LESSONS: The Book

In sixth grade, I started middle school. All the adults in my life told me not to worry about it. They said:  “You’ll enjoy the …

As soon as I learned that my middle school had a student government, I knew that I would run for office. I had been told …

Mr. B was one of my all-time great teachers. He taught seventh grade U.S. history. His class was a parade of fun, fascinating projects. That …

The Rules began in prayer.  I wasn’t a very religious kid, at least not in the traditional sense. Mom and I were a certain kind …

Remember, I was fat. And I was totally fine with that.   After the Doughboy, I kept finding ways to own, and even to enjoy, my …

I’ve been writing these essays throughout 2020 and 2021. If you were a kid of any age during that time, you probably heard this a …

At my high school, junior year was mythic. In a bad way. Seniors warned that junior year might break us, with its avalanche of AP …

On December 11, 2003, I got into Harvard.  Maybe you’re impressed, maybe you’re groaning. Either reaction is fine with me. Harvard both is and is …

There will be higher highs and lower lows than this. Fourteen years after Ms. P says this, I sit at my desk in the Principal’s …