My Blog

Consistency and Contradiction in the Bible

Consistency and Contradiction in the Bible

Have you ever been in a car wreck? If so, the incident probably stands out in your memory as if it happened yesterday. My first accident occurred just after I’d just dropped my eldest children off at school while I was taking the youngest to nursery. It was winter in...

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Holocaust Remembrance Day

I am the granddaughter of a German lady who immigrated to the Netherlands in her teens. I am also the granddaughter of a half-Jewish woman whose nieces, nephew, and sister-in-law were killed upon arrival in Auschwitz. Her Jewish fiance was a member of the Resistance...

It’s Complicated: What Can We Know About Science?

It’s Complicated: What Can We Know About Science?

The student was obviously frustrated, “Well, they look square to me!” We had been having a discussion about the shape of the onion cells (they are elongated). Being an experienced teacher and seeing the incorrect notation in her lab write-up, I suspected that she had...

What We Say Matters

What We Say Matters

After adjusting my wailing baby’s cover to keep the drizzle off his clothing, I continued pushing the stroller up the road. “Cathy, stay away from the curb!” “It okay, Mommy. I not fall.” I ground my teeth. Someone once told me that, as an adult, my toddler would be...

Motherly Advice

Motherly Advice

“Hey Mom, what do you want for your birthday?” Who has heard this question and been tempted to answer this way: Maybe a moment of peace? A long bath while ALONE in the bathroom? To only have to dress one body in the morning? My mother, the heroine of Brave Face, turns...

Cheating Made Me Quit

Cheating Made Me Quit

During the time of COVID, like many others, I taught on line. Microbiology to be precise. The students were instructed to break into groups to discuss a particular questions. As caring teachers do, I joined one of the Zoom break-out groups to check whether my college...