againsttheglass.com

Archives

Kindergarten: Compassion 101

I need to address the issue raised by Blake’s teachers during our meeting about his difficulties at school. During what they called a “SBIT” (pronounced “sih-bit”, stands for “School-Based Intervention Team”), the following conclusions were arrived at:

He thrives on one-to-one tutoring, but they can’t spend that kind of time with him,
His difficulties with […]

Beginning the Fight

I was put through Catholic school from 1st grade through high school. It was a different time then. The tuition was free when I first started in 1965, and then it went up to a hefty $100 per year by the time I graduated 8th grade. By 12th grade, in 1976, the annual tuition climbed […]

The Church I’m Looking For

There was an AA meeting in the West Village in lower Manhattan called “Midnight.” Those who were regulars called it “Midnight Madness.” Meetings began at 8 pm every day, and went through until 3 am. There were also some mid-day meetings there, mostly specialty meetings for HIV positive folks, or just women, or just gay […]

The Karmic Weight of Christmas

Do you feel it? It’s the weight of Christmas bearing down on your psyche. In my case, the weight of guilt over just who made these items, what their lives are like, why I’m buying them, or in most cases, not buying them. I can’t afford to shop at the ever-so-landed-gentry Downtown Mall, and I’m […]

Metaphorical Lawnmowing

For the better part of my adult life — well all of it, really — my personal annual rhythms have gone counter to those of the world-at-large. There were years of working all-nighters, and all weekenders, for school. Like, on a bright sunny Saturday morning, I’d be riding on the subway to go to Canal […]