The first thing you should know about the annual “What the Fluff” Marshmallow Fluff Festival of Somerville, Massachusetts is that it is delicious. You will gain five to ten pounds between 3 pm and 7 pm. The second thing you should know is that the Fluff Fest is freaking hilarious. And the third thing you should know is that it is jam-packed with fluff-themed… burlesque dancers. They wear fishnet stockings and [...Read More!]
The Meet Plan Go career-break travel conference rocked out this past Tuesday evening, September 14, in 13 cities across America and Canada… and I coordinated the Boston chapter!
The next article will dive into the play-by-play of the event itself, but for now I’m vibrating with eagerness to share four overall revelations.
“Are you nuts?” gasped my friend a few months ago, “Why would you agree to coordinate a giant conference when you [...Read More!]
When you’re beautiful, man, you gotta pose… and one article about you really isn’t enough.
Thus it was that I was strolling over the Mass. Ave. bridge to meet a friend in Central Square when a voice whispered through the balmy air: “Take me. Take another photo of me. Now.”
“Huh?” I gulped, whipping toward the glistening Charles River in confusion. And it was then that the glory of the scene exploded into [...Read More!]
“Please please don’t write anything awful,” I begged the reporter over the crackly cellphone line. “I just got this new job and I really like it and I’m not trying to get thrown out!”
Darren chuckled and calmly replied, “I’m a reporter. No one would talk to me any more if I violated their trust. This will be a positive, inspiring story, really.”
The Herald reporter was true to his word, and what [...Read More!]
Tomorrow, after a year-long Leave of Absence to circumnavigate the globe, I return to being an English teacher in the Boston Public Schools!
I am super, super psyched. A year away has given me massive new appreciation for living in beautiful Boston, for the great people here, and for being a teacher in BPS.
“But,” some of you may be asking now, sniffling slightly, “does this mean the end of this blog?”
No, no, [...Read More!]
The world’s relationship with Muslim culture is one of the most intense and important topics around these days.
And thus it is with joy and hope for all humanity that I bring you an absolutely beautiful story from last week in our multicultural ESL class.
Let us allow the story to unfold through the words and pictures of three women in our class: Mafer from Venezuela, Yuri from Japan, and Meaad from Saudi [...Read More!]
Are you a diligent student seeking a place to study that doesn’t smell like your little brother’s socks?
Are you a tourist to Boston who enjoys lovely spaces which photograph well, but don’t charge a tiresome entrance fee?
Are you a hip 20-something questing for a quiet space to rock out the Internet?
Are you an economical human who is sick of spending money on music and books, or on that obligatory coffee which [...Read More!]
Pop quiz:
You’re an ESL teacher at an accredited English language school in Boston’s posh Back Bay.
Where do you take your students for the final field trip of Session 8?
Obvious Answer:
First to bowling, then to a hot dog-eating contest, of course!
I’ve written a photo essay about Laos, but what follows is far classier: a photo essay documenting a hot dog-eating challenge!
To be frank (haha!) I think you’ll dig the tale’s shocking [...Read More!]
Today is my ONE YEAR anniversary of taking that first flight out of Boston into the 9-month journey that would ultimately span Japan, Southeast Asia, Ghana, Iberia… and a whole heck of a lot of learning and fun!
How to celebrate? By sharing with you my absolute FAVORITE building in Boston. I am panting a little as I write this, I love this structure so much. Please honor my love and read [...Read More!]
Article #13 in the ESL Student Life Story Project, by Faleh from Saudi Arabia, age 23.
My mother was crying and we didn’t know what had happened. I came to my mother, then she said, “I have been calling your father for two days, but his phone is off I don’t know why! There must be something bad that occurred to him.”
Later on we received the news: he had [...Read More!]