Category Archives: Personal Stories

I had a birthday this week and my middle son (age 7) drew this for me. That is one gigantic saxophone! I love that he sees music in me.

Peace (with portraits),
Kevin

Today’s post is more for family, but I share it with everyone anyway (hey, you are all my extended family — and stop complaining, Uncle Bob!).

The other day, my oldest son (9) came up and asked if he could make a newspaper. Ahhh, words to brighten the Writing Teacher’s day. We propped him up on the computer, and his younger son came over, and together, they created this gem of their athletic exploits. (Now they are trying to sell copies — if they enter into an agreement with Google, the world is coming to end).

Introducing:

Meanwhile, their baby brother (not so much a baby anymore — he is two) was snuggling upstairs with me, and we usually sing songs together. On this day, I was armed with my voice recorder and captured his very cute voice singing “Puff the Magic Dragon” and other classics.

Listen to the singing little dude

Peace (with creative kids),
Kevin

PS — there is no Uncle Bob.

Stephen Levy, of Newsweek, writes:

“Surfing someone’s iPod is not merely a revelation of character but a means to a rich personal narrative, navigated by click wheel.” (Newsweek, October 23, 2006) — an excerpt from Levy’s book called The Perfect Thing.

I don’t have an iPod (I have a thing against Digital Rights Management locks) but I do have an MP3 player that has made long flights bearable and walks around the neighborhood enjoyable. So, what is playing in my mind? I click on my player and here are the first 20 or so songs that come up in shuffle mode:

• James Hunter “Until Your Fool Comes Home”
• The Subdudes “Save Me”
• Dave Mathews “Ants Marching”
• Jason Mraz “Mr. Curiosity”
• John Mellencamp “Worn Out Nervous Condition”
• Matthew Sweet “You Don’t Love Me”
• Shelby Lynne “I’m Alive”
• Brian Setzer “Red Cadillac and a Black Moustache”
• Tiny Town “Little Child”
• The Cure “Boys Don’t Cry”
• Rolling Stones “Happy”
• Bruce Springsteen “Into the Fire”
• Indigo Girls “Virginia Woolf”
• Ben Harper “Where Could I Go”
• GooGoo Dolls “Strange Love”
• BoDeans “Say about Love”
• Ryan Adams “Political Scientist”
• Average White Band “Pick up the Pieces”
• Marc Cohn “Walk on Water”
• Beastie Boys “Ask for Janice”
• Steve Earle “Copperhead Road”
• Joan Osborne “One of Us”

One thing I notice: not too many female artists on that list and I realize that I don’t have too many on my player, although I have quite a few rocking women groups and solo artists in my collection.

Have you listened to NPR’s This I Believe series? Isn’t it wonderful to listen to the voices and (on the website of NPR) read through these very personal essays that focus in on a strand of belief from a range of people — some famous, and some not.

I was thinking about this the other as I was driving to school and caught Bela Fleck reading his essay entitled “Doing Things My Own Way.” Fleck is an amazing musician who has staked out some independent turf as a banjo player with a wide range of styles, dancing precariously sometimes between jazz, pop, country and world music. In the essay, Fleck talks about the impact of his grandfather on his own thinking styles and about how focused he has been on reaching into the musical voice inside of him even as he moved away from all sorts of traditional expectations of a banjo player.

“I believe in living with and giving into my obsessive side when it serves the music. I believe in doing things my own way.” — Bela Fleck

Inspired by Fleck, I have been working on my own This I Believe essay, which focuses on the belief that even the most reluctant of writers have something important to say and the path to finding that voice is critical.

And so, here it is: I Believe … in Writers

And this all makes me wonder how to bring this format of belief into the classroom and create student-centered audio essays.

Peace,
Kevin

PS — A text version of the essay can be found here.