The 5AM Club Is Just Insomnia With Branding
A student asked if I do the 5 a.m. club. I said I wake at 5 because anxiety is my alarm clock. She looked relieved. We read Sappho instead of a hustle podcas...
#teaching
Student Office Hours Felt Like Triage
Office hours. Line out the door. One student crying about grades. One about a visa. One about a professor's comment. The job is half content, half containmen...
A Student Asked If the Civil War Was Real
A junior asked me if the Civil War was like, confirmed real, because a podcast said it was mostly about taxes, the textbook said slavery, and TikTok said bot...
A Parent Complained About "Bias" in the Civil Rights Unit
An email arrived from a parent about bias in my civil rights unit. I cited statutes, speeches, photographs. Bias is not the same as a fact you dislike. Admin...
BBQ Club Fundraiser and the History of Smoke
BBQ club fundraiser after school. Kids asked why we smoke meat low and slow. I turned it into ten minutes on preservation, migration, and West African techni...
Teaching a Workshop Means Lowering Your Standards for Joy
Weekend workshop. Students wanted perfect edges. I wanted them to feel the fiber. One cried when hers tore. I said tear is a story. She looked at me like I w...
The Eight-Minute Tax
When professors can't run basic classroom tech, students lose real instructional time and absorb damaging lessons about professional accountability.
The Face That Pays Better Than Money
A high school art teacher on why one student's moment of discovery at the pottery wheel is worth more than a full-time studio career.