We just took the boys, teenagers both, to the pediatrician. Now that they’re 15 and 18, that paper we get listing healthy behaviors is more complicated and involved than when they were five and eight. Eat fresh fruit, don’t do drugs, look both ways before crossing the street–but you really wanna help your kids have healthy, happy lives?: Teach them how to zero out their email inboxes. [Read more →]
I am an English Professor, so I am invested in demonstrating that students who major in English are successful, as measured in various ways. Keep in mind, thought, that I would consider it unethical to persuade a student to major in English simply because it’s my field: Instead, it’s my field because I believe in its value. [Read more →]
If you’re lucky, your boys are eager readers. If you’re really lucky, your boys are eager writers. But in many households, of course, neither is the case, and folks are in the midst of summer book battles. [Read more →]
I have this image in my mind, a little movie, although I can’t remember where I saw it (perhaps it was one of my vivid dreams): A dad pulls into the driveway after a day of work. His tiny son is playing with a truck in the yard. When the boy sees dad the truck drops from his hand, as if it didn’t exist, and the boy scampers over. The dad sweeps him up.
I love that image. [Read more →]
At one point, my wife and I were young guns, a couple with small kids. We moved into our neighborhood 18 years ago, and it was full of children. Ours were among the youngest. When our “Lane gang” went to school those first few years, the group pic had 20+ kids. But each year, the number dwindled, until there were only three or four kids. The lane, for a few years, was quiet. [Read more →]
We are not strict parents. My boys are the only ones home now, and while I don’t think I should be their best bud, we have an easy, pleasant rapport. However, I sometimes think my reluctance to disrupt that rapport has prevented me from laying down the hammer.
As a parent, you are lead to believe that part of your job is to impart wisdom. You quickly realize that curve of wisdom climbs upward snugly alongside the curve of your progeny’s ages. [Read more →]
I had a specific reason for watching the NFL draft last weekend: I was waiting to see when Kelvin Harmon, a wide receiver from North Carolina State who played his high school football at my local high school, Palmyra, was going to be drafted. [Read more →]
My dissertation advisor, Dr. Eli Goldblatt, is retiring after many years at Temple University. I wrote the following as part of a tribute to the great man that took place at Temple on April 1.
“A Real Advisor (We’ll Call Him ‘Eli’) and a Gloomy, Lethargic, Uncertain Grad Student (GLUGS)”
A short play. [Read more →]
We blew through The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It was a good spousal bonding experience, if for no other reasons than that she liked it enough to a) watch it all and b) stay awake through (most) of it. I thought the first two seasons were great, big-theater-on-TV that it is. Mrs. Maisel herself is, well, talented and marvelous, and I loved the anatomy of stand-up comedy. [Read more →]
Sorry, haters, but I enjoyed Super Bowl 53. To me, it was anything but a snooze-fest, and I’d say I was surprised that so many people saw it that way except I kept getting jolted with a reminder by almost every Super Bowl ad about what people want: Explosions and crashes and cliched one-liners. Shiny objects and loud noises. [Read more →]
There was a big moment in South Jersey wrestling last week: Kingsway High School and Rancocas Valley High School squared off in a match. Both teams were comprised of girls.
It’s about time. [Read more →]
At the very end of 2018, a New Jersey appeals court struck down the use of the PARCC test (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) as a graduation requirement for public high school students. That’s great news for the many people, including me, frustrated by the excesses of standardized testing. [Read more →]
I stumbled across something last year and tucked it away: Studies show Christmas songs can be bad for your stress and mental state. [Read more →]
I was watching the Vikings-Patriots game Sunday, and the announcers were talking (I mean, they’re always talking) about Viking Sheldon Richardson. Unlike most announcer blather, this ended up being an interesting story about a player who had gone through some self-imposed rough times to be where he is today. In a Minneapolis Star Tribune piece, Richardson discussed what he would say to his younger self: [Read more →]
Each day that I head over to my job at Drexel, I think about how I get to be around amazing, motivated students. That’s one of the main benefits of the career I chose. [Read more →]
PALMYRA, NJ – Science programming at Palmyra High School (PHS) will receive a $15,500 donation as a result of a Casino Night fundraiser conducted by the Palmyra High School Foundation for Educational Excellence (PHSFEE). [Read more →]
Well, it’s about time. We’re playing some D&D. In school. For the good of all. [Read more →]
Summer’s getting darn near over for many (as I’ve said before, though, not for me, so direct your sad thoughts elsewhere). Children will be taking to the fields again. Parents will be preparing for time on the sidelines and bleachers. For an unfortunately sizable portion of the latter group, their time will be spent… yelling at the officials! [Read more →]
