Category Archives: Uncategorized

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Kathy

An avid reader, my dad was a thoughtful, liberal sort. He opposed the war in Vietnam before I did, and he supported the Civil Rights Movement ahead of most white people I knew. Despite his enlightened ways, though, he was … Continue reading →

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Connecting

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Kathy

I’ve written here before about my dad’s experiences at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine in New York City. Brush-Moore Newspapers, the company that owned the Canton Repository, where my dad worked, sent him to the Institute a number of … Continue reading →

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A Dog, Ovid, and Poetry

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Kathy

Prologue Sometimes things connect. I find this frequently in my teaching life, my reading life, and my life life. Suddenly lots of themes and ideas keep recurring. I can’t connect the dots among the areas I’m about to describe. I’ll … Continue reading →

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Happy Valentine’s Day, Frederic Wheelock!

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Kathy

I am a teacher blessed with terrific students. It has not always been so.  Through many years, I sometimes struggled with unkind, arrogant students, annoying ones, and lazy ones. I’ve had extremely unpleasant encounters with parents. I’ve been accused of … Continue reading →

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Joe Update

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Kathy

I wrote about my GED student Joe back in November, when I recounted our travails in trying to get him some extra time for the test, due to a learning disability originally diagnosed when he was nineteen. We weren’t able … Continue reading →

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Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Snow

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Kathy

Here in Ohio we’re in the midst of an arctic vortex (they’re calling it), producing temperatures far colder than we’re accustomed to. It was around 10 degrees below zero most of yesterday. Schools and workplaces, including my husband’s, are closed … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Happy Childhoods

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Kathy

A couple of questions to consider: What constitutes a happy childhood? Did you have one? How many people in the world have happy childhoods? I was recently talking to someone who believes that he had an unequivocally happy childhood and … Continue reading →

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Documentaries and Delights

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Kathy

The Cinematheque offers unusual and interesting movies this weekend, which is, of course, its mission. A documentary by Frederick Wiseman, At Berkeley, shows Thursday at 6:45 pm and Friday at 7:30 pm. Every year I teach a class on education … Continue reading →

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Rescinding Opportunity

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Kathy

There’s a new GED (high-school equivalency) in town, promoting itself as “a new comprehensive program.” The old GED test, phasing out next month, consisted of readings and multiple choice questions, often very challenging, in the areas of science, reading, and … Continue reading →

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An Irksome Question

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Kathy

There are three weeks left in this semester, and after class today a student asked me one of my least favorite questions. “Will the final cover the whole semester,” she wondered, “or just since the midterm?” This question might make … Continue reading →

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