400 pages of set-up, 200 pages of delight

[from Saturday night / early, early Sunday morning]
I have finished Gone with the Wind. It is 1 in the morning.
At 11:30, my mom came in the room, a knowing smile on her face.
“How’s the book going?”
A silly grin was my only response.
“Are you going to stay up to finish it?” she asked.
A guilty grin and [...]

Summer Reading List

Yes, admittedly, the summer is half-over (for those of you operating under the three-term University system), but for those operating by the public school system, the summer is just beginning! Besides, I am getting close to starting book number two, meaning I’ll need to add book number four to my list.

Gone with the Wind by [...]

Meditations

What separates the good from the great is discipline.
I was watching this video (yes, I’m a little enamoured of TED talks right now…). I used to play the violin. My teacher complimented my ear and my tone. I was able to produce a clear tone in a very short period of time, and, since there [...]

Benjamin Zander

Brilliant.

He is the author of the book The Art of Possibility. A very good speaker, and has lots of wonderful and inspiring thoughts to share.

In my Father’s house are many rooms

(title from John 14:2)
I was thinking about this the other night, that we really don’t like God mucking around in our lives, and I was trying to understand why. So here’s the thing.
We have cracked flooring. In our houses, we all have floors that are damaged and cracking – maybe they were once beautiful, maybe [...]

Perhaps

I read a quote once that said (basically), “To become an expert in any field is to become intimately acquainted with its dark side”. I’m going to suggest that there probably isn’t much of a “dark side” to teaching in an elementary school, but it does have its own problems and difficulties. But I think [...]

It’s not my fault

I was speaking with a friend of mine the other night about the topic of personal responsibility. Specifically, we were talking about how North American society seems to have decided to give up on personal responsibility. No where am I presented with more blatant proof than on the schoolyard.
Incidents happen on fairly regular basis at [...]

You’re doing it wrong

“You’re doing it wrong.”
Probably the single most destructive phrase in a dance relationship.
I must include my qualifiers and disclaimers before I go on. If it is a dance relationship in which both parties know, respect and are comfortable with each other, saying, “you’re doing it wrong” usually comes across quite differently than when it is [...]

Equal does not mean same

Equal does not mean same.
I think we have a very hard time with this concept in our society, especially when it comes to gender differences. I think that when we say men and women are equal, we have to be very careful to not therefore conclude that men and women are the same. Men and [...]

A debate continued

A friend and I were having a debate a couple of weekends ago. It is only now that I feel I can articulate more clearly the point I was trying to make, and since the debate occurred in the presence of most of our friends, I feel no qualms about raising it again in this [...]