Tiff4Tat

I have been in education for 19 years, 10 of those as an elementary building principal at Linford Elementary School in Albany County School District #1. Early on in my tenure at Linford, our district adopted a new English Language Arts program in 2017. I knew this would be a massive undertaking for our district and school community. However, it was a change that was needed for our students. I will also add, this was not a super popular idea among most teachers.  The program was a significant shift from the prior programming and required new learning for teachers and, in some cases, a shift in philosophy. The most notable shift was the more intentional, repeated reading of the same text (close reading) and increased rigor within the writing portion.  Let’s pause there ... Fast forward to the fall of 2023.  I was sitting in my office at Linford when I received our Wyoming Accountability Report. I was ecstatic to see that our school had achieved the designation of Exceeding ...

  In 1993, I published my first poem.  “Illusions From Heaven” is published in Poetic Voices of America and was dedicated to those who have walked . It appears on p. 112 with five other poems with references to God, grace, and porcelain gates.  I see you smile – Sparkling your eyes.  An illusion –  I hold back my cries. These lines, written by my high school senior self, reflect the type of poetry I was reading at the time: Emily Dickinson, traditional rhyming patterns, and poetry from emotion.  Kuester Dam, Photo by Thomas Baldwin.  More than 10 years later, I placed first in the Traditional Poetry category for Wyoming Writers Inc. with a poem titled “Kuester Lake." The water was dammed just around the corner from where I grew up. I had broken my back in a car accident in 1990, and the following summer I swam out as far as I could and back again and again to gain strength. In the poem, I wove memories of home, healing, and dreams of growing up....

Baseball is my favorite season, and Opening Day, my favorite holiday.  I have been a baseball fan for as long as I can remember.  I collected baseball cards in elementary school. Michael Senner, with his Beckett’s Baseball Card Price Guide tucked under his arm at every recess, let me know in no uncertain terms that I should have never, NEVER put a pin through the white strip at the top of the Topp’s Jose Canseco rookie card and tacked it to my bulletin board. It did not matter to Michael Senner that I thought Jose Canseco was cute.  Going to my grandparent’s house in Sidney, Montana, as a child, my cousins had the Chicago Cubs game on every day with Harry Carey in the booth. By default, I felt I had to be a Cubbies fan. Ryne Sandburg was my favorite player, and I could not wait to tell Michael Senner that I did NOT tack his baseball card to my bulletin board.  When you grow up in eastern Montana with no nearby metropolitan area, fans have some choices on favorite te...

A hijab-wearing basketball team, a scandalous Olympic race, mountain climbing shrouded in mystery, and a roller derby!, these stories build empathy, share triumphs, and unleash the true spirit of athletes I love sporting adventures. I’m not talking about training to climb Mount Everest or hiking the world’s tallest mountain peaks or running 100-mile races.  I’m talking about a Bucket List to visit every Major League Baseball stadium ( I’m at 15 with the most recent being the Oakland Coliseum ).  Oakland Coliseum, June 2023 I’m talking about traveling to Denver to watch my beloved Colorado Rockies play at Coors Field. ( Insert shameless teaser to next week’s blog, which will be all about baseball books, as Opening Day is near! ).  Or, watching the Colorado Avalanche in a Stanley Cup playoff game at Ball Arena ( they went on to win it! ).  I’m talking about flying to California to watch USC football in the Holiday Bowl ( and traveling to watch them play next year at Mi...