Sam and I were combing through Maxwell Park when the text came through. Mary had been found after wandering into private property and falling into a ditch, she was dehydrated but OK. It was Sunday, my one day off after a stellar wine tour on Saturday, and my wife [...]
It’s a super hot Tuesday afternoon and I’m racing around Chardonnay golf course like my golf cart is one of those little Go-Karts from Scandia Raceway. I’m giddy, like a weight has been lifted, not because of the stellar performance of my girl’s golf team but because of the text [...]
Usually I write funny little stories about how to prepare better for the school year: http://valleytalking.blogs.sonomanews.com/2018/08/04/change-growth-hopefully/but this year we’re a couple of weeks in and already I’m in desperate need of a recalibration of my personal homeostasis. Am I getting old? Yes. Have I taken on [...]
There are Monday mornings when you just have to hit, “New Blank Word Document” and start fresh. Throw out all that old cynicism and hate and retool the philosophy cause THIS AIN’T WORKING! We are numb. Suffering from an American entitlement that says that if we work hard and do [...]
It’s SVMA camp time and I’m rethinking the triptych Nick Brandt SONOMAWOOD recycling project. It’s three one foot square panels of luan plywood cut from last year’s letters of the SONOMAWOOD sign and hinged together. Students paint a local habitat with one of the many local endangered species. The kids [...]
Rainbows and Flowers Congratulations Sonoma for making the back of this week’s New York Times Sunday travel section. It’s a great profile of some of our most treasured sites and peeps (Chateau St Jean, Gun Bun, Paradise Ridge, Rachel Hundley, Tips Roadside, Jared Childress, Sugarloaf, Glen Ellen Star). The [...]
KBDB We were all young And we knew little Cause we were growing Some of us tried and some didn’t Some failed and some didn’t Some grew and some didn’t And the world kept spinning So we continued to grow And we made mistakes And we learned [...]
It’s the summer of following my new “do stuff” mantra and it has landed me in the karaoke pit at 3 am on a Friday night (actually Saturday morning). Not a big fan of karaoke, in fact I have never sung karaoke till tonight but I am a fan of [...]
I’m not usually a group text person but when I learned that I was not allowed to sit in on my two mentees senior project presentations, I decided to send a quick note of encouragement to the students: “Own the room, look them in the eye, be confident. [...]
Cause you can’t close the door when the walls cave in. Just spent another art class debating abortion and by debating I mean listening to two passionate students completely ignore each other’s points as they pontificate from their bubbles. When did we become so angry? When did we stop [...]
Walt Williams is in it for the money, that and the prestige that goes with 22 years of teaching in California high schools (he’s not the smartest tool in the shed). He firmly believes in more standardized testing and that fitting all students into the same box is really the answer. He strongly supports fracking and that climate change is a fantasy made up by hippie liberals, also that the military needs more funding and that schools should just stop whining.
Walt brings a lifetime of experience and energy to this new endeavor. He was the principal of the Arts and Ethics Academy in Santa Rosa for two years, and has spent the last 15 years engaging students in finding their paths at Creekside High School. He is the father of two and the husband of one and lives in Sonoma, California.
Walt is a skier; fly fisherman, wine tour bus driver, tennis player, and sometimes writer. He likes to dress up in front of lots of people and display large works of art around the community. His mantra is to work hard, create and love. Complex life, simple message.
