As a teacher I have taught many classes on many subjects. For me teaching is the quickest way to learn, but writing helps me learn more deeply and thoroughly. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

I have written to learn and to serve myself, but I hope, somewhere along the way, something I've written might be meaningful to you, as well.

I intend to publish somewhere someday and would appreciate as much feedback as you can give me.

My Favorite Books:

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions Edwin Abbott Abbott (God created dimensions. He doesn't live in them.)

Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to Tread Rose and Psyche (FanFiction)

The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom

The Story of a Bad Boy Thomas Bailey Aldrich (NH native: originator of the "Bad Boy" genre usually attributed to Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain)

Til We Have Faces C.S. Lewis

What Fools These Mortals Be Rose and Psyche (FanFiction)

My Favorite Authors:

Lloyd Alexander

Roald Dahl

Arnold Fruchtenbaum

Edith Hamilton

Nathaniel Hawthorne

James Herriot

C.S. Lewis

A.A. Milne

Rose and Psyche (FanFiction.net)

William Shakespeare

Rosemary Sutcliff

My Favorite Videos:

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Band of Brothers (except unfortunate bedroom scene)

Black Hawk Down

The Eagle

Emma (2009)

Gettysburg

Glory

Gods and Generals (except bedroom scene)

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Hamlet (1990)

Just William (2011)

Khartoum (needs a remake. Gordon actually went down fighting.)

Lincoln (but bring throw-up bag to Second Inaugural Address scene)

The Longest Day

Man of La Mancha (except unseemly scene)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

The Pianist (2002)

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Sargeant York

Schindler's List (except certain scenes, but you've probably figured out what kinds of scenes I object to by now :) )

Bridge of Spies

Most Interesting Historical Figures:

King Arthur (loved his country and the folk in it)

Alfred the Great (so did he)

George Washington (and so did he)

Ludwig van Beethoven (set his moods to music)

William F. Buckley, Jr. (held the fort, however imperfectly, for a time)

Corrie ten Boom (sublime)

Edmund Burke

George Washington Carver

Muzio Clementi (set merriment to music)

Winston S. Churchill (a study in nonsense...not just his, but society's)

Christopher Columbus (the courage to walk in the dark and bump into something)

Calvin Coolidge (Only the dull consider him dull.)

Frederick Douglas (the forgotten genius)

Walter Williams (another forgotten genius)

Thomas Sowell (and another who thinks so well because he is honest)

Charles George Gordon (who gave all to Him in Khartoum)

Roland Hayes (quiet soldier of another sort but he could sing)

Joseph Hayden (good sense of humor)

Robert E. Lee (loved his country of Virginia as well as the Constitution)

Moses (friend of God)

Sir Isaac Newton (Man who figured everything out, but no one listens to anymore)

Paul, the Apostle (changed as we can be changed, if we will open the Door)

Plato (who thought the body is nothing...he was wrong)

Ronald Reagan (brought us back, if just for a season)

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (looked at Him and was led)

Hudson Taylor (sought God's Kingdom first and got all)

Booker T. Washington (kept walking until he found it)

John Wesley (Rested and Followed)

Phillis Wheatley (knew what was important and what was not)

Yeshua Hamashiach (Saved the world. Our job? Open the Door. Rest and Follow in His Light.)

My Favorite Quotes:

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly." Richard Bach

"Our Founders did not design America to function God-less." Unknown

"Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants." Benjamin Franklin

"Behold. I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice and will open the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with Me." Yeshua in Revelation 3:20

“Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the Door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep." Yeshua in John 10:7-11

My Favorite Little Story:

As told by an old Vermonter: A few years after I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our small town.

From the beginning, dad was fascinated by this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in our home. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: mom taught me good from evil, and dad taught me to obey. But the stranger, he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future. He took my family to our first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry.

The stranger never stopped talking, but dad didn't seem to mind. Sometimes, mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our long-time visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.

My dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol, but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked much too freely. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about intimate relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you were to walk into my parents' house today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?

We just call him TV.

He has a wife now. We call her Computer. Their first child is Cell Phone. Second child iPod. And born just a few years ago, a grandchild, iPad.