With the results of the Upper Peninsula Track Finals in the books, let us say ‘congratulations’ to all of those who toil in the world of Track and Field. No other sport I can think of demands as much personal discipline as being a track athlete. Reading the results a couple of weeks ago […]
In FTV: Student Teachers (4-10-24), I recounted some of my experiences with the rite of passage called ‘student teaching’. The state wants teaching candidates vetted in an actual classroom setting before signing off and giving them a license to teach. Usually one decides whether or not they want to pursue a career in teaching before […]
Back in June of 2023, the first part of FTV: Misplaced (6-21-23) discussed the 25 years we took our Ontonagon Area Schools eighth graders on an annual orienteering hike in the Porcupine Mountains. In orienteering, we used map and compass skills to travel from point to point without relying on trails, trail markers, or […]
Growing up, we had dogs for more years than we did not. The first one I remember was a purebred Black Lab named Duke. I learned later that ‘Duke’ was a shortened version of his full name that sounded more like a loyal English subject of high ranking, but neither my mother or father could […]
Once upon a time, not that long ago, I was introduced to the art of selling magazines. Having never been in love with fundraising (particularly the kind done to fund school projects), I was a little dismayed when a colleague of mine dropped a box of paperwork on my desk and said, “Here, it is […]
No, I am not thinking about the Wykon or the Hodag. If you are wondering, the first is the school mascot for the West Iron County (Michigan) school district and the latter is a tourist attraction who roams the forests somewhere in the northern counties of Wisconsin. No, what I have in mind are the […]
When I was a wee lad of maybe four, we visited my cousin Wally and his wife somewhere in Wisconsin or Minnesota. Being on the young side and a few years ahead of developing my fixation on maps and geography, the details are a bit fuzzy. The one thing that comes to mind with […]
In Part 1 of Cha Cha Changes (again, my apologies to David Bowie for borrowing his song title), we began running down what Ontonagon was like in 1975 when I first arrived as the new Junior High Geography/Earth Science teacher in the Ontonagon Area Schools. This article was begun as a presentation made at […]
When recently asked to present ‘something about how things have changed around here’ for the Ontonagon County Historical Society, I said, “Let me think about it before I say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” There are already many volumes available about the history of the area (see: Knox Jamison, Earl Doyle, and Bruce Johanson for starters), […]
Can an 82 year-old take on 23 concert dates consisting of two and three night stands with a couple of days off in between? After witnessing Ringo’s All Starr Band hit the stage in Eugene, Oregon on Friday June 2, 2023, I am going to guess the answer is, “Oh yeah!” Ringo doesn’t do […]