J2 Content – Perspectives

A varied collection of thoughts on education and parenting

An Advantage to Irregular Visits from Family

As is the case for most of you, Christmas and Thanksgiving brought my children, wife, and I together with some family members we don’t often see. I’m not proud of or pleased by that fact… but we simply don’t see my uncles, cousins, or even brother as often as I’d like. One advantage is the…. read more

Giving in to Glee

I don’t know how many seasons Glee has been on. It feels like somewhere in the range of 3-5, but to be honest I’m not sure. I do remember when Glee first came on the air. I had no interest in watching it. I’m not sure exactly what it is about the show that turned…. read more

Pop Culture Required Reading

Last week, I took my kids to see Mr. Popper’s Penguins (they liked it).  During the previews, we saw this trailer… My kids laughed and became excited for the new Chipmunks movie, but I had to wonder – did the studio really expect fans of the Chipmunks to be familiar with Titanic? It turns out…. read more

A Father’s Day Gift – The Green Lantern

In July 1983, at the age of 12, I bought my first comic book: Green Lantern #166. It was a great introduction to comics for me. Earth’s Green Lantern was summoned to combat three renegade lanterns: equal vs. equal. The same year, Flash vs. Reverse Flash and Batman vs. Manbat were going on in other…. read more

That Green Jar of Peanut Butter

We’re not picky shoppers. We buy the cheapest (name brand) peanut butter we find. Usually Smooth/Creamy, and once in a rare while “Natural”. All things being equal, we lean toward the “healthy” looking variations – Simply Jif, for example. Lately we’ve been buying Jif with Omega-3 added. We do it, because we feel like we…. read more

A Nearly Missed Moment

I’ve been playing street hockey in an Over-30 Men’s League for a little over four years now. I’ve had a handful of assists, scored in some pickup games, but never scored in actual game (I play defense, but the real reason is I’m not very good). Last night, my son asked if he could come…. read more

Playdates on Xbox

“Mom, can I call Greg to see if he can play?” “Sure, hon, I can pick him up or drive you over in about 15 minutes.” “Oh no, I mean on xbox.” Virtual playdates have replaced real playdates for many tweens. I suspect there are multiple reasons behind this shift. 1) Kids schedules are so…. read more

Reaching Out to Celebrities

I’ve talked about this a bit on my podcast, but I figured it was worth mentioning here again. My kids, like all kids, have celebrities they idolize. My daughter thinks Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift are the greatest. My son can’t get enough of they Mythbusters crew, sports stars like Philip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson,…. read more

Blue Puppy

When my son was born in September of 2000, my mother spent a few minutes browsing the gift shop at Chilton Hospital. A small, simple blue puppy caught her eye – and this little stuffed animal was one of the dozen or so stuffed animals given to my son during that first week of his…. read more

Lemonade Game

As an honors elementary school student in the 70s, I had the privilege of being allowed to use the school’s TRS-80 and Apple II computers. I moved the turtle around in Logo, played Zork, and was allowed to play the Lemonade Game. The Lemonade Game was a very, very early precursor to the Sim City-style…. read more

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