The Hard Choice
On a walk behind my house, my daughter Joy offered some wisdom. The birds sang, and the sun slowly set in oranges and yellows behind Pikes Peak. ...
After Death
As the sun rose in the east, students waited to cross the street, and Giorgia stood among them. She had great plans. Her friend Emma was waiting to...
Playing On the Ice
Most responsible adults don’t suggest playing on the ice. And for good reason. For one thing, people die from it! Someone could fall through and...
A Candle in the Cold
February was cold, and not just because of the freezing temperatures. A student at our school died last month in a car accident, so her friends...
The Glass Cage
I struggle with anxiety. Sometimes it feels like I'm trapped like my pet lizard, Spike, baking under a heat lamp in a glass cage. But in those...
Listening at Death’s Door
My friend Betty is a little weird. Why? Because she’s a world-class listener. And these days, not many people are good at listening—not with all...
Surviving South Dakota Winds
In a small South Dakota town, a little girl crawled under her trailer. The wind was picking up, and at 20 below, it cut like a knife. Nobody was...
The Perfect Storm (The Conclusion)
Room 212 has no windows. There’s no sunlight breaking through the blinds, warming my students in its brightness. There are no views of Pikes Peak...
The Perfect Storm
After the shooting two weeks ago, the police found a note inside the gunman’s car. “I don’t have any friends,” he wrote. “I don’t have any family....
Trying to Not Get Eaten (The Conclusion)
Stephen waited at the table across the hall. Kicking him out of class seemed like the right idea at the time, but he missed Zack courageously...