Glenwood Springs Post Independent October 16, 2015 Across our drama-hungry nation, the media is abuzz with reports of the country-wide ‘teacher shortage.’ Columnists, anchors, and NPR murmerers are eloquently wringing their hands and pointing their fingers at a variety of causes, as school districts sink further into ‘crisis.’ Here in our valley, this issue has been... Continue Reading →
Desert Romantic
Why do I go back to the places I’ve been? To the places I have already mapped and frozen In the well-behaved memory of film? Why return when I can say 'yes' To 'Have you ever?' Because I know which trail ends on a cliff Where the swallows dive and beckon, And that after the deep-shade... Continue Reading →
Re-write our chapter
Published: Post Independent. October 30, 2013 http://www.postindependent.com/opinion/columns/8688142-113/amendment-state-chapter-congress Someday our children and grandchildren will be handed a battered, secondhand American history text book (or maybe an ebook subscription, whatever). What will our chapter read? “Congress threatened the first of many American loan defaults in 2013 after lawmakers ‘shut down’ the government and were unable to reach... Continue Reading →
Hidden
The Denver Post, February 7th, 2014 I teach seventh- and eighth-graders English and language arts in a small town in the middle of big mountains. Some students really like me. Some students really don't. Some students love English; some do not. My students all wonder why I hate them so much that I make them... Continue Reading →
Standardized Testing
Oldie, but goodie from last year. Sadly still very applicable now... http://www.aspentimes.com/opinion/10596300-113/politicians-test-testing-ethos This column is not to complain about the fact that on this particular Wednesday my students have sat through nearly six hours of standardized testing this week and they have another four (plus) to go. Or to whine that by the end of... Continue Reading →
Litigation is (not) the Answer!
As a teacher in the public school system of the Roaring Fork Valley, I have thought about what I would do if someone brought a gun into my school. I have played through a hundred scenarios in my head about where I would stand and when I would act. All teachers have. It is terrifying.... Continue Reading →
“Secure Schools”
Published: Issue 12 Neutronsprotons.com Secure Schools (Excerpt from Educating America in the 22nd Century by Jack Martin) Contract Negotiation of 2108 (Secure Schools and the NTU) The now famous contract negotiations of 2108 dynamically shifted the balance of power in the United States and held global ramifications for future policy. It was in those negotiations... Continue Reading →
Travel Guide Entry
The Battle of Hops: Gettysburg of the West When passing by the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, any historian will no doubt appreciate a stop at the Memorial to the Battle of Hops just south of Fort Collins. A little known, but extremely bloody conflict in early 21st century, the Microbrew Wars were started... Continue Reading →
Olvidar
One thing at a time was not enough to remember. Today through last August dates the papers, cornered by legal pad pages tiling beige carpet with 'to do', as the sad, damning bills stack unopened, but potent. Don't the bottles pile up too, with glinting glass fuzzed madrugadas beside the porcelain sink blinking pristine dust.... Continue Reading →
Road Rage and Goldfish
9.4.09 My husband and I lived last winter in Marble. Renting a small cabin that did not allow pets within its slightly slanted homestead walls, we naturally resorted to goldfish. Four of them: El Guapo, Fezzig, G'Nesh, and a white one which may or may not remember the name that we forgot we gave him.... Continue Reading →
Lindsay DeFrates 