Beverly Cleary passed away this week at the age of 104, and I am mourning her loss. I loved the Ramona books growing up, but I’ve been loving them even more with my kids.
Recipe For Losing Your Voice
How to Lose Your Creative Voice Preheat the environment with a year-long global pandemic. 2. Mix together despair, grief, and self-doubt. 3. Add several dashes of social media. The seasoning will become extra strong if you combine vitriol directed at your profession (teacher), and criticism directed at your identity (mom). Fold in frightening news coverage. […]
One Year Later: Journal Entries
As I write this, it’s March 13, which is the day our county in New York announced it was shutting down in 2020. Many have documented this milestone beautifully, in articles, essays and blog posts this past week. (Comment below with your favorites, and definitely share if you wrote one yourself!) I agree that the […]
Let’s Think About How We Will Heal
I’ve been reading a lot about the “pandemic wall” lately, and it makes sense that we’re all hitting it now. We’ve been in this for nearly a year. During that time, we’ve collected stress that hasn’t been released. We’ve held in emotions that couldn’t be expressed in small spaces. We’ve dealt with waves of grief […]
The Language of Bread
A few years ago, my school’s faculty read Carol Dweck’s Mindset, then took a quiz in one of our faculty meetings to determine how growth-minded we were. A growth mindset is favorable because it means you believe yourself capable of learning from mistakes and making positive change. In contrast, a fixed mindset means that you […]
5 Things That Are Saving My Life Right Now
Last week, Modern Mrs. Darcy challenged her readers to list what’s saving their lives right now. “This practice calls me to pay attention to what I’m dwelling on, and to intentionally look for the good,” she wrote in her call-to-action post. When we focus on what’s saving us instead of what’s dragging us down, we’re […]