One in three American kids are either overweight or obese according to the Harvard H.T. Chan School of Public Health The rate has tripled over the past three decades and according to the CDC, obesity costs Americans $173 billion dollars a year Nearly half of American children,according to the National…

Mendacious. Salubrious. Defenestrate. I actually know what these words mean because I am a high school English teacher and have been for 30 years. Over that much time, and given that much exposure to all forms of literature, you eventually come across odd words and look them up. These rare…

College Essays: Your Kid’s Ticket ? According to Forbes “ …more than 80% of U.S. bachelor-degree granting institutions will not require students seeking fall 2023 admission to submit either ACT or SAT standardized exam scores.” I find this both interesting and exciting. What it means is that smart kids who…

In my previous edition of American A-holes, I named a person specifically. However, while there are some specific people that just seem to beg to be recognized as an A-hole, there is also an entire subculture of A-holes that need to be grouped together as they are too myriad to…

When I was young, I had these romantic notions of what it meant to be a teacher. I envisioned all of the “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “Dead Poet’s Society” scenarios, and I scoffed at the old geezers who bemoaned their jobs and their lack of dough. Now, I am that…

In the very first Star Wars movie there is a scene where Obi-Wan Kenobi takes control of a stormtroopers’ mind in order to convince him that Kenobi and company are not being sought by the Empire I submit to you that US Soccer is trying to use this same…

Below is a painting by Jackson Pollock I gotta tell ya, I don’t get it. In fact, one day I tracked oil and brake fluid into my house and it mixed with blood from a scrape on my finger and befouled my carpet. …

In his essay “The Myth Of Sisyphus” French existential philosopher and author Albert Camus relates the tale of Sisyphus who is condemned to…

The Atlantic recently published an article called “ The Death of High School English” which pushed the idea that AI will soon be able to write student essays in a manner which is both superior and undetectable. …