Everyone I know has had a weird teacher. It seems like an unfortunate experience we all share as some kind of uncomfortable rite of passage. The weird teacher isn’t the one who sometimes tells bad jokes or occasionally smells a little of garlic. They’re the one that brings in a plate of brownies with bites …
Students are Pizzas
I’ve been thinking about pizza and how it relates to teaching, mostly because they are both things that are constantly on my mind. My metabolism is as disappointing to me as my eating habits are to the rest of my body. I want to be able to perfectly transform a 4,000 calorie pizza into two …
Looking for Income in New Places
As I struggle to reconcile my uncertain future with the image I’ve had of myself since childhood--part street magician and part elven royalty--I think it may be necessary to seek a more certain form of gainful employment. Teaching is great, and of course I expect a steady and substantial income to come from it, but …
The Sun is an Enemy: Teaching in the Southwest
This is not a story of what happened exactly, but it is a story of what exactly it felt like. Also, nobody actually died, but we were certainly close. We fought the sun, my students and I. It was Summer, and the air was on fire, and the roads melted, and I saw a cactus …
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Dealing With Parents is Weird
When I was a kid, I was intimidated by anyone I registered as an adult, which means pretty much anyone over 5 foot 6. Now that I’m a fully-formed adult at a hulking 5 foot 8, I’m only intimidated by select people of varying height. Naturally, I mention all of this because I finally had …
