Category Archives: People

The Gates to a President’s Hell: Water and the IRS

Posted on May 17, 2013 by

by cheri block At the end of August 1973, after spending the summer eating ice cream sundaes and pistachio nuts, guacamole and whipped cream, I gave birth to a baby girl. I was twenty-three years old. Most women in those … Continue reading →

Posted in People | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

From the mouths of old babes

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

by cheri block Took my mother Joan to her monthly infusion at the local hospital this morning. There, sitting with a drip line in her tiny arm and a Glamour Magazine in her crooked fingers, she said, How did I … Continue reading →

Posted in People, The Dragon in the Lobby: a fairytale about Assisted Living, Writing and Teaching | Tagged | 27 Comments

The Atlanta Teachers’ Onion, then and now

Posted on April 8, 2013 by

by cheri block Reading this morning about the teachers’ union in Atlanta, Georgia, blaming their conspiratorial cheating on the tests themselves, as if tests were life forms, reminded me of why I abhor the teachers’ union: it is a bureaucratic … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, People, Writing and Teaching | Tagged , , | 43 Comments

Belly fat

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

by cheri block This is a big week. My brother Steve, also known as Stevie in my blogs, turns sixty on Wednesday. I’m not sure how he feels about it. We celebrated on Saturday and he seemed fine with moving … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, People | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Oiling a wheel

Posted on March 28, 2013 by

by cheri block We are all teachers in some way. The best teachers are patient and knowledgeable. They usually like to laugh. I read a marvelous quotation about the Art of Teaching yesterday. It goes like this: To teach another … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, People | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Posted on February 15, 2013 by

Nevada, 2012. The trip on Lonely Highway 50. by cheri block How do you solve a problem like Maria? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? For the last three years, whenever I sit down to write–be … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, My Thesis, People | Tagged , , | 37 Comments

The Scream

Posted on January 31, 2013 by

by cheri block I visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York City last Friday with the express purpose of seeing Edvard Munch’s famous pastel, The Scream. This piece of art, drawn in 1895, resides in a private collection. … Continue reading →

Posted in People, Writing and Teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 25 Comments

Wild Turkeys and Me

Posted on December 20, 2012 by

  by cheri block This morning, as I read Andreas Kluth’s blog post titled Angela and Me, I was struck with the profound difference in our lives. He–reporting on (arguably) the most powerful woman in Europe (other than his wife) … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, People, Writing and Teaching | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Handy Hugh

Posted on November 8, 2012 by

by cheri block Today is my late father’s birthday. He died young, by today’s standards. He was a dentist whose hands gently repaired aching teeth. His hands, holding a reel,  also waited patiently for that trout-nibble in the river. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, My childhood, People, Writing and Teaching | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Highway 50 to eastern Kansas: rolling hills and greenery

Posted on October 7, 2012 by

by cheri block Full and warm with Joan’s home cooked breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and toasted rhubarb bread with preserves (and each of us now packing a weight gain of about 5 pounds), Hizzoner and I drive to Dodge City, … Continue reading →

Posted in My photography, People | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments