“Once you have arrived, act as though it’s your winery.” This is one of the many pseudo-gems of wine wisdom I begin my tours with, “You own this place, you are the most important person at the facility and you are going to act and be treated like you own [...]
When your teacher dresses up as Benjamin Franklin As we established previously, I like to dress up. Whether it’s as Derek Zoolander for a friend’s fashion show or Nacho Libre for the opening weekend of Sunset magazine’s move to Cornerstone I have no shame, plus the more [...]
We all know Dwayne. My students know him as that guy at the Boys and Girls club with the thumb (an injury took off part of his thumb), my son went to a Harlem Globetrotters game with him (no reports of “lewd acts”), and he was that kinda curmudgeonly [...]
My new salmon colored Banana Republic khakis are sure to cause a reaction, which is my intention. It’s Friday and I’m rocking the hater pants. My new salmon colored Banana Republic khakis are sure to cause a reaction, which is my intention. I’m a peacock by nature but [...]
Walt on a w(h)ine tour Somewhere around the Di Rosa Preserve I stop screaming and swearing into the vineyards. My weekend of wine touring is done; guests are all back at their hotels, yet I can’t serenity prayer the Texans out of my mind. $440. Charge for the [...]
Today, I am taking the first ten minutes of each of my classes to talk about drug brain and the newest evil: Fentanyl. Our unit on Neurobiology has taught us that we build pathways in our brains all the time through repeated behavior (Cue the background music, Macklemore’s 10,000 hours). [...]
Remember Jo-Jo? He is the little Who down in Whoville that finally enabled Horton to hear the Whos, saving them from boiling in Beezle-nut oil. I talk about Jo-Jo often, encouraging students to be the voice that is finally heard, that sparks the change. We need more Jo-Jos, and more [...]
Woke up Friday morning with one less member of the family in the house. 18 years of, “Good morning Sofia.” And now she is waking up 150 miles away in her little room in Shasta Hall at Chico State next to a stranger named Kaitlyn. Rough, but also awesome. The [...]
August 5 and I’m headed to Brad Gilbert’s tennis shop in San Rafael. This is my process, think a thought, make a plan, execute, sometimes fail, sometimes succeed, and learn from the journey. Repeat. Brad taught me to play ping-pong. 41 short years ago, I was 10 and dad had [...]
Innocuous is how it starts out. A simple idea caused by a situation that leads to an eventual shitstorm of problems. Fall of your 49th year, daughter in that pivotal 16th year when life starts becoming her own and she realizes she can soon go in any direction she chooses. [...]
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.
