the state of our kids’ education even as they have been slashing school budgets, laying siege to...
Wind On the Hill
posted by DJL
To tell you the truth, I’ve read more of A. A. Milne as an adult than as a child. (We had those wonderful Disney Winnie the Pooh films; who needed the books?) And even now I probably enjoy listening to him read via an audio book while driving with my kids than actually reading to myself....
Choosing My Name: A ...
posted by DJL
How many names do you have? Puanani Burgess, a young Hawaiian poet, reminds us that we all have more than one name. She does that by describing her multiple names. But hers aren’t simply metaphorical; they represent what it means to live in a richly diverse culture that is strengthened...
Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich: A Poem for Sat...
posted by DJL
Can I just say that in case we are ever tempted to think poetry has to be dry, or serious, or difficult, or intense, or intellectual, or any of the other stuff that usually puts us non-poetry folks off poetry before we actually read any…. Can I just say thank God for Shel Silverstein? Author of The Giving Tree and so many other stories and poems for children and adults, Silverstein reminds us that poetry, at its best, takes a definite number of words and uses them to remind us of the infinite possibilities inherent in language, imagination, and life. Note here – how can you miss it; that’s part of the joke – how Silverstein tries to...