My mother, a farm girl, was more interested in chickens than birds. But she loved robins and always commented: "They might not be beauties to most people, but they're nice. There's a politeness about them." Then came her next bird observation: "They're not like those awful blue jays, always making a racket and barging in."…

Saturday was my birthday. My family understands that KAREN written in pastel icing across a vanilla cake is essential. So that's never a surprise. Still, I did get surprised this year. Maybe shocked would be a better choice. That morning as Cliff and I sat on the porch, Rob and Beth walked over with a…

Monday, August 21: Solar Eclipse. I knew it was coming; it consumed the news for two weeks. But when I woke that morning to a honking horn, I knew I was in for a day like no other. I looked out the window to find a traffic jam on Church Street. Five cars at a…

Because I'm a writer, I can sift through details to make the story end however I like. Therefore, I made my previous post, "A Toad, A Turkey, and a Ton of Sandstone" sound delightful. I skipped over the middle. It didn't show me in the best possible light, a dark place not suitable for my…

When we moved into this house, built in 1859, we outlined obvious projects: rotting corbels, leaking roof, loose bricks. But the garden, while not a structural disaster, made me wince. Once the three-feet-tall weeds were removed, I faced a new obstacle. A previous owner had created a path with round cement pavers from a big…

In Milan, the whole community rallies for Memorial Day. The Edison High School Marching Band lines up in the town square. Baton twirlers, scout troops, and veterans. Fire trucks and police cars with whirling lights. Eager children on bikes decorated in red, white, and blue. The whistle blasts. They're off, parading to the cemetery for…

When we moved to Milan, Ohio, two years ago, a terrific high school boy, Connor, began mowing and trimming our yard. He's not reluctant to tackle any chore. He even joined Cliff for fence painting on summer mornings when he didn't have football practice. My mother would have called Conner workified, significant praise from her.…

Prayer has never been my go-to position. To me, it seems like a desperate last-ditch effort to get something or to avoid something. Like making a wish, blowing out birthday candles, and expecting life to change easily. But I found myself in that last-ditch-effort position once. Like most couples, Cliff and I wanted to be…

It started out simply enough. On a Huron County run for Meals on Wheels last March, Cliff's supervisor pointed to an eagle's nest in a towering oak beside a rushing creek. She'd watched families come and go for three years and said another one was on the nest. That nest was a deep stack of…

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…