Boom Boom Vs The Quickness

Theme: Show & Tell – Tenx9 Nashville – Douglas Corner Cafe – Nashville The set up that wasn’t recorded was this: After nearly a decade working in the criminal justice system as a mental health/substance abuse counselor, I needed a break. The year was 1999. So, some crazy people at Laurel High School in Knoxville […]

Your Brain Said It Was Ok To Stretch It

I spoke with your brain privately, and one message was unmistakable: Feed Your Noggin. Hacks for Start-ups: https://twitter.com/GrowthHackers/status/530512536974921728?s=09 Help with navigating grammar: https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/530443200834830336?s=09 Go to college or graduate school…for free: https://twitter.com/Awkward_Duck/status/530432044388872193?s=09 And if knowledge fails, at least smell good. https://twitter.com/DangerMindsBlog/status/530442397004886016?s=09

Tweet of the Day: My Son the Blogger Edition

If you have a child at least 7, who is into geeky stuff like Minecraft, Star Wars and origami…my son’s blog is PERFECT. He started about 6 months ago and is now up to 75 followers. I am SO PROUD of him. He stayed after school and taught his 4th grade teacher how to use […]

Is Katy Perry a Racist for Wearing a Geisha? Is This Even the Most Helpful Question?

Here we go again. Another public figure does something that is offensive. If you look back at this blog, you know these questions are ones I think all people have an ethical obligation to wrestle with. So I’m wrestling. And I very well could be wrong. I think racist (and all the other isms) and […]

Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught? Yes, and it should shape all our interactions with kids.

Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught? Yes, and it should shape all our interactions with kids. I worked as a counselor for twelve years and an educator for ten. I cannot stress how important this concept is. You see the glaring absence of these skill in college students — unable to learn because they have no […]

Top 50 Myths About Being Transgender from Kaylie Love Proud To Be Transgender

Top 50 Myths About Being Transgender: 1. Being transgender is a choice. 2. Gender and sexuality are the same thing. 3. All trans people are men in dresses. 4. Trans people can’t have families. 5. Trans people are just transvestites. 6. All trans people are really gay. 7. All trans men are butch/extremely masculine and all trans women are extremely feminine.8. […]

Teaching Teaches Me (then & now)

This essay was written JANUARY 23, 2011 when I was recovering from back surgery. My teaching position was eliminated in December of 2012 and this week, I asked my former students a question. What was one thing you learned from me? Originally, my intention was to use their responses in cover letters as a way to […]

Put up or shut up. The best war ever.

It took me a year to figure out I didn’t want to be the Principal of a very cool non-traditional high school in Knoxville, Tennessee called Laurel High (across from Laurel Theatre in Ft. Sanders). My best buddy (who taught Science & can drink me under the table) Sheri and I devised a scheme to […]