Caroline

Every new school year provides opportunities and changes! This school year will be an interesting and monumental shift for me, with all 3 daughters graduated and in college soon. Today we welcomed 9th grade [...]

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII — Pablo Neruda (translated by Mark Eisner) Soneto XVII (No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio) No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio [...]

We thought our neighbor’s house was on fire last night. We drove into the neighborhood after dinner out with our girls, and there was thick pungent smoke everywhere, tangible. A pillar of gray white [...]

I can hear an owl in my neighbor’s tall cottonwood tree and pause to listen. No matter how I quiet my steps and remain still, the owl flaps into the night, broad wings carrying [...]

What is a believer to do in times of darkness — a darkness of perplexities and confusion — a darkness not of the heart but of the mind? These times come to a faithful [...]

Be yourself, persevere, live in hope, be kind to others… I think of all I told my girls in raising them into adulthood, all while navigating my own personal challenges and emotions, insecurities, and [...]

Each spring when I teach 9th grade, we read Farewell to Manzanar, and students study heroes of the 442nd combat team and write a newspaper article about personal stories of sacrifice. The 442nd Infantry [...]

I love little birds perched on my Christmas tree, basking in the gentle lights bringing a warm glow. One bird is red cloth and buttons stitched to secure the wings, another is Hallmark made [...]

Tomorrow I’m back at school after 16 days off between semesters for Christmas and New Year’s holidays. We finished the last final exams on December 20th and it took me a while to finish [...]

Ranger really loves helping me! But he was upset with me yesterday afternoon when I wouldn’t let him come downstairs to sniff the dryer repair guy. “We got a brand new dryer motor for [...]