SOME YEARS AGO, I was asked to help a kid tell his story.
I met him and his mom.
We talked for a while on a wooden bench in a breezeway by the front door of his school.
It didn’t take long for me to realize he was wise beyond his years.
Wisdom served him well, because he had to adjust to adolescence and deal with something far from most adolescent minds.
(more…)I NEED SLEEP.
It’s been a long week.
I’m tired so this post might be short, or it might meander until I drift off into delirium.
I haven’t decided yet.
(more…)It was just another Tuesday, and I was just another 15-year-old sophomore in high school.
My mind had little regard for anything except girls, sports, what I’d eat for lunch and how I’d get through math class.
I didn’t have a cell phone or a driver’s license.
I was nowhere near New York City or the World Trade Center.
Terrorism was just a word.
I’m 32 now. Things are different.
I know you might skim this story on your cell phone. I know you might be too young to remember what happened.
Maybe you weren’t even born.
Maybe all you know about Sept. 11, 2001, came from what you’ve seen on social media or heard in history class.
My friend wrote a column about Sept. 11 last week, in which she made a wonderful point about what I remember most from the the day’s aftermath. I’ve thought about you since I read it. I thought about you again this morning, when I saw an Instagram post from a history teacher who had students interview someone who has a clear memory of what happened 17 years ago today to help them see a different picture of one of America’s most disasterous days.
I’ll never forget what unfolded in those hours.
If you can’t remember, and you have a minute to spare, I’d like to try to take you to a time when the history you’ve heard was just heartbreak. (more…)
If you want to talk about how kindness is an afterthought in the world today, you’ll just have to find someone else who will listen.
I don’t dispute there’s a lot less kindness than there once was, and I know the world could use a lot more, but there’s still some here.
I know. I’ve been given the gift of two random acts of kindness in the last two months.
I have recently learned something new.
It is a peculiar thing to quit a job.
Since my last day at the newspaper, a few things have happened.
One has been a little more difficult to figure out how to respond to than others. (more…)
