Educator, author, musician
I often hear other people say they are “helping the environment.” Whenever I hear this phrase I’m a little disheartened. I concede the intentions are good. Everyone wants to “help the environment,” even those that are at the same time actively causing damage, which is almost all of us. My struggle with this phrase isContinue reading “Stop Trying to “Help the Environment””
Good Friday and Easter Sunday is a time of renewal and rebirth for Christians—a time for spring (at least in the Northern hemisphere). Seeing as Christianity arose in cultures in the Northern hemisphere that makes sense. I struggle with the idea of intercessory prayer, virgin birth and a literal resurrection—though I’m active in the MethodistContinue reading “On This Good Friday”
I’d like to write about the Ten Commandments. Specifically, I’d like to write about number nine: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Those that know me, you can have a moment to recover yourself. I mean really, what’s my expertise here? Well not much. However, according to Rachel McIver-Morey from the NorthfieldContinue reading “Bearing False Witness”
Why write and share a song about such a dark day? Well, there are some stories that deserve remembrance and telling. And, just knowing about an event and connecting and understanding it on an emotional level are two very different things. This song was sort of dropped in my lap, so I had to seeContinue reading “June 21, 1964”
This week’s essay is is a short one with a simple message. Everything has a place.
In his faceWas painAs the angry mob crushed him against the door frameChanting “Stop the steal!” In his facewas disbeliefAs they surged and pressed en masse Screaming “Fuck the police!” In his face Was confusionWhen head was wrenched back and face shield removed And he heard “Fuck the blue!” In his faceWas agonyAs they surgedContinue reading “In His Face”
Are you familiar with the marshmallow test? This is a 1972 study by Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel. Young children were offered an immediate small reward (1 marshmallow or pretzel stick) or a reward of two if they could wait a few minutes. After establishing trust with the children that the researcher would honor their offer,Continue reading “Have We Failed the Marshmallow Test?”
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. WeContinue reading “In Their Own Words”
We often seek strong leaders. It seems that during much of my memory, and maybe our country’s history we have admired and sought leaders that were “strong.” Though sometimes I think we have the wrong perception of what strength is. At some point we shifted from looking to strong leaders to strongmen as leaders. ThisContinue reading “The Courage to Compromise”
Our lives are in the soil. Mycorrhizal networks in the soil exist throughout the earth—from arctic to tropical biomes and running through the soil of the grasslands and tundra. This forms a nearly contiguous network very similar to the neural network of connections within the human brain. Stanley Kubrick’s character from 2001: A Space Odyssey,Continue reading “My God It’s Full of Stars”
Tim Goodwin Ed.D