renée a. schuls-jacobson
Stuck Behind a Bus
Ever been stuck at a red light behind a school bus? Of course you have. You know that moment when the kids suddenly realize, “Hey! We’re not moving! And there’s a car back there with a person in it!” And then they all start frantically waving?
It’s definitely a decision moment….
The Teenage Years: It's All in the Brain
Apparently in the last decade, a fair bit of research has been conducted to gather biological evidence as to why teenagers go a little bit haywire. Apparently, the teenage brain begins a massive shift around the pre-frontal cortex around 12-13 years of age. The pre-frontal cortex is the thinking part of the brain that allows us to consider the consequences of our actions, and that part of the brain kind of stops working as well as it had before. Parents don’t always understand the neurological changes that their children’s brains are undergoing: changes that can cause their once docile children to take big risks and make big mistakes. …
Turn Down The Noise
I cannot tell you how many times I have sat in the halls at the community college where I work, and have heard students approach before I have ever seen them coming. So many of them wear their ear buds between classes, to get from point A to point B, I have often thought the constant noise has to be having some kind of impact on their hearing.
Turns out, it is….
The Empty Blue Desk
Fall Semester 2009. Last year. He sat in the back row. In the only blue desk in a room filled with brown…
What My Fingernails Know
When every fingernail on both of my hands has broken, I know it for sure: Summer is over. It happens to me every year over a two to three-day period. It’s a physical thing; parts of me grow brittle and fall off. Long before the leaves ever change to yellow or orange, my body knows: Autumn is in the house….
The Secret To Finding The Best Babysitters
The best babysitters are, of course, the ones who love interacting with your children and know how to take care of them in any circumstance. But now that my son is older, I have found that the best sitters – the one’s who not only take care of his physical and emotional needs – are the ones who like to linger around after my child (and usually my husband) have gone to bed so we can discuss life. And books!…
What Our Actions Teach Our Kids About The Earth
I try to remain optimistic, but I find myself wondering if our efforts are merely an exercise in too little, too late? As thousands of gallons of oil oozed into the Gulf just off the coast of my beloved former home of Louisiana, I found myself thinking about how the more we try to fix things, the more we muck things up….
"Out of The Closet" by Chrissy Teague
What are you holding onto that might benefit someone else? Needs have never been greater. What better time to give than now? You may feel like you don’t have much. I understand. I’m a jobless single mother coming out of two closets. I’ve got nothing to lose and everything to give. I challenge you to do what you can. Our relatives, our friends, our neighbors need us. The quality of community is in our hands. …
Father and Son: Gone Golfing
My husband and my son have been on the driving range for an hour. I know this because I have been spying on them from my car. About twenty minutes ago, it started to rain, and I thought they would stop. But they didn’t. They kept on whacking ‘dem balls, oblivious. I never thought this day would come. …
Office Heroine or Immature Coward?
So apparently this girl quit her job with a (flash) bang by emailing these photos to her entire office, about 20 employees. On the one hand, watching the little display feels wonderful. I mean, it’s positively cathartic! Who hasn’t had one of those bosses? The one’s that make us wish that we could do something like this? I can imagine the air being sucked out of the room as Spencer’s entire life is broadcast (and now re-broadcast and re-broadcast). Maybe the girl is an office heroine? Perhaps she opened the way for some constructive conversation about how things are run in this office….