Christine Otten
‘Table 19’ | Movie Review
“Table 19” at back of the room for a reason Table 19, a new film starring Anna Kendrick, can’t figure out what it wants to do. With such a promising…
Old Age and the Presidents | Mark’s Remarks
I love reading and talking about the presidents of old. My daughter is learning about the presidents in her kindergarten class, and we spent a good deal of time the…
Coffee | Mark’s Remarks
I’ll admit it: I’m an obsessive person. Everything I do, I go overboard. I talk too much, I eat too much, I think too much. If I like something, I…
Shameful | Mark’s Remarks
It has taken me this long to get the nerve to tell you the story that follows. In fact, I kept it a secret for a while. Gradually, I told…
Catastrophe | Mark’s Remarks
Yes, we were caught in the recent icy nightmare that came upon the St. Louis area on Friday, Dec. 16. The entire day amazed me for several reasons. My younger…
Hot or Cold? | Mark’s Remarks
The old days of school lunches are long gone. My students file through the lunch line and type in a code number. I no longer collect money or wait for…
Getting the Call | Mark’s Remarks
After the holidays, teachers face the long winter. Now, I’m not telling you that we dread our jobs every day or file into the school humming “Nobody Knows the Trouble…
Feeling Necessary | Mark’s Remarks
When spring and summer rolled around about 35 years ago, you’d find me spending a lot of time cutting grass. This was my main job from about age 9, when…