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Category: Essay

Alone at Whistling Arch

Posted on July 12, 2021January 9, 2022 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

The Fears That Bind Us Coming up any sort of stairs was my greatest childhood fear. Sure, I wouldn’t be happy about going down to a dark basement: I’d race for the lights and move slowly around corners. But, for some reason, I felt like going upstairs was like defying a monster’s plan, like you…

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The Lunch Walk

Posted on March 13, 2021January 9, 2022 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

The Industrial Nopes One of the reasons I became a teacher–and I know this is not what I should be saying–was so that I wouldn’t have to work in a cubicle. It was at the beginning of my teenagedom that I had suspected that the cubicle environment would not be my bag. I don’t remember…

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Fuddy Duddyism: Learning That You Might Not Like RPGs Anymore

Posted on January 12, 2021 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

I. Here I was, in the blizzarded-out mountains of Colorado in the 1800s, navigating a horse to some sort of hunting ground to score some deer for our starving party. A non-player character (NPC) made small talk with me while the game tried to clue me on things that it had already taught about riding…

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Know Thyself

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

The Phenomenon Let’s say you and some other smartphone owners have happened upon the topic of sanitary napkins. Sure, a niche topic, but we often happen unexpectedly on conversations about improving our daily tools: Tools are our species’s super powers. Anyway, someone in the group has found a new tissue brand that just owns, trounces…

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I Am Not a Hoarder; I Am a Hoarder

Posted on November 5, 2020July 12, 2021 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

My wife spread her arms as if to point out something egregious, something obvious and no-duh-ish. Her arms seemed to be indicating our living room. I scanned it. Nothing was amiss. I squinted. This was my way of letting her continue. “Your books,” she said. “Don’t you think this is hoarding? How many have you…

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SARS-CoV-2 and the Extension of Space

Posted on July 13, 2020July 14, 2020 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

And, So, SARS-CoV-2 When we began our lockdown, many of us felt hemmed in with no space. We were relegated to our homes, and when we did leave, it was with a healthy dose of fear, a bottle of hand-sanitizer (if you were fortunate enough), and a homemade mask. But in this unwanted era, this…

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The Wolf Sanctuary and Empathy

Posted on July 13, 2019May 16, 2020 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

“You must be asking yourself why I’m not in the enclosure with the wolves like the other conservationists,” the gentleman, an elder in age, said into the microphone. “It’s quite simple. I might not make it out.” You wouldn’t think West Lafayette, Indiana, home of Purdue University and many, many cornfields, would be a place…

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Let’s Say Slideshows Are Bad for Teaching and See What We Have

Posted on June 26, 2019May 16, 2020 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

I. The Good Of Slideshows I’m in essay grading mode. That means I’m living and breathing essays. I’m reading and reading and commenting and commenting. It’s a lot: like 151 essays a lot. In this mode, my planning bell where I have been given time to “plan” is now my “grading” bell. My sleep patterns…

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Subversion Versus Dramatic Irony: An English Teacher’s Opinion on the Hubbub Concerning Season 8, Episode 5 of Game of Thrones

Posted on May 18, 2019May 16, 2020 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

The internet is abuzz with Game of Thrones and whether or not Season 8’s fifth episode works. It’s getting quite vehement out there with digital-finger pointing and much crayness times a good and solid number upwards of two. I get it. We love stories, and when our stories are under assault, we respond. So, here…

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Ads and My Shifting Baseline Syndrome

Posted on March 5, 2019May 16, 2020 by Thomas Joseph Wilson

Context: The Times A couple weekends ago, I deactivated my Facebook account. It was tough. Kind of. I was there in the beginning, so there was some nostalgic reckoning there. Like in the old days when you have to get a new phone number and are faced with so many unhinged connections. But the “why”…

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TJ Wilson is an English Teacher who writes on the side.
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