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Dark, soulful tales that haunt long after the last page.
I’ve joked for a while about “turning fiddy” and then today it really happened. My odometer of life rolled over the half-century mark. A feeling of depression started to settle over me yesterday, and I really didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. But I did. And I went to school. And magic…
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart My rating: 2 of 5 stars I read a lot of hype about this book before committing to it and so I had pretty high expectations. And for a while I thought it might live up to it. But in the end, no, it didn’t. The story begins with…
When I was a high school student in the early 1980s I couldn’t have imagined having police officers or Department of Human Services social workers in the building. Now that I teach high school, I can’t imagine doing without them. But it’s happening. I’ve already discussed here how we’re down to one officer for our…
The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck My rating: 3 of 5 stars While The Pastures of Heaven, John Steinbeck’s second book, was leaps and bounds ahead of his debut, Cup of Gold, it still fell short compared to the masterpieces he would produce in his life. There were places where his potential blazes off…
The Wild Inside by Christine Carbo My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m not usually a fan of the police procedural, but the wilderness aspect of this one intrigued me. I’m not at all sorry I read it. Ted Systead listened to the sounds of his father being dragged away and mauled by a grizzly…
I’m actually getting kind of tired of writing only about education issues. It’s Spring Break. I should be writing fun stuff. But the fight continues, and the Oklahoma Legislature seems determined to end public education. Here’s the text of a letter I just sent to Sen. Anthony Sykes and Rep. Paul Wesselhoft. Very likely it…
If you think the title for this post is pure hyperbole, you haven’t read Senate Bill 1187 closely enough. Among the atrocious things this piece of legislation — passed by the Oklahoma Senate 25-20 on Thursday — does is remove the requirement for school districts to hire certified teachers or do background checks on the…
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a pretty good book, but I don’t really see what qualified it as a Pulitzer Prize nominee. The story is about Jack and Mabel, an “old” man and woman of about 50 years (I no longer find that to be old…
Talk about intimidating! Sitting down here to write a new blog post after my “Open Letter to Oklahoma Voters and Lawmakers” exploded over the Internet and across the country and around the world is the most intimidated I’ve ever been when it comes to writing. How do I follow up on that? The truth is,…
Steven E. Wedel 