SACO – Winter is finally settling in throughout the state and as runners and walkers contemplate when the roads and trails will once again be ice and snow free, the organizers of Mary’s Walk and The Kerrymen 5K have sent out a gentle reminder to save the date, to dream of warmer spring days. This […]
PORTLAND – The days in December and January are short, and the temperatures are traditionally hovering near the freezing mark, and yet for a few hardy runners (translated: a foolish few), it couldn’t be a better time to take to the streets of Portland. January is traditionally the time when people make all sorts of […]
SACO – I might be a little late to the party, but for the past year or so, I’ve been wondering why we still had two nondescript black boxes in our house connecting the televisions to the somewhat-dated world of cable television. Each time I visited one of my children, I noticed they embraced a far more disconnected existence. […]
SACO – This time of year, people of all walks of life look at the calendar and often decide to make a change to some of their habits. Sometimes, they decide to eat a little less, sometimes, they decide to exercise a bit more. Whatever change they make, it is almost always done with an eye toward […]
On Thursday, December 20, I was given the chance to speak to the entire school about one of the pillars that we use to describe our core values. There are four pillars, respect, responsibility, compassion, and investment, and when I was first asked to speak, I was told that my talk would be about responsibility. […]
Well, now it is official, at least here in Saco at Thornton Academy. Like many schools around the state, we began classes in earnest this past Thursday, August 30, when the entire student body wandered back to school from summer vacation
The school buses sat idle for most of the summer, but bright and early this morning, ninth-grade students who live in Saco, Dayton, and Arundel stood sheepishly along the side of the road as they waited for the first bus ride to their new school. Driving to work, I saw more than one parent trying to […]
It has been a summer for the record books. Yes, the season is short and yes, the calendar always seems to sprint toward September, but at times this past summer, it has been almost unbearably hot and humid. Today was the first day of school for many teachers around the state, myself included. It seems […]
Today as I sit in my my empty and quiet room here at school, I’m thinking about the 110-120 new students who’ll soon occupy the seats in my class. I’m thinking about the lessons we’ll talk about during the first week and I’m thinking about my former students. I can’t help but wonder what they are doing as the summer draws to a close.
I am a teacher and it’s time for a new school year to begin.
Like most people, I was not surprised by the news of Senator McCain’s death this past Saturday. For the last 13 months, he and his family tried to find the best course of treatment after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. The prognosis was bleak, but he seemed to face this final chapter of his life with […]
