Have you ever gone to a party and dined on meatballs (or miniature wieners) marinated in grape jelly and chili sauce? The flavors shouldn't go together. Grape jelly and chili sauce? On paper, that combination sounds like a whole lot of weird. But in the crockpot? In the crockpot, that combination is magic. My friend (and coworker) Wes and I are kind of like grape jelly and chili sauce. On paper, we are very different: I like fiction; Wes prefers nonfiction. I'm terrible at da

Every year, the school where I teach hosts a holiday-themed door-decorating competition. It is entirely possible that this competition is meant to be student-driven, but I have only ever once had a homeroom that was actually interested in putting forth the effort to bring a design to fruition. Therefore, I have only ever once participated in the holiday-themed door-decorating competition. I mean, who has time for such nonsense right before the holidays? With papers to grade

Many, many years ago, my mother gave me a bag of hats that she had knitted. “Take these to school and distribute them to children who look cold,” she told me. So I did. I took the bag of hats to school, anyway. It resides in one of my classroom’s cupboards. The hats have come in handy over the years. Back in 2016 or so, my favorite twins looked cold and so I gave them each a hat. I took a picture of them and I texted it to my mom and I know she was very happy to learn that he

I guess it was approximately fifteen years ago that I met one of my favorite people on the planet. At the time, Nate was only in seventh grade... but even then, he was an old soul. He viewed the world in a way that most people his age didn't; he imparted wisdom that I doubt he realized he even had. Nate walked into my classroom at a time when my self-esteem was at its absolute lowest. He didn't know that, of course. Or, if he did, it's because it was intuited rather than told

Fictional texts, that is. I have a new book coming out. It's called FLICKER SHIMMER SHINE and it will be released on Halloween. However... If you live in Gettysburg, you can (potentially) purchase the book a bit early because I have twenty copies and will be doing a book signing at Mr. G's this upcoming Saturday, October 25, from 3:00 to 5:00. (I'll have my other books there too, so if a Halloween ghost story doesn't appeal to you, maybe a black raspberry milkshake and a nove

Grief is weird. I have memories from October 10, 2019 and the days surrounding it... but they're hazy. My brother passed away on October...

...I listen. When I said goodbye to Petey the Thursday before school started, I decided that I would not hurry to adopt another kitten....

Now that it's the middle of August, we are back in school. Don't get me started on the fact that we go back to school before summer is...

This summer, like most summers, has been filled with some very high highs and some very low lows. Perhaps the highest high for me is the...

There's a song called "Brave Boys" by Old Crow Medicine Show that I sing whenever my cats Petey and Kip make an appearance despite the...