What I learned by tracing the ancient footsteps of my own life — The house I grew up in had a feature most houses don’t have. It was situated on a hill just above railroad tracks. For most people, this would not be something to be desired, but for children growing up, we could not have asked for a better playground. The name…

Being a Proud Boy isn’t something to be proud of — In conservative circles, and indeed in law, corporations are people. While Mitt Romney may have sounded even less intelligent than usual when he spoke those words, he was technically correct. In the eyes of the law, corporations are people. The idea of corporate personhood has been around for a long…

Soon I will no longer be a teacher — Today begins the final week of my 36-year career as a teacher. The time has finally arrived. There is something unreal about it. In a few days, I will walk out of this classroom, shut the door, and never return. I will probably take one last look at the classroom…

Sister Mary Discipline never explained this stuff in school — In previous articles I have written, I have described my indoctrination into the Catholic Church when I was attending a Catholic elementary school. It was, as they say, a tough row to hoe. The nuns who taught there were no-nonsense and woe unto him who challenged their divine-right authority. If…

The story of Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas — If there was an award for being the least-qualified Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas would most likely win. Nominated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate in 1991, Thomas has been on the Supreme Court for almost 32 years. At age 74, he has spent almost half his…

An insider’s view — In case you were wondering, that is not me in the photo above. I have been athletic my whole life, almost from the time I could walk. I was blessed with good coordination, an athletic build, and lots of older boys in my neighborhood who taught me how to play…

A pause for reflection — A few days ago I published my 300th article on Medium. I’ve been writing steadily on Medium for about two years, and for me, 300 articles is something of a milestone. I normally publish between 10 to 15 articles per month, and they average about six to seven minutes each…

And for this, I am grateful — I could not have asked for a better dad than the one I had. Born in 1918, he went to high school during the Great Depression, served in the Marine Corps during WWII, and worked in a paper mill for 37 years to support my mom and his six children…

Does anyone remember these? — We don’t use coins much anymore. Most people today look at coins more as an inconvenience or nuisance than as legal tender for purchasing goods. Maybe that is because the cost of everything has gone up so much that there aren’t many things that can be bought just with coins…