My Cardboard Balcony

by Belinda Roddie The figures on the totem pole all climbed off each other and settled around the table for a game of poker. The alligator wound up with a pair, and the beaver was aiming for a full house. The mongoose anted up, while the dragon was convinced that the dove was bluffing. Only the dove wasn't bluffing - both the coyote and the bull were, and the lynx didn't know how to play poker to begin with. Not that it mattered, anyway, because the eagle - always the one to sit atop the pole to begin with - pulled off a royal flush for the ages that made every animal perched on a chair blush. Then actual Native Americans decried the creation of this fictional scenario because it was very clearly culturally insensitive and inaccurate. They also were quite miffed by the idea that totem pole animals would play a game one would find at a casino - and the stereotype connected to that is quite obviously. This author firmly believed they had a point, and therefore cut the sto...

We're just moving forward with updates every other day on the OneWord website, huh? So no new little blurb today. Oh, well!

So, here's the thing: I may have said that I needed to be purposely vague regarding my job. In this situation, however, I have a lot on my mind. This week only consisted of three school days, and it felt like one of the longest weeks of my life. But I want to stick my initial plan, and I don't want to be too specific, so I'm mostly going to talk a bit about a little something called leadership. Don't worried; there's a point. I realize now, as I write this introspection, that I never told the story of one major screw-up I made while working in AmeriCorps from 2012-2013. While a member of the BAYAC/OCASA branch of the organization, I worked as an afters chool program leader, running a literacy program called GirlSMART for twelve second-grade girls who were still struggling to speak, read, and write English. Needless to say, I was not exactly stellar at working with very young students. I've always done better with older kids, especially teenagers, and classro...

Nobel Prizeworthy by Belinda Roddie I made my own book! It has pictures of lobsters.

It was another windy day in the famous Windy City, and all the Cubs were waiting for the "L" train to take them back to their little personal pockets of space and narrow square feet, where their belongings were tucked into corners and kept dry. Meanwhile, I sat beneath a street lamp and listened to a street musicians mutilate a classic on a beat up tenor saxophone. At least he had heart, I guess.

I'm Overworked by Belinda Roddie I'm overworked and underpaid; I think I can't take much more of this roughshod life. I'm trying hard to sleep and not to drink, and to pay more attention to my wife. I want to find fulfillment in my craft, but my true passion never seems too near. When I think about goals, I have to laugh; what I love couldn't be a real career. I'm worried that I'll falter on the path that I have chosen, and that I'll succumb to melancholy and fatigue. The fact is, though I love my job, I still feel numb at times. It's when my fingers dance and fly across the keyboard that I feel alive.

Yep. Happened again. No prompt - no new OneWord. Oh, well!