About Moi

I'm a high school journalism teacher with almost 15 years down the tube in a Second Career. I have a Bachelor of Journalism and a Masters in Urban Affairs. Strange bedfellows, yes, but somehow I make it work.

I was an "ink-stained wretch" at two daily newspapers and worked in politics before I got this high school gig. One neat bit of Scribe Trivia? When I was 21, I interned in NYC for Cosmo and the Legendary Helen Gurley Brown. I should write about that sometime, shouldn't I?

My Classroom is my Kingdom. I tell ya, I'm just like the proverbial "fly on the wall." My own daughters have said that I'm the mom you can't slip anything past. My students keep me young, and I'm working right now in the best job I've ever had, even though as a journalist I visited six continents and dozens of countries. By conservative estimates, I've had about 2,000 students come through my classroom door and learn a little something from me over the years.

Let's see...at Our Humble High School, which just so happens to be located in Suburban DC, I notice trends, I advise my Journalistas and I pretty much Watch the World Go By. I'm adviser to two Mega-Award-Winning scholastic publications...one student-run newspaper and one student-run yearbook...plus I teach AP English Language & Composition.

My Fall is hectic, my Winter is worse, my Spring is fraught with nervous seniors almost ready for college but not yet sick enough of high school to leave the nest...just yet. Plus, I have the joy of Picking The New Staffs every May. If you see me pulling out my curly blond locks any time around May 15, it's because I Just. Don't. Want. To. See. Anyone. Cry!

Summers, however, are the best of times. My Real-Live Kiddos hang around sometimes, and I get to sleep late and read...two of my favorite pastimes.

Music=Beatles All the Way, Baby! Plus I love Mary Chapin Carpenter. Otherwise, I'm eclectic, and my iPod features a little bit o' everything.

Books=Anything and everything. I recently finished The 9-11 Report, so I'm still slightly steamed. Please read The Opposite of Fate, by Amy Tan. It'll knock your proverbial socks off!

Politics=Who knows? As a professional journalist, I was leary of any and all politicians. I have a penchant for liking Bush the Elder, while pretty much detesting Bush the Younger. The New Guy, BO (unfortunate initials, those), seems to be doing OK so far, but I find Johnny "Mack Attack" McCain to be fairly entertaining, and probably wouldn't have minded having him around for a term or two. Need my Daily Political Fix or I feel undernourished. Yeah, typical Inside the Beltway type, except that I live and work Outside the Beltway.

I like to cook, I love to eat, and travel is my "thing." I garden, sometimes swim, and follow those Perennial Losers, The Washington Nationals, with a quasi-passion. BTW, I call them The Gnats. Give me a good book and a great beach, and I'll be set for life.

I keep threatening to retire, but don't know what I'd do without my students, whom I call My Cherubs. And I guess you should know that this blog, The Scholastic Scribe, is dedicated to My Dear Family: Mr. Fairway, Ella Numera Una and Ella Numera Dos.