Nearly 42 years ago, I wrote a letter to ABC news. A fifth grade student and aspiring journalist, I asked about the danger reporters faced, especially in war zones. I'd been following coverage of the Vietnam War and wanted to know if reporters really were risking their lives in pursuit of the story. A letter [...]
Yesterday, I learned to my shock that 66.67% of Appleton residents require reading glasses, though only 33.3% actually wear them in public. Did you know Appleton was the most far-sighted city in the United States? I can't help but wonder what's wrong with a city whose residents are both so blind and so vain. Is [...]
High school teachers celebrate small successes every day -- a quadratic equation genuinely mastered, the successful recitation of Thanatopsis, a perfect 5 on an AP exam. Proof of the real triumphs, though, the ones that turn occasionally wobbly teenagers into smooth striding adults, sometimes takes years. Last week, my mother, a retired English teacher, accepted [...]
My palms sweated a bit as I slid the VHS into the deck and hit play. In a trite flurry of New Year's organization, I'd found a 29-year old video recording of my college graduation speech. As is our habit during cleaning frenzies, we all immediately stopped, plopped down on clutter strewn furniture, and rolled [...]
Yesterday, during our annual hunt through the garage for the Christmas lights, we made an amazing discovery that, due to its uncanny timing, is still giving me goose bumps. Folded into an old high school athletic program and tucked on top of a cardboard box lay a yellowed Green Bay Press Gazette very specifically dated [...]