What Crosses My Mind

  • On Racism, Schools & Awareness

    Whenever an act of racism occurs in my community, or in the world around me, I never know quite how to respond. My natural reaction is to be appalled and disappointed, then fear settles in, then uneasiness, followed by confusion. My gut tells me I want to figure out who to blame first, and then…

  • When Childhood Seemed Innocent

    We would play, for hours in May, anticipating the summer day, those opportunities ahead that contained no worries, no stress, no school remained.   I remember our time spent on the court the roundball, and later building a fort we camped in the woods across the fields, we lived for all the beauty that nature…

  • While Eyes Were Walking

    So many waves of opportunity we stepped inside without knowing only hopeful, perhaps somewhere, sometime, we might, we could possibly land here.   There were smiles all around, we wondered in silence if it was real, could this be this way that provided a happy medium, a place to stay, stand near.   Well I…

  • Giving Back

    I stole your time, trying, I watched as you heard my whine, kept your smile, I walked inside your world, offered nothing in return, that was then, I still remember the anxiety, know the confusion, appreciate the lost world I began seeking your guidance. Simply not fair, I know this today, as I see me…

  • Serenity

    A silent muse, peace, a posture wishful in why to seek serenity. A word, create a visual definition, breathe in breathe out breathe again for there is nothing without. I often want to travel back, stand in the hallway outside the cafeteria, where I can still remember the double locked lunchroom doors, almost feel their…

  • When I Was 17

    I remember not wanting to be around, afraid of my own shadow, playing anxiety games with my friends, see who could cover their shadow, who might understand the freedom the real world, the possibility that exists beyond our dreams. ~ I remember sleepless nights with an amphetamine, the coursing through my veins attitude, we could…

  • Why Do We Teach?

    We measure our lives for the children, whether we advocate whether we understand whether we accept whether we gratify whether we acknowledge our own defeatist frame of mind while trying to change lives along the way. ~ I faced an obstacle today, one that turned out represented a state of mind, a clear example of…

  • The Arms of Compassion

    In the season of autumn when needs do shift summer’s recreation begins a gradual wane; lives are soon measured in orchestrated assemblies. Their eyes come in fogged by the shock crickets will sound in the evening sky. ~ Hold on one more moment before our hearts begin our next chapter, the rite of passage a…

  • Classroom Blues

    I am a teacher in my classroom now an easy day covering the bases really. Students are on task summer school blues they all want to run why it is summertime. Some know the hours some will return while I gaze across the room I wonder about their lives scanning Facebook learning Pinterest the consequence; a…

  • We Are Teachers

    We spend our days Walking hallways Saying hello Being mellow, In the eyes of our young minds, In the hopes they might unwind The tension that drives their soul The gathering storm of the coming lull. ~ Yet they are not aware While challenges that dare Welcome their human nature That demands they be mature…