On June 23, I gave my first Pecha Kucha presentation at Knoxville Museum of Art. You may be wondering, “What is Pecha Kucha?†It sounds illegal. It sounds like it may cause disfigurement, or even death, without immediate medical attention. In reality, the term is Japanese and denotes the sound of conversation, similar to “chit […]
It Started with an Email I got an email from a close friend the other day who is mere days away from finishing the MBA program at Stanford. He was preparing a talk for one of his classes and wanted me to recommend books, articles, or blog posts about how to tell a good story. […]
Back in 2006 I was teaching English at David Lipscomb High School, and my juniors were spending time in a special circle of purgatory known as “Research.†At eight to ten pages, these papers were the longest that most of them had ever attempted. The smaller assignments and grades leading up to the paper and […]
The English program at David Lipscomb High School was rigorous, to say the least. Miss Smith and Miss Tracey, my favorite and most demanding English teachers, were legends. Miss Tracey also taught Latin, and when it came time to conjugate a verb, she always chose “neco,†which means “to kill.†This was exactly what a […]
One of the crowning achievements up to that point in my life was knocking a squirrel out of a tree with a rock. It fell off the branch, hit the ground, popped up without the slightest trace of embarassement, and ran right back up the tree. Throwing one object at another seems to be hardwired […]
I was showing my Freshmen one of my favorite movies—Dead Poets Society—as an introduction to our unit on creative writing. During one of their meetings in the cave, one of the boys takes out a dirty magazine. I’m standing at the back of the class, engrossed in the movie, and then— Boobs on the screen. […]
Thanks to genes inherited from my mother’s side, I often get food caught in my throat. I have to eat slowly and chew consciously. My mom and grandfather have the same problem. Eventually, a doctor will run a scope down my throat and ask me why I waited so long to get surgery. “Well, because […]
In Republic, Plato penned a timeless aphorism describing human resourcefulness: Necessity is the mother of invention. This is especially true of hungry 23-year-old single men. I am what Shane Claiborne, in his thought-provoking book entitled Irresistible Revolution, calls a “freegan.†I will eat anything that is free. If you provide the food, they will come. Or, […]
