What Crosses My Mind

  • When A Mass Shooter Commits Suicide

    I feel lost and helpless, out of control, I cannot fathom the pain that is now endured by the family, the friend, the community, the loss of life so random and unexpected, … and this has nothing to do with the shooter.   I’m left in a fury of angst and simple confusion, I know…

  • Lest We Forget, Again

    For we do that, oh so often, we do decide upon a beautiful sunset, perhaps the rising moon, a sweet snowfall, even the rain of a heated summer day, lets our mind return to the numbing nature of a human condition built upon, the product of denial.   But we cannot, simply look alive people,…

  • name and faces

    I walked into my classroom today, and the kids were being themselves, I was thinking about their welfare, wondering how many wondered themselves. When I glanced into their faces, I’d seen them already, splashed across the television screen hanging in the living room of everyone’s home. I wonder if it’s possible to tell each other…

  • I Looked In Their Hearts Today

    I didn’t tell them as much, you never can, well you might, I might occasionally want to shout, I want them to know I love them, we love them, there’s a lot of love when each one of them walks inside my classroom.   I wanted to reach them today, they couldn’t really feel the…

  • The Problem with Guns, Pranks & Kids

    Recently, the school district I work in experienced a social media crisis when kids posted pictures of themselves with the message — ‘Don’t come to school’ as we prepare to return to the classroom after the winer break. The problem is the students are holding what appear to be weapons — automatic rifles and revolvers — all of which have since…

  • When Once We Stood Together

    Today I remember then, only when I cannot quite comprehend. I know it was with intrigue I wondered about time, was this perhaps the proper sign. I would look to wonder each new design a telling of a simple future. Seems we all have a memory whereby we might all recall sweet passion was most…

  • Haven’t Heard

    I listened only long enough to fear, the easiest emotion, that moment when suddenly confusion, our lives, becomes less about being in control, far more about wanting to run away. I want that, more than anything else in the world, I don’t want to be there when it happens. I don’t desire definition. Whether we…

  • Trying to Focus on Home

    There’s this thing happening, on the streets of my neighborhood, there isn’t a name really, just a lot of confusion. ~ Oh some like to call it inalienable rights, others refer to the strength of the NRA. ~ Whatever the cool language of the day, what matters more are the continued loss of life. ~…

  • Racism, Hate, Evil, Bigot … Reality

    I want to wrap my head around the pain, because that is where we belong, we cannot forget the horrific loss, the tragedy of humanity at its finest, buried within the wild constraints of evil. Where does it lie, just waiting? I know myself when I walk into a room, a certain baggage wrapped underneath…

  • A Morning Stroll (after the tragedy)

    Walk with eyes open, a different look today, notice the change of heart, perhaps a hesitation, that normal glance of hello now secondary to this inherent need shadows fear’s trepidation. ~ Seems everyday can never be the same as it were, when yesterday the stroll seemed arbitrary. Crossing the street occurs always a bit easier…