Noble X — Episode 8: More Trials
Conflicted, she shows a brief flash of guilt, then hardens again as she turns to leave. John pauses, stunned, just long enough to apologize to the classroom door clicking shut.
Noble X - Episode 7: Testing
John is making quite the commotion. Ms. West looks on, distracted by all the activity on John’s side of the room. Scooting tables and chairs around. Sharpening pencils. She interjects, “Mr. Noble, can we talk about testing?” and John stops abruptly. “Sure,” he replies while resisting the urge to job over to her desk. He can see slight alarm on her face.
Noble X - Episode 6: Filters Off
John continues to grow in size as he advances on his future self and proceeds to refuse this destiny with skill and agility, deftly attacking with the precision of a ninja. Ready to beg for mercy on his knees, John towers above his future self.
Noble X — Episode 5: Tracks
Jeff arrives first and squeals with delight, gazing through the thick control room glass into Studio A, their office for the day. Minutes later Bryan, Dana, and Mark appear, holding more beers and snacks, their faces alight with glowing electricity as well. It’s Christmas for them too.
Noble X - Episode 4: Redlining
John’s sleep is different now. His sleep is getting thinner. He floats at the line between consciousness and subconsciousness. This is fantasy and reality all at once. A vivid hallucination, disguised for the moment as a dream.
Noble X — Episode 3: Racing
Trent had once dated his younger cousin but that had ended in a somewhat unpleasant manner as relationships often do. John figures if he stays busy and continues to have things to distract him from his pain that maybe he can run from it indefinitely.
Noble X - Episode 2: New Month's Eve
Slow rise chimes open John’s eyes at 6:00am. His body aches as if he was jumped the night before. There was no respite in sleep as his vivid dreams seemed to be saturated in his waking pain. Bizarre imagery and distorted vignettes, played out by his subconscious, made the rest feel less than soothing. But alas he had logged a few winks and it was time to report to work.
The feeling of dread has been a daily occurrence. He showered and prepped for another day at school, dwelling in how frustrated he had recently become with the new job, spread so thin over too much bread, needing to be everywhere at once. John fantasized about cloning himself to do a better job for his kids. It broke his heart a little bit every time when he couldn’t be there when each of them needed him. Juggling all their individual schedules had really taken a toll on him mentally.
Noble X — Episode 1: Cowardice & Heartbreak
It was his personal winter of discontent. The New Great Depression was on the horizon and just over that, the New Renaissance awaited. John was on the brink.
Music is Magic (Am I a Poem?)
Music transcends distances between, crossing oceans,
crossing seas.
Music transcends lifespans,
living long
beyond its creator.
The Wrong Side of the Rainbow
Lauren, even from an early age, was incredible. Even now, when she sets her mind on something, she’s going to make that shit happen. She got it in her head one St. Patrick’s Day that she was going to catch herself a leprechaun. A bona-fide, emerald green leprechaun! And she was going to catch it by building a state-of-the-art leprechaun trap.
The Pursuit of Happiness in a FunEmployment World
The pursuit of happiness is inextricably wrapped up in the inevitable that sometimes you will fail in your pursuit. The pursuit of happiness often comes with great sadness and obstacles you encounter trying to attain your dream. But as Americans, we are at least given the hope that we can pursue something resembling happiness. It is so engrained in the fabric of our country that we mostly take for granted our freedom to make these choices.
For The Broken Hearted: A Post-Holiday Advisory
A significant chunk of my emotional power, my passionate heart had been all tied up with these feelings for this woman for close to a decade. Finding some sort of closure helped me to finally release her. This opened a tremendous amount of room in my heart for new love to be born.
Life After Hate
It starts as acceptance for someone who has felt alone and has never felt part of something greater than themselves. Someone who’s never felt a part of their family, their school community, society at large, well this is a person at their most vulnerable. And there are a great many individuals out there that feel this way right now as you are reading this. Acceptance into a group, no matter how hateful or backwards their ideologies may seem, is still being accepted. And if it’s for the first time, the euphoria is as powerful as any drug and ten times more addictive.
Don't Be A Biff
Regardless of what the actual reality is, all generations need to see the error in thinking this way and speak up to people that express sentiments such as these. Break the mold. Change the future. Create examples of compassion and kindness for younger generations, who may then escape unmarred by such outdated thinking.
He Was Born Of A Non-Virgin Non-Mary
He was born of a non-virgin non-Mary.
He was born a month prematurely, disrupting his mother’s plans for a large feast of Italian beef sandwiches, dipped, with all the fixings.
One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure
Do you know the history of the White Elephant?
Oh, the storied tales of White Elephant Christmases gone by! The triumph and defeat! The never-ending variations on the tradition from family to family, office to office! I am giddy just thinking about it. But first, let me back up for those who know not of the White Elephant.
Punishment vs. Rehabilitation: Reprogramming Our Functions
I think most people agree that there is good in this world. But not all.
However, I am certain that we all can agree that bad shit exists in this world. And furthermore, I think that we all can agree, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that bad shit also happens to exist in our worlds.
Let's Talk About Teacher Burnout: It's Not the Kids
For the entire time I was a teacher in CPS I would ask why. I'd watch wonderful, inspiring people get beaten down by these frustrating hows and whys and the answers that eluded us. How can we prevent public education in Chicago from degrading any further? Why can we spend money on a new ferris wheel while school budgets get slashed?
American Online and the Dial-Up Generation
I know social media is here to stay and that people will continue to quite literally live their lives inside these forums, but let's all agree, if we're going to continue to make this virtual world the main place where most modern socialization takes place, let's do it with some manners and some grace.
Kaepernick Has Nothing To Complain About
I've heard people I love and respect say things like, "Colin Kaepernick has nothing to complain about. He's a freakin' millionaire!" at which point I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, he's not protesting for himself. It's for racial injustice. What you're saying makes you sound racist. I don't want to think of you as a racist. I don't want to think of you like I think of our president and vice president."
Anxiety is the thing that’s ripped our country apart. It has divided us, caused us to fear and hate those who think and live differently than us, and even caused us to hate those who only slightly disagree with us. It has led to panic and overreaction. And I worry that American Anxiety is only going to exacerbate the social and political divide in this country to the point that there is no coming back.