I remember the first time I saw it happen, years ago. I was handing out Halloween candy. In those days, there were still enough houses in the neighborhood giving out candy that it made it worthwhile for the kids to walk from door to door down the block. So it was unusual to see a…
Author: Clio
Converting Between Bases
I was working through the November problems for NCTM’s Mathematics Teacher. There’s a problem on converting between bases, which led to me developing a new-to-me method. What I was taught I started by using the method I’d been taught by my computer programming teachers: Identify the value of each place Divide by the highest value,…
Lucy’s Football ‘Joke’ and the Problem of Bullying
Perhaps the most enduring gag from the Peanuts cartoon strip involves Charlie Brown, Lucy van Pelt, and a football. Year after year, Lucy would offer to hold the ball while Charlie kicks it; year after year, Charlie would convince himself that this time would be different; year after year, Charlie would wind up on his…
Ten of the Reasons I Believe You
Women, why would you lie? That’s not to say you couldn’t be lying. Plenty of women lie. But experience has taught me to trust men less than I trust women. So if it’s down to he said/she said, I’ll believe you first. Plus, it wasn’t just one or two of you. It was nearly all…
Fragment of a dream
I woke, but the dream retained its tendrils in my heart. I had dreamed of a white house with no windows; I was standing outside of it, looking for the door. The sidewalk was cracked, and had heaved from the pressures of the frost and the roots of the tree that stood over my head….
sometimes words
sometimes words do not have the expanse to fit the truth they’re trying to hold i am an apostate i am not the first the streetlights that dimly guide my way are lit by the souls of those who went before the furtive glow and the long shadows belie the keening inside their bulbs behind…
the first time
the first time i saw a naked female breast i was ten years old or so i had thrown a dictionary at a girl’s head in third grade although i don’t remember that (a piece of paper i found years later said it so it must be true) i was labeled ‘emotionally impaired’ which nobody…
Songs of the Wolf #1
On my car stereo this morning was Rob Jungklas’s “John Doe“, one of the best songs you’ve never heard of. And I have the thought that there’s a small cadre of people that listen to Jungklas and are impressed with him, and they’re his audience. This evening, I’m thinking about how frustrating it is that…
Boys Will Be… Held Accountable for Their Actions
“You know how boys are.” My son, in third grade, is involved in two afterschool activities this year. One is gymnastics, where he’s in a boy’s class at the local YMCA. Even though it’s an Olympic sport, we struggle to find classes for our boy: Even in a place where the M stands for Men,…
The Manhood Behind the Curtain
In October 2017, a man opened fire on a concert, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. In 2016, at least 49 died when a man opened fire in a Florida night club. In 2013, a man opened fire in an elementary school, killing 27; most of the victims were elementary school children. In 2012, a dozen people…