It’s all about the haircut. I saw Nic Sheff eight years ago at a book reading in Marin and he looked just like one of my students. Straggly long black hair, old kinda dirty jeans, Kurt Cobain sweater two sizes too big with thumbholes so he could pull the [...]
The net post is America. Just give me a minute, promise; I will bring it all together in the end. See, we are a little bent right now and yes that we includes me, you, Republicans, Democrats, Trump, Pelosi, and all Americans. Bent but not broken… yet. The [...]
It’s Friday January 3 and I’m in my classroom planning for second semester. This is the toughest part of my job and I really am not happy with the results from last semester, which makes it even harder. In a normal year the second semester is already planned for but [...]
I’m not a movie critic but I am a movie critic. I mean, it’s art right, one man’s “Peanut Butter Falcon” is another man’s “Uncut Gems”. However I am a Sociologist, damnit, and as such I’m a trend watcher and dot connector. Have you seen both the above movies, [...]
Can we please have a straight talk? I mean, the holidays are coming up, the fires are out, rain is falling, the power is on and we are all still above ground. Everything else can be solved as long as we listen to the great philosopher and ex-Creekside student Warren [...]
I’m out of business cards so the kids and I are going by my classroom before we head to Menlo Park, I’ll need plenty of cards because in my mind I will be sitting down with Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies, pitching my new educational environment which he will [...]
Wash the van. There are three SVHS sports vans, which live beside the tech department and get very dirty because washing them is no one’s direct responsibility. I could complain and blog and tweet and worry about who will wash these vans or I can spend all of 20 [...]
California is not a third world country. This is what I was thinking as I headed to Safeway for a 20 pound bag of ice which I used to cool my fridge when the power was out for 5 days (Didn’t work, lost everything). Next I headed to Chevron [...]
The computer is at 20% and I forgot the charging cord at the house in Boyes where the power has been out since 9:00 Saturday. We do dumb stuff when we’re stressed. Lack of sleep, fear, eating questionable food out of the non-working fridge. It all makes for a giant [...]
There are powerful moments in the life of a teacher; last Friday was one of them… "Who gives this bride to be married today?" I was nervous as hell. A favorite ex-student had asked me six months ago if I would marry he and his girlfriend, [...]
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.
