2007: "I Love This Bar" by Toby Keith

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

2006: "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" by Kenny Rogers

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

2005: "What Is There to Shout About?" by The Hometown Nobodies

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

2004: "The First of the Gang to Die" by Morrissey

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

2003: "Junk" by Paul McCartney

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

2002: "Untutored Youth" by the Hives

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

Life makes more sense with pop music.  That's why I've gone back, year by year, and chronicled the song that meant the most to me then.  This song may not have been released that year, it may not have been big that year, but it was relevant to me in a personal way that defines that period of my life.

Also, I didn't do too much research to make sure I got these years right.  This is my life, after all, and if I confuse 1998 with 1999, well, that's my right.

2002: "Untutored Youth" by The Hives

2001: "Jesus, Etc." by Wilco

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

2000: "The Giant of Illinois" by The Handsome Family

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

Local Teacher and Rhodes Alum Picked as NEH Summer Scholar

Here's a link to a brief article about my NEH grant in the Rhodes magazine.

1999: "I'm Not Afraid to Die" by Gillian Welch

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

1998: "Holland, 1945" by Neutral Milk Hotel

Life makes more sense with pop  music.

1997: "Venus as a Boy" by Bjork

Life makes more sense with pop music. 

1996: "Unsatisfied" by the Replacements

Life makes more sense with pop music. 

1995: "I've Been Waiting" by Matthew Sweet

Life makes more sense with pop music. 

1994: "In the Street" by Big Star

Life makes more sense with pop music. 

Ten Questions

I assigned my students a project in which they had to fill out a questionnaire about themselves, and then choose twenty questions and answer them in a blog.  If they had to do it, I have to do it, too.

A Wish Granted

I’m not good at winning things.  In fact, the last time I genuinely won an individual award was in 9^th grade, when I was nominated to the All-Star team for my rec baseball team in the Germantown Youth Athletic Association. 

That changed on April first, when I learned that I had won a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities that will allow me to study at Yale University for six weeks.

Man, It's Gonna Be Classy

A couple years ago, my wife and I recorded a version of an old song by the Collins Kids called "Hot Rod."  Click here to hear it.