When commenting about Simone Biles’s decision this week, I made a mistake. I was meaning to respond to people mocking her for giving up, so I pointed to her accomplishments. To how hard she worked. To how complicated her decision was. In other words, I gave her permission to be mentally overwhelmed. In so doing,…
Category: Into the Labyrinth
North American Traveler
In the summer of ’76, my family–my father, mother, older brother, and myself–travelled from Michigan to Alaska and back by car. Our family station wagon started out towing our trailer, which is where we slept, and where my parents cooked our meals. On the side of trailer, my father had painted a map of North…
The Bargain
This has always been the deal. What I get: All the benefits and privileges that come with looking like a heterosexual, cisgender man. What I give up: The right to fully be myself. This has always been the deal. What I get: The right to fully be myself. What I give up: The Devil drives…
Nightmare
I tend to have two kinds of nightmares. My scariest nightmares are usually things that were just plain silly when I woke up. For instance, years ago, I dreamed that the next door neighbor was reaching into my room through a missing window and putting things on my bed. No matter how many times I…
WHY?
As part of the first week icebreaker activities, we did Three Things on Friday. For “Three Things”, students in groups come up with a list of three things that satisfy a scenario. The first one is common enough: “You’re trapped on a deserted island with three people of your choosing. Who are they?” Last year,…
Photographs and Bias
I live in a mostly black neighborhood. I just saw a white man, a 20-something, standing on the street corner clearly taking a picture of something down the street. It could have been a series of photos, it could have been video, I don’t know. At first, I noticed I was watching him with mild…
Year Eight, Week One
My first week of school is now over. During this week more than any, one thing that’s on my mind is where we start with our trust levels with students. These comments are based on my experience as a high school teacher. Some teachers seem to think that all of our students lie to us,…
Express Yourself
Watching my child play online with his friends, I notice that one of the primary ways that we learn how to navigate our emotions is by seeing others express them. It is common and normal to playfully refuse to follow requests, and to make inappropriate requests. My child is currently playing Minecraft, for instance, and…
Invisibility
One of the characteristics of the Avoidant is a pervasive feeling of invisibility. This is related to low self-esteem and feelings of insignificance. One of my coping mechanisms has been my ability to express myself through writing. Prior to the advent of social media, writing was generally a non-confrontational communication method. Writers are separated from…
Hills and Bridges
I was taking an online mental health quiz and I got to this question: “Do you often see potential for danger in situations that others in your life take part in without a second thought?” And I thought about my recurring fear of hills and bridges, and how it feels like a metaphor for ……