SACO – Thank God it’s Friday. I am not sure how many times I’ve muttered that to myself over the years, but today will not be one of them. Many teachers in school districts around the state have already returned to the classroom, and this coming Monday, it will be my turn. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous. When we left the classroom in mid-March, I never would have guessed that we wouldn’t return until September, but here we are. In my case, the school where I teach adopted a hybrid model for this fall (only 50 percent of the students in person at any one time). The school worked al ..read more

SACO – Let the adventure begin. Well, maybe adventure is the wrong word, but I know that as a high school English teacher, this year will be one for the books. I tell my students all the time that writing is a discipline, and the best way to write is to sit in front of the empty page and let the words flow. Well, it’s about time I follow my advice. For the past five months (yes, it has been five months since students sat in my classroom), I have been thinking about how and when we will return to school. Never did I dream that it would take this long or that our state and country would be faced ..read more

SACO – The last page in the 2019 calendar is nearly ready to be turned, and for some in Saco, Biddeford, and Old Orchard Beach, that means it is one day closer to the annual Mary’s Walk and Kerrymen 5K weekend. For some of this year’s participants, Sunday, March 22, will be the first time they have taken to the streets surrounding Thornton Academy to raise money for the fight against cancer. Many others have been connected in one way or another with this significant and redemptive community event for more than a decade. For Gene Libby, the founder of the event, it remains a profound and vital ..read more

SACO – It is easy to say that throughout our lives, education often comes to us in many non-traditional forms, and sometimes those experiences will have a dramatic effect on the way we see the world and the way we live our lives. That happened today when the caravan of trucks and people from Wreaths Across America stopped in Saco for an assembly at Thornton Academy. Volunteers who are connected with the program are on their way to Arlington National Cemetery to place a simple holiday wreath on every grave. Because of Thornton’s participation in their program for the last few years, they agreed ..read more

SACO – When Ken Janson came to me and told me he had written a draft of a memoir that he hoped to publish about his experiences as a cancer fundraiser for 20 years and then as a cancer patient, I was especially intrigued about the focus of the book and his intended audience.   Ken and Laurie Janson I remember telling him that he might be surprised by the way people would connect with his journey and the way he battled the disease that nearly took his life. At that time, his book was still a bit of a dream and he really wanted to see if he would be able to create something tangible ..read more

PORTLAND – Ken Janson, the president of Nimlok Maine, and a fundraising volunteer for Mary’s Walk and the Maine Cancer Foundation for nearly two decades never envisioned himself as an author, but after battling cancer for more than two years, he decided to tell his story. His new book, “Charting a Course Against Cancer,” chronicles his journey, the fundraising performed by Mary’s Walk, with its many volunteers and supporters, and the story also pays homage to the doctors, nurses, and technicians who confront cancer daily. Ken and Laurie Janson participated in the first Mary’s Walk in 1999, and ..read more

SACO – Winter is finally settling in throughout the state and as runners and walkers contemplate when the roads and trails will once again be ice and snow free, the organizers of Mary’s Walk and The Kerrymen 5K have sent out a gentle reminder to save the date, to dream of warmer spring days. This year’s events will take place on Sunday, March 24, 2019, and the walk and the run will begin at 12 and 12:15 p.m. The course for both events remains the same. The walk begins at Thornton Academy (438 Main Street) and ends in the parking lot behind the Kerrymen Pub (512 Main S ..read more

PORTLAND – The days in December and January are short, and the temperatures are traditionally hovering near the freezing mark, and yet for a few hardy runners (translated: a foolish few), it couldn’t be a better time to take to the streets of Portland. January is traditionally the time when people make all sorts of resolutions for the coming year. For me, and a number of my friends, it’s just a time to continue slogging forward and dreaming of warmer days to come as we run along the Eastern Prom in Portland. This past Thursday, January 3, was the first official meeting of the 2019 Winter Warri ..read more

SACO – I might be a little late to the party, but for the past year or so, I’ve been wondering why we still had two nondescript black boxes in our house connecting the televisions to the somewhat-dated world of cable television. Each time I visited one of my children, I noticed they embraced a far more disconnected existence. They long ago abandoned the idea of having a conventional telephone in their home and seemed to consider their cell phone as another appendage. It might not be physically connected to the rest of their body, but it was always within spitting distance ..read more

SACO – This time of year, people of all walks of life look at the calendar and often decide to make a change to some of their habits. Sometimes, they decide to eat a little less, sometimes, they decide to exercise a bit more. Whatever change they make, it is almost always done with an eye toward improvement. This year, I’d like to use this space to write about the books I’m reading, books that I may be using in my classroom, or books that I just find interesting. I hope there’s something of interest here for you as well. The first book I’d like to write about is the nonfiction ..read more