Totality

The sky had a whole unreal feel about it; the oh-so-familiar Sun and the Moon were revealed in a whole new light, briefly transformed by the rare celestial crossing.

All Hell!

“I rolled the heavy iron gate closed behind me, locked up the property, and drove off, utterly unaware of the world-reaching calamity that was brewing less than a quarter mile away. . . .” A #Ferguson Story, Continued I ignored the notifications from my cell phone that Sunday morning. After all, I would be answering […]

The Last Days of Summer

The roar of sirens was among the everyday distractions at our school, an alternative education facility housed in a commercial property along busy West Florissant Avenue.           Our program had a long-standing practice of meeting with all students and their families when they enrolled with us. I had come in on a Saturday to accommodate […]

Love and the Deadbeat Boss, Part I: Of Love and Floods

Special 20th Anniversary Repost The thing most midwesterners would remember about the summer of 1993 is The Great Flood.  The Mississippi and Missouri rivers had lay waste their basins to extremes unseen for generations. St. Louis area tributaries such as the Meramec River, Kayser Creek and the River des Peres, had been only momentarily contained […]

Charleton Heston’s Cold Dead Hands

Sadly, the scourge of mass shootings has become a modern epidemic. Our emotions oscillate between extreme outrage and jaded cynicism with each successive occurrence. These tragedies dominate the conversations, social media postings and artistic output of many. Some of us clamor toward media outlets hungry for answers. Others attend vigils and pray. Many simply avoid […]

Two Days, Two Worlds, Two Graduations, Part III: Tomorrow Isn’t Promised

“Tomorrow isn’t promised,” a student once told me as I pleaded with him to take his education more seriously. The student, Thomas, lived in a housing project with his mother, who was widowed after Thomas Sr. was shot at the neighborhood KFC.

Two Days, Two Worlds, Two Graduations, Part II: The Graduation Biz

A former school board member once described our graduations as . . . grasping for a euphemism . . . “spirited.”

Two Days, Two Worlds, Two Graduations, Part I: The Promise

Dec. 7, 2001: On the last day of my student teaching assignment, I said farewell to the 2nd grade class with which I was initiated into the profession. “I expect all of you to graduate from high school,” I told them.             “Mr. C,” one of the boys asked, “are you coming to my graduation?” […]

The Year of the Dragon

“Today I noticed a little spring in my step. I’m getting my power walk back! I pray I never forget how good it feels not to feel bad.”

Darby’s Grave

There is nothing more heartwrenching than a funeral for a child.