Fourth grade was everything at Sherman School in Middletown, Ohio. My friend Carla and I were equal parts excited and scared. Fourth grade heralded The Introduction to the Fountain Pen, a momentous step into adulthood in a 1950s curriculum. Fourth grade also meant moving to the new building that housed the big kids and a…

Not that the classroom failed to provide valuable lessons, but it was my extracurricular work that showed me the most about teenagers. And about myself. One teacher's bad apple was another's blue ribbon. Not only did I direct plays, I had to get sets built and lights hung in the Commons because we had no…

Somehow I thought quitting would be the end of the story. Of course not. Eventually, I heard from a distraught student who confessed she'd spread lies about me for years. A teacher told her I'd been fired because of her. There it was--a missing clue to my seven-year ordeal. Inquisitions with agendas I never understood.…

The school stuck labels to me like neon post-it notes. Apparently, I wasn't doing anything correctly. Yet, I refused to believe I was a train wreck. Fortunately, I found helpers, what Fred Rogers showed his TV audience in the acclaimed Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He once said: "When I was a boy and I would see…

When I say I turned out to be an above-average teacher, you'll have to take my word for it, unless you picked up a hint of my reach by reading the 12 reflections from former students. Of course my daughter Maggie, who has a wicked sense of humor, read those posts and said, "Mom, I…

Frustration, fear, and fury marked my seven years of teaching at Holland Hall. My experience was not atypical for working women back then. Questions asked of me during that early summer interview would be illegal now but were standard practice then for hiring women. Did I have a boyfriend? Did I plan to marry and…

No one escapes high school. Graduate or drop out, but the memories linger. You smile at them or puzzle over them or imagine how you could have handled issues differently. Like it or not, those formative years are never far from you. The same is true for high school teachers, too. I discovered this recently…

Every year we watch the Super Bowl, although I'm mostly interested in the snacks and half-time show. I don't know a thing in the world about the game itself, but I know a metaphor when I see it. It looked bad for the New England Patriots on Sunday night. Tom Brady threw pass after pass…

This picture was taken before Maggie's feet ached inside her muddy shoes. Before she'd been jostled for six hours. Before part of the group wandered off. Before the others panicked and set out to find those four needles in a haystack. Before she realized their leader had organizational issues. Even after all those befores, she…

Protesting or resisting. It's a tough business. You either discover yourself in a group venture or you get lost in it. And at the end of the day, you make a decision about the price of admission. Because there certainly is one if you raise your hand to power and say, "Wait a minute." Authority…

Because Maggie is the President of College of Wooster's chapter of Planned Parenthood, it seemed likely she'd attend the march. Along with women's issues concerning respect and reproductive freedom, she's an immigrant, a minority, and a new voter. Wooster's Westminster Presbyterian Church contacted her about filling the eight seats they'd reserved for her group on…

[From 1976-1983, I taught English and directed plays at Holland Hall Upper School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was twenty-four and had negligible experience. I didn't know up from down about teaching, but during those years, a handful of students changed me irrevocably. Over three decades, one way or the other, they've found me. I recently…

I said nothing at the time. At a children's birthday party, a mother announced her four-year-old son had asked for trumpet lessons. Several parents complimented the boy's interest in music. "No!" she responded. "I'm not listening to hours of trumpet practice! I told him he could learn the violin or piano." I felt terrible for…

In the days approaching Christmas, life is sporadically peaceful. While kitchen multi-tasking, I set a sheet of parchment paper on fire. No cookies were lost. Our dog Maria recently took a fall and couldn't walk, landing her at the vet's with us carrying her in by towel sling. Two weeks ago I undertook a harrowing…

{From 1976-1983, I taught English and directed plays at Holland Hall Upper School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was twenty-four and had negligible experience. I didn't know up from down about teaching, but during those years, a handful of students changed me irrevocably. Over three decades, one way or the other, they've found me. I recently…

[From 1976-1983, I taught English and directed plays at Holland Hall Upper School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was twenty-four and had negligible experience. I didn't know up from down about teaching, but during those years, a handful of students changed me irrevocably. Over three decades, one way or the other, they've found me. I recently…

Cliff and I faced buying a new car recently. We drove several and talked with the salesman. When things started sounding serious, he called in the money person. She presented options. The conversation finally ended. He handed us his business card. She scribbled her phone number on a post-it note. Over several days, Cliff called…

If you look up the expression, it's either God or the Devil in those details. It was God in my house. My mother always said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing well." She ironed sheets and pillowcases, each bed made with six inches of top sheet folded neatly over the blanket. Her garden was an…

In my years with Cliff, I've seen this happen numerous times in public places. A tearful child will walk up to him and announce: "I can't find my mommy." Cliff gets down on his knee and says, "We'll find her." Then he takes that small hand and looks for the information counter or customer service.…

My mother-in-law Mary Jo and I had one common reference point: Cliff. Her son, my husband. Even then, we would have disagreed across the board on his welfare. Pick a topic, any topic. We were decidedly different women. However, I did learn something valuable from her. She told me once about a lost opportunity with…