Yesterday, December 7, marked the 79th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Although I was not yet born, I have carried with me stories and memories of the December 7, 1941, attack throughout my childhood and into my teaching career. In July, I retired from the Elk Grove Unified School District, which is located […]
A huge benefit of the Internet is having 24/7 access to a growing treasure trove of national archives (i.e., Library of Congress, Smithsonian, National Archives and Records Administration) housing primary sources (documents, newspapers, interviews, videos, etc.) that provide a window into the past. As a 1999 Library of Congress Fellow, I’ve been watching collections grow […]
Resilience: an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Merriam Webster 2020 Although I like the conciseness of Merriam Webster’s definition of resilience, I believe resilience often includes the ability to recover from more than misfortune. In the case of genocide, for instance, resilience requires the ability to recover from not […]
“What you do next is what defines you.” Rwandan saying I frequently return to a blog post I wrote four years ago: Rwanda – Looking for the Good. Joining Carl Wilkens for the 2016 trip to the “land of 1000 hills” was truly life-changing. I thank Seth Altman for encapsulating the experience in a single […]
As of this week, the need to “shelter in place” is now being widely practiced across districts, states, and the nation. I greatly appreciate my district superintendent, Governor Newsom, and all the organizations that took the threat of the Corona Virus seriously from the start. Last week, colleagues within and beyond my district were seeking […]
Like so many California residents, it feels like my life is a bit on hold as I watch news updates on the spread of the Corona Virus. Until last week, much of my March calendar involved travel, starting with a flight to Monterey for the 2020 CENIC Conference, then on to Palm Springs for the […]
If you know a teacher or administrator who consistently “models and promotes excellent digital citizenship and who mentors and leads others to be more active digital citizens,” please nominate them or encourage them to apply for the ISTE Digital Citizenship PLN 2020 Award. Two years ago, I was awarded this honor. The value of he […]
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead Whether it’s the bully on the playground or our current administration, when small groups of “committed citizens” come together to speak out against social injustices and human rights violations, they are […]
I have blogged about and referenced the Time of Remembrance Oral Histories Project many times in recent and past years. I first shared about the TOR project in 2007 (Time of Remembrance: Move Over Ken Burns!), blogging that I would soon be documenting the stories of Japanese-American citizens in the Florin-Elk Grove region (south of […]
Thanks to an email from a colleague, on Tuesday night, I headed to the Sacramento Library to attend Behind Barbed Wire, a powerful presentation from the Sacramento Bee’s Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Paul Kitagaki. Political cartoonist Jack Ohman, also a SacBee Pulitzer Prize winner, joined Paul on the stage and guided the discussion and presentation. Like […]