“We think that we know a man or a woman, when so much of what we know is actually that man’s or that woman’s situation, his or her place on the board of life. Move the pawn to the last… Read More ›
Education
Historic Gains, Cake and Ice Cream, and a Few Unanswered Questions
“My greatest fear for my life and yours is that we’ll just get busy and distracted and settle for a mediocre, unexamined life. It’s that we’ll just settle into life as usual and never become the person God intended for… Read More ›
THE GOVERNOR’S RACE, CHARTER SCHOOL REALITY, AND THE NUMBERS WE CHOOSE TO BELIEVE
“I once wanted to be a king who wrote history. Now I realise only kings write history,’ Simnel says. ‘Is anything true written anymore?” ― Jo Harkin, The Pretender Election Day is fast approaching. That means Tennessee will soon… Read More ›
Fall Break’s Over. The Questions Aren’t.
“I suspect the most we can hope for, and it’s no small hope, is that we never give up, that we never stop giving ourselves permission to try to love and receive love.” ― Elizabeth Strout, Abide With Me … Read More ›
Every Child Known. Every System Protected.
“The problem isn’t who is in charge. It’s what is in charge. The problem is that people are encouraged to function as machines. Or, actually, as mechanisms. Human emotion and sympathy are unprofessional. They are inappropriate to the exercise of… Read More ›
Somebody Is Always in the Teacher’s Ear
“Everything will be alright in the end, so if it is not alright, it is not the end.” — Deborah Moggach, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Teaching is a weird profession. It is one of the few professions where the… Read More ›
Something Is Going On Over on Bransford Avenue
“Whatever happens to human beings trust is the atmosphere in which it thrives.” ― Sissela Bok Something is going on over on Bransford Avenue. Hard to figure out exactly what it is. But something is going on. The rumblings… Read More ›
The Day the Hyphens Disappeared
“Whenever purity is paramount, terror is close at hand.” ― Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 Twenty-five years ago, the world changed. People older than me remember exactly where they were when JFK was… Read More ›
The Light She Left Behind
“Those we love don’t go away, they sit beside us every day.” — Liane Moriarty, Big Little Lies Forgive us if we are a little sad here in Tennessee. We lost a shining light this week when Dolly Parton departed… Read More ›
Under the Lights, the Truth Is Harder to Hide
“The problem is that progress stopped making sense. More and more of us looked up one day and realized that the emperor had no clothes.” ― Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility… Read More ›
