-
Hang on, Mama!
Step on the brakes! Your baby has made it all the way to his last year of school. This is the year you have been working toward, the culmination of all those years of trudging through his childhood, buying that mountain of school supplies every August just to find out that by October he was…
-
Spitting on the Chrysler
“Don’t spit on our new car!” My brother Allen and I sat on the hood of our brand new car (1953 Chrysler New Yorker—new to us) in the driveway of the house by the football field in Van. Our neighbor friends Lisa and Tracy had come over to see our new car, and apparently…
-
How to Succeed as a New Teacher
I was a new teacher once. Fresh out of college, heart and mind full of dreams and good intentions, unjaded by the educational system, confident in my leaders, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed. Then reality hit. And boy, did it hit. These were the days before TTAS, STAAR, and EXCETs. I managed to survive my first few…
-
Why I’m Happy School is Starting Again
Ah, back-to-school time. That season of the year when store shelves are brimming with shiny new pens, markers, notebooks, and lunch boxes, and clothing racks are stuffed with fashions for going back to school. Parents groan because of the expense of equipping the kids with everything required for the new school year–but those shoes fit…
-
JFK and Me (or My Jackie Problem)
No, I didn’t know President John F. Kennedy, but I would have liked to. Unfortunately, I was only four years old when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. I do remember going to the memorial service held at Van High School auditorium just afterwards. When I developed a keen interest in President Kennedy,…
April Coker, Author 