A MANCHURIAN CANDITAE?“Don’t worry about what people think, because once it’s all over the people who love you will make you what they want you to be, and the people who don’t love you will, too.” ― Rick Bragg, The Prince of Frogtown Unless you are a person of a certain generation, you may be unfamiliar with the Manchurian candidate. Written by Richard Condon , first published in 1959. It is a political thriller about
NOT EXACTLY HALCYON DAYS“But I am a patient man. I can wait for hours in the rain.” ― Patrick Modiano, Dora Bruder Hard to believe, that it is only the end of April, and I'm already ready for this year to come to a close. It's been a hard year, one that shows no signs of getting easier. The COVID years obviously came with their own challenges, but this new normal is bringing it in full monty. and I'm struggling to adapt
HALF BAKED IDEAS, AND HIDDEN AGENDAS“Simple people always reduce everything to their own simple measure.” ― Norah Lofts, The Concubine Last year, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation that made it possible for local school board races to be partisan affairs. Locally, this year, both Williamson County and Nashville School board races are a reflection of that law. At the time of passage, there was vocal opposition. Alarms
AN EASTER MISSIVE FROM DAD GONE WILD“Life is a hurricane, and we board up to save what we can and bow low to the earth to crouch in that small space above the dirt where the wind will not reach. We honor anniversaries of deaths by cleaning graves and sitting next to them before fires, sharing food with those who will not eat again. We raise children and tell them other things about who they can be and what they are worth: to us, ev
ONCE MORE INTO THE ECHO CHAMBER“I don't like a kind of workshop that is about editing--I don't want to sit there and be an editor. I don't want to tell someone how to "fix" a poem.” ― Natasha Trethewey It was an interesting weekend for the golf world. A year ago Tiger Woods was in a horrific car accident. The prognosis was that he might never walk again, Yet here he was, striding the greens of Augusta and pulling eyes, that wo
AN UNPARALLELED TENURE“The world has always belonged to the stronger and will belong to them for many years to come. Men only respect those who make themselves respected. Whoever becomes a lamb will find a wolf to eat him.” ― Vilfredo Pareto I reflected this morning as I sat down at the keyboard. Stretching, and cracking my knuckles in preparation for the unleashing of today's missives. (Ok, I didn't actually crack my
THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE“What am I? The data? The process that generates it? The relationships between the numbers?” ― Greg Egan, Permutation City One of the most discussed topics in education these days is teacher attrition and the increased difficulty of retaining quality teachers. Though the data has yet to catch up with anecdotes, it's becoming more and more of a universally recognized crisis. Teachers are leaving t
BOLD LEADERSHIP, BIG BETS“People see what they want to see and what people want to see never has anything to do with the truth.” ― Roberto Bolaño, 2666 Happy April fools Day! I had a whole post planned out in honor of April fools Day. Been contemplating it all month. It was going to be a satiric take featuring Tennessee's Reading Raccoon, Riley, being indicted by the feds. In my head was a fantastic tale of how all the r
