Moments with Strangers
When I’m out and about town, I realize how much I love interacting with complete strangers. It’s becoming a problem because I find myself wanting to know everything about them. Maybe I should have been a journalist or a talk show host. Maybe my April blog will have something to do with discovering strangers every […]
Learning Non-Negotiables in Work / Life Balance
I’m learning from various folks how they protect their family time from the ever-encroaching demands of work and service. Lately, the concept of “non-negotiables” comes into these conversations. Wise mentors, for example, refuse to travel more than once a month. It’s a non-negotiable. Others protect family dinner as a non-negotiable. Still others insist that Friday […]
Maybe She Needs To
This morning I see a groundhog racing around a field as I’m driving to campus. I know this field; sometimes a dozen or so groundhogs will scurry across and then dive into their underground tunnels. I imagine this whole network of tunnels and an intricate Groundhog City. I wish I could see it and understand it. […]
If You Dominate Every Conversation
I’ve become aware that I control every single conversation. I confess! I repent! My friend kindly tells me that it’s my leadership style and perhaps my teacher’s heart (and I excuse it as my curiosity), but it’s really my bossy, nosey, impatient, and controlling personality. It’s my power-hungry, obnoxious self. I’m a conversation thief. I […]
Every Single Frame
I find a quote by photographer Annie Leibovitz that has me thinking. She says, “I am impressed with what happens when someone stays in the same place and you took the same picture over and over and it would be different, every single frame.” So much of my life in the past 8 years has been […]
I Love Psalm 143:10
This morning I read this in Psalm 143:10: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” It’s such a simple cry for God to teach us what we need to know to do His will, and that we’d be led on level ground. […]
Every 50 Minutes
My kinesiology students have been teaching me all about the dangers of a sedentary writer’s life. The research confirms that I must move more throughout my day, not just in my bursts of exercise in the early morning. The writing life that sits all day is not good for my body. It’s not good for […]
5 Things I Learned That May or May Not Be True
Today I learned several things that may or may not be true from students who heard this information from somewhere. I am so curious that I just cannot wait to learn more. I learned that certain sounds can make one physically sick. I learned that we connect more, and feel more rapport with, people who […]
What We Didn’t See Before
I asked my students another name game prompt: “What’s one thing you look forward to when you wake up in the morning?” My favorite answer? A student says simply this: “I look forward to what I’m going to learn that day. I look forward to learning something new.” Something new. Something I didn’t know before […]
Why We Do What We Do
I love asking students to interrogate every day objects and routines in their lives to find out what they signify. They consider what’s in plain sight to them all the time. They ask questions like: What does this object represent to me? What meaning do I attach to it? What does this object or activity teach […]