Fourteen years ago today, Ryo Kanouya’s boss told him to go home: “By the time I got to my house, which was about one km [.5 miles] away from the coast, the time that the tsunami was supposed to hit had already passed. I looked outside toward the ocean through a window and I saw something like smoke rolling over the trees planted along the coast to stop sand coming from the beach. I wondered if it was fire. But it was spray of the tsunami wave.” Kanouya’s lived in Namie, just a few minutes no...

We need a place to exchange those ideas and questions, to help each other through a difficult time that promises to get worse before it gets better. 

Happy Tuesday, on Wednesday! I’ve spent the last few days in St. Louis at the EdPlus Innovate Conference, where I gave a keynote, hosted four workshops, gave a morning “drive time” pep talk, did two book signing sessions, and sat for four podcast interviews. (Special shout out to Hunter, Cohen, and Oliver, who I believe are the youngest podcast hosts in the country, and to podcast interviewer Chloe from Lindenwood University, who was one of the most present, attentive listeners and conversati...

This week’s title has nothing to do with Judy Garland, Christmas musicals, or the World’s Fair. Next week (Feb 22-26) I’ll be in St. Louis to give a keynote speech and host Open-Source Learning workshops at the EdPlus Innovate Conference. I’ve never been to St. Louis and I love exploring, especially with friends I never see because they’re somewhere in the midwest – so if you’re in the area or if you have any recommendations please let me know! Here is my itinerary so far: I get in Saturday n...

As Salman Rushdie once observed, “A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.” I can’t think of too many authors who did all that better than Tom Robbins. Tom, I’m glad you lived, and I’m sorry to hear you died. I know – 92 is a fair age and it’s not really my business. Memento mori and stuff. I just liked knowing there was someone on the planet who saw right through it all, who somehow combined exte...

It turns out that caring is our nature, and — even though it may not always feel good in the moment — it’s actually good for us.

This morning I did not want to get up at 5:30 and swim. My bed was warmer and cozier than anything that awaited me outside. In that moment, cold + wet equaled "nope." I had the thought, "It's my birthday week – shouldn't I be able to cheat?" But I have a superpower. I can see the future.

Most schools were built to make an imposing impression at a distance, and/or control the behavior of students and staff. We should build the internal learning spaces that really matter to us.

"It is hard for people who have not lived in Los Angeles to realize how radically the Santa Ana figures in the local imagination. The city burning is Los Angeles's deepest image of itself." — Joan Didion

I’ve riffed on the idiom “two heads are better than one” by counting the people in the room and saying, “(n) heads are better than one.” But are they?