Monthly Archives: September 2010

Finished grading research papers this weekend. My students wrote about why Amarillo schools need to spend more money on theater arts, what area motorists can do to improve bicycle safety, why educators need to address the social and emotional needs … Continue reading →

Sitting outside this evening watching neighborhood kids play football across the street. And remembering. All the fall afternoons my brothers and our friends did the same. The game would go on for hours, stopped only momentarily for a restroom break … Continue reading →

Almost ran over a rattlesnake yesterday on my bicycle, and it made me think of favorite rattlesnake stories. Maybe the best came in the Spring of 2005. Clark, Chris and I were on a biking trip along the Caprock Canyon … Continue reading →

September 1960. Cassius Clay won a gold medal at the Rome Olympics, Mickey Mantle hit what was thought to be the longest home run ever (643 feet), and Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy held the first televised presidential debate … Continue reading →

I’ll just say it: sometimes, I forget things. Important things. Like phone messages I said I would deliver. Or projects I said I would complete. Or, just recently, a promise to send an email address to a friend. I don’t … Continue reading →

You can get there from here. It’s what I’ve decided to tell my writing students frequently, maybe daily. What I mean is they all come to me (and to Amarillo College) with a dream. Many are trapped in seemingly hopeless … Continue reading →

Have to get away from the lights of the city to experience it. Like Saturday night at Hidden Falls Ranch. I’m talking about looking into a star studded sky on a cloudless night. Has a surreal feel to it. Almost … Continue reading →

Hazel Sunderman died today. In the ’60s, she was my 7th grade English teacher, and, in the ’90s, one of my best fans. I’ve been a published writer for over 20 years now, and I have a Ph.D. in Technical … Continue reading →