Blog

Various ventures into Mr. Scott’s mind.

Cycling over Mountains

When I lived in Poland, I got into cycling. I bought a mountain bike, bought a road bike, and then my wife and I decided neither was for us: touring is where it's at! So I converted my mountain bike into a make-shift touring bike and we set off. Every possible...

Cemetery of Memories

The first time I approached the cemetery in Lipnica Wielka was November of 1996, and I headed up for my first experience with All Saints' Day in Poland. I took pictures and made mental notes for my journal: I left my apartment around 4:30 and headed up to the cemetery...

Trstená Supermarket

Just across the border from where I lived in Poland (Lipnica Wielka) and where my wife grew up (Jablonka) is a Slovak town called Trstená. We go there every time we visit family in Poland. I love Trstená because unlike much of Central Europe, it seems frozen in time....
The Church and the Cow

The Church and the Cow

My wife grew up in a very rural part of southern Poland. Very rural. This is an image from our 2017 visit.

Drabinki

Drabinki

When my wife and I were dating, I would often spend the afternoon with her Sundays in her home village of Jablonka (which means "little apple tree" in Polish). We'd have lunch with her family (often...

Critically Thinking about Football Glories

Critically Thinking about Football Glories

When we lived in Asheville, I worked for one year at a day treatment facility for kids who'd been expelled from alternative school. It was a tough bunch of mainly fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds. At...

PKO Rotunda

PKO Rotunda

I was looking at the photographs of British/Polish photographer Chris Niedenthal when I saw an image of PKO Rotunda in Warsaw. Suddenly, I was back in Poland in 1996, experiencing the country for...

Halina

Halina

February. There's ice everywhere from snow packed on the road, snow compressed on the sidewalks, early melts in the fields that have refrozen. I am walking to the post office that's in the serve-all...

North and South to Go South

North and South to Go South

Borders are strange things -- they can turn our perceptions on our heads. Take Poland and Slovakia, for example. We generally think of Slovakia as south of Poland because, well, it is. But there are...

Why the Beatles Are Most Certainly Not Overrated

Why the Beatles Are Most Certainly Not Overrated

One of the things you'll learn about me as the year progresses is that I think the Beatles are probably the best and most influential bands of all time. Many kids today are not terribly familiar...

Meeting You 2021

Meeting You 2021

This evening, I got to meet many of you for the first time. It’s always a thrilling experience: I’ll get to know you over the next several months better, in some limited ways, than your parents and...

A Sweet Birthday Present

A Sweet Birthday Present

All my students agreed to a collaborative version of "Happy Birthday" for my son. He was thrilled. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGe3-aQE4w4

A Day in Zakopane

A Day in Zakopane

Now that spring is here, I thought I'd remind everyone what a real winter looks like. This is in Zakopane, sort of like a Polish Gatlitburg. My wife and I went there relatively often because her...

Can Drive

Can Drive

We're making progress with our Beta Club canned food drive...

A Walk with Her Cousin

A Walk with Her Cousin

Several years ago, my family spent just about the entire summer in Poland visiting Babcia (grandma). Dziadek (Grandpa) had died only a few months before, and we wanted to support Babcia as best we...

Bliss

Bliss

My wife was in the hammock. I decided to join her. Our son grabbed a camera.