Moving to Maine hasn’t been good for my tennis game.

I didn’t feel comfortable going to the indoor tennis courts during covid, so I signed up for one of those flex leagues that allows you to find compatible players. Well, I found three players total, and the closest one was 20 miles away. That was a bit discouraging after spending almost two decades in a tennis haven in which there were dozens of players in my neighborhood alone and a bunch of drop-in classes available throughout the week in various parks and tennis centers.

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I used to give out stickers to my music students for each piece of music they completed.

One little boy earned a few stickers in one day. “I wasted these ones,” he said, pointing to the empty spaces on the sheet where the stickers had been. I smiled at his subtle mistake. “Yes, you used them,” I said. What’s the point of stickers, anyway?

For her “virtual red carpet” appearance at the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Kerry Washington donned a stunning silk velvet gown embroidered with Swarovski crystals, plus a matching cap.

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You know those beautiful blown-out photographs of some well-groomed person sitting at an attractive desk with attractive lighting in an attractive home or office?

And then there are those inviting flat-lay shots of work surfaces that always seem to include some kind of vegetation, a beverage, and very feminine office supplies.

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I have always enjoyed card games and board games, from the long summer afternoons spent playing Spit and Spite & Malice with my siblings and cousins to the more recent winter evenings engaging in Euro-style games like Dominion, Catan, and 7 Wonders (again with siblings and cousins, plus friends and in-laws!). Within a game, you create a little world that is continually subjected to outside forces you must reckon with — a cozy version of actual life.

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Every morning (along with lunchtime and after school), the piano at The Little Middle School is overtaken by a series of students. Each one informally shares the music they can play. This ranges from video game themes, classical pieces, folk songs, songs we’ve learned in class, to just messing around. Each student will continue to play until they have run through their repertoire to their own satisfaction or find themselves jostled off the bench by the next person (usually the latter).

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