What Crosses My Mind

  • Days Like These … (on bullying) prose

    I often wonder about my passions in life. I know I became a teacher for a reason, but that isn’t always enough to satisfy my curiosity. I love my job, I love the students I work with, and love all the challenges that come with my classroom and the stage work that occurs after the…

  • Scotch on the Rocks -prose-

    Nine years ago, I had one of these. Around 4 in the afternoon, as soon as I could after getting out of work. I know I probably had two before going home for about 1/2 hour and then taking off with the excuse that I had correcting to do. My school basketball team was in…

  • Wandering Souls -prose-

    The other day when I wrote I was upset about the circumstances of a loss of human life, one that would be thought of as too soon. Some might call it a waste of a good life. I remember hearing a colleague, a person I consider a friend, even though they might not value that…

  • Lest We Forget We are Human Beings -prose-

    There’s a famous line in the relatively obscure movie Freedom Writers that has stuck with me since the first time I heard it in context. ‘You know what’s gonna happen when you die? You’re gonna rot in the ground.” – Erin Gruwell. The context speaks to a young African American student wanting to be recognized…

  • Transparent Demons (prose)

    Used to be I was afraid to write anything at all for fear of revealing my internal demons. Then I might pick up an author, like Stephen King, and read his words voraciously being quite fascinated with his ability to step outside of himself and write such frightening prose. Then I would ask myself, is…

  • A Cold Reality

    When I drive by the spot, I am immediately reminded of how painful the memory is; a moment in my life that I have never tried to discard, but only keep strong in my mind for the value of sentiment. To me, to speak of love is to know when everything I felt important in…

  • Lee Daniels’ The Butler – A Review

    Lee Daniels’ The Butler – A Review I threw on a little Billie Holiday in the background because I hoped it might be an appropriate mood setter for writing a review of Lee Daniels’ The Butler. You see, I’m a white guy talking about something very personal towards a black audience, an African-American topic if…