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A Conclave of Titans: Prologue

A Conclave of Titans: Prologue

Herein lies the account of Master Richard Wylde concerning the events of the night of November the 11th, in the year of Our Lord 1589.

Nearing the end of the second year of our occupation of Her Majesty’s colony on Roanoke Island, certain events transpired, heretofore unspoken, to which I was witness and are herein laid down to the best of my memory long after the horrors of the night so many…

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My Life Means Less Than Your Guns.

My Life Means Less Than Your Guns.

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens

Yesterday 5:32pm

I have worked at several large, comprehensive high schools as an administrator. Over the last 5 years, I’ve been involved in four lockdowns which were precipitated from a real threat to the school and its staff. Each one of these was absolutely terrifying. Every single instance had me thinking…

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Nerd Rage: The Lost Jedi

The number of articles professing undying love or undying loath…ing for the Last Jedi are Legion. This is hopefully not just another one of those. Early on, right after the movie had come out, a  friend said to me,”Some of the very best and very worst Star Wars moments are in The Last Jedi.” This is the truest statement that I heard regarding what has easily been the most contentious Star Wars…

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A Political Manifesto: The Social Contract

A Political Manifesto: The Social Contract

When I was in second grade, my teacher threw us a party on the last day of school. Towards the end of that party, she went around to each of us sitting there in our tiny desks, still sweating and giddy from the celebratory activities that we��d just finished and told each of us the great aspiration that she had for us as we moved on in life. When she got around to me, she paused and thought for…

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Nerd Rage: The Prequels, Episode 1

Nerd Rage: The Prequels, Episode 1

Those of you who know me even somewhat will have probably been subjected to a soliloquy on my abiding hatred of Episodes 1-3, and I’ll restate it here; I HATE THEM. Hate them so very much. Just about everything in them was something that I hated, which kind of came to be a problem for me. You see, when people (Not everyone, mind you. Some run away after they see a brief glimpse of Nerd Rage…

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Resilience

Like many of you, I never wanted to experience an answer to the question, “what would happen if you dropped 20 trillion gallons of water on a major metropolitan area?”

Yet, here we are. In addition to our unwanted sojourn through Nature’s costliest temper tantrum to date, there are expansive wildfires raging through the California hills and just off the coast of Florida lies another viciously…

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Road Trips

My family had a station wagon when I was a kid, one in which we took quite a few road trips. I had an absolute blast. No, really. It was fun to hit the road in our faux-wood paneled road warrior and pass snacks and pop back and forth to each other as we talked about why people would live in a town called Booger Holler, or why anyone would even name it that. There was a night I remember in…

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First Draft Under Construction: Big Damn Heroes to Return 03/06/2017

First Draft Under Construction: Big Damn Heroes to Return 03/06/2017

Evening all,

So I wish I was one of those people who could write anything and everything, all day and night. I am not. I am pretty sure that I have about 5 creative bones out of 200+ in my body. This limited amount of creativity means that I have to make some choices regarding their usage.

For over a year now, I’ve been working on a science fiction/mystery novel and I’m close to completing my…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Education funding.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Education funding.

The title was kind of a head fake because currently there really aren’t any Big Damn Heroes when it comes to funding the future. This won’t be as long as it could be because frankly if I don’t hold myself to a word count I’ll just prattle on forever. I thought in the face of certain developments in our country recently that I might, as a public school employee, sound off with where I am.

Public…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Jurors.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Jurors.

In a time when several (million) among us are reconsidering the logic of this whole “Democracy” thing, it’s good to have a smaller and more impactful place to focus. Democracy is a large act in many countries, with sweeping impact. However, it is no less impactful when it happens in a small room, where a group of those not unlike the person sitting at a table, or desk or box in front of them…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: The Encoragers.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: The Encoragers.

Hello there. If you haven’t been reading my blog, then you probably should. However, let me catch you up. I’m a nerd. Not a garden variety nerd, more like a nerd likely to drop a Silmarillion reference into casual conversation type. The picture above may have tipped you off. Anyways, as a nerd, I attempt to understand the world through this lens of nerdery. It usually works out pretty well, most…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Support Staff.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Support Staff.

Not too terribly long ago the school at which I work got itself a brand new (to us, anyway) phone system. I have no idea how this system works. None. The old phones in all of their sticky messy, crackly glory, had a lovely antiquated sense about them, like a phonograph. These new phones have bright, shiny LED screens, pretty background pictures and sexy new ringtones. Mine is some sort of…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: The Lefties.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: The Lefties.

Ned understands us, but he’s about the only one.

Oh, my fellow lefties never has so much hatred been levied on a group whose only crime was being born betterdifferent than others. It began long, long ago when a right-dominant world decided that to write and shake with their hand of choice was to be favored over all others. Inevitably, these rightists then condemned the left hand to a series of…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Tech Support.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Tech Support.

You know what changes quickly in this world? Computer hardware. I’ve heard quite a few estimates, but they all basically boil down to the idea that your new computer/laptop/tablet/game system is obsolete the moment that you take it out of the box. Which is awesome. you know what changes even more quickly? Software. I swear it seems like I’m getting multiple updates an hour sometimes and, would…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Multitaskers.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Multitaskers.

First, it has been discussed at some length that multitasking is not actually a thing which exists. I’ll begin by acknowledging that when these kinds of studies regarding the futility of doing more than one thing at once came out, I rejoiced. Finally, a scientific explanation for the reason why I can’t ever finish something! Hooray! Funny enough, there are quite a few people in my circle of…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Community Theatre.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: Community Theatre.

You step on stage. The light hits your eyes and no matter what level of training you have, there’s a blink and a momentary surge of panic. A small part of you wants to run back off stage and have a few more minutes to run through your lines one last time, check your makeup or even scratch that itch on the top of your head which is currently covered by an outrageous wig. After the shock delivered…

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Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: The Selma Marchers.

Meditations on Big Damn Heroes: The Selma Marchers.

‘‘There never was a moment in American history more honorable and more inspiring than the pilgrimage of clergymen and laymen of every race and faith pouring into Selma to face danger at the side of its embattled Negroes.’’ -Martin Luther King Jr., Montgomery Alabama, March 25th 1965

Originally I was going to write about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for obvious reasons. He’s still there, wearing a…