As I continue to try and broaden my writing skills I occasionally try my hand at a different sort of content than my typical essay featuring a personal experience that I link to what I see as a broader trend, straight out rant, or a wrestling with ideas I’ve encountered in a book or article I read. Like recently I did a piece trying to capture the zeitgeist of the moment in US education as reflected in a selection of recent articles in Education Week magazine and the Public Education Network weekly e-blast (which was a challenge and tons of work and something I’d do again but not all the time).

Today I’m going to try my hand at another genre of short essay, the end-of-year year-in-review type piece, calling out some highlights or trends from the year past. Given that, I won’t even attempt to be comprehensive, other than scoping my piece on the items from 2010 that I’ll be curious to see play out going forward in 2011 and beyond. Here goes… wish me luck!

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Well its the anniversary of many harvest feasts, but particularly that 1621 event at the site of the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts where the English immigrants feasted with the Wampanoag Native Americans who had helped the “pilgrims” cultivate the land and fish, saving them from starvation. For me it is also the two year anniversary of the start of my “Lefty Parent” blog, now more than 250 posts later!

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Just a quick note that I have had a really good couple weeks of recovery and am back to writing and typing reasonably well. I am right now working on completing my “Confessions of a Lefty Parent” book proposal that I plan to send to a literary agent that my brother Peter has a connection with. I hope to be posting pieces on my blog again by the end of this week.

I appreciate all of you checking in presumably to see if I am posting again.

Cooper Zale… aka Leftyparent

FYI… I am recuperating well this week from my surgery Feb 1 to remove a 3 centimeter hematoma (blood clot) from my brain caused presumably by my bicycle accident last November. I am off work and my other normal volunteer activities until my neurosurgeon sees a CAT scan that shows my brain has returned to its proper position inside my skull from where it was displaced by the blood clot. But one of my yearly efforts is too critical to let even this stop me…

It’s nearly March again, and the one time in the year I pitch my circle of family and friends for a donation to a worthy cause… (more…)

So a UU Facebook friend alerted me and the rest of our circle yesterday that Garrison Keillor had published an editorial rant, “Don’t Mess with Christmas”, on Salon.com directed at Unitarian-Universalists and their penchant for revisionist hymns and carols. My friend’s few sentences were full of anger and denouncement of Keillor as unworthy of making such a criticism, and were very uncharacteristic for my fellow UU’s usual demeanor. His words had definitely pushed her buttons somehow. (more…)

My partner Sally the other day, after reading one of my blog posts, commented that an overarching theme of most of my writing is having the opportunity, the wisdom, and the courage to lead a thoughtful life, which involves making thoughtful choices, in as many areas of life as possible. Though I had never framed it quite that way, I think she is right on. Under that umbrella of choices are ideas of liberty, agency, partnership (rather than hierarchy), and what seems to still be a radical idea that these things can be applicable to both youth and adults. (more…)

You may or may not have noticed the links down at the bottom of the right column on this blog page, but I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about each. I have found the internet to be an incredible tool for researching, making connections, and pursuing my own development in ways I could never imagine doing before the Web… (more…)

It’s March again, and the one time in the year I pitch my circle of family and friends for a donation to a worthy cause…

On Saturday, March 21 I will be riding my bicycle in a Bike-a-thon to collect pledges to support North Valley Caring Services (NVCS), a small community organization located in and supporting a very poor, at-risk, mostly Hispanic community just three miles east of where I live in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

The Langdon/Orion Street neighborhood, where NVCS is located, is one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of Los Angeles, known for its gang activity, poverty, homelessness and dense population. North Valley Caring Services continues a herculean effort to help that marginalized community help itself. Their current programs include: (more…)

I’ve been doing this blog for a couple months now and I thought it appropriate to stop and reflect today on how its going so far. So here are some thoughts…

First of all, I want to acknowledge all of you have posted comments on my posts, including: Adam Fletcher, Bob Bruech, Caroline D, Cheri Isett, David Wolinsky, Emily Haraldan, Ida Hurt, Jim Strickland, John Thompson, Katie L, Kim Moreas, Leo Fahey, Nancy Shriver, Noreen Ringlein, Sally Rosloff, Blanche & Reuben Rosloff and Tom Kennedy (I think that’s everybody!) Some of you I know from my life in Los Angeles (my U-U Congregation and my partner Sally’s alternative energy and healing community), others from online communities I participate in (AERO, IDEA, EfHG, Ed Week Forums, etc.), and maybe others beyond all that. It is hard to write when you don’t have an audience, so your comments have been critical in keeping me going. (more…)

Hey fellow travelers… whether you are involved with raising your own progeny, someone else’s, or are just playing a role as an adult in some kid’s life, I want to share that experience with you, because there is nothing more profound than helping people (young or otherwise, and even including yourself) come into their own in this world and move forward on their evolutionary path.

Having spent over half a century in this incarnation on earth, and almost half of that as a parent, you can bet that I would have some thoughts, posing perhaps as wisdom, about this very fundamental role in human society, and I wager that you do as well. You cannot go through the experience of helping kids on their journey to agency and adulthood without feeling at times inadequate, moved to tears, longing to have another chance, blessed, relieved and many other gut-checking emotions. It is hard work, and as many have noted, you are more likely to feel guilt and get blame for failure than feel pride and get kudos for success. (more…)