Apr 23 2026 2026-04-23 2026-04-23 NoComment by Ross

Senior Ditch Day … One of My Favorite Days of the Year!

Posted in Work

There is a sacred annual tradition in high schools across America – Senior Ditch Day.

Like all great traditions, it is treated with the secrecy of a covert military operation. Whispered conversations in hallways.  Sudden silence when a teacher walks by.  Students acting like they are planning the moon landing instead of skipping fourth-period Government.

I knew it was coming because one or two kids let it slip, but most of them were acting like they were protecting state secrets.

Relax,  guys.  We know.

You are not the first senior class to discover the revolutionary concept of not coming to school in April.

What always makes me laugh is the assumption that teachers are somehow devastated by this betrayal.

Oh no.  Please.  Don’t ditch.

Don’t make me sit in a peaceful, silent classroom for six out of eight periods.  Don’t force me to enjoy the sound of absolutely nothing instead of listening to someone explain, for the third time this week, why they couldn’t possibly complete an assignment because their Chromebook was dead, their phone was at 2%, and Mercury is in retrograde.  Please don’t deprive me of redirecting the same student 56 times in 50 minutes, only for them to still turn in nothing.  Please don’t rob me of hearing inane conversations shouted across the room about who hooked up with who, who might fight after school, or why someone’s cousin’s boyfriend is “literally insane.”

I beg you – stay.

The truth is,  I don’t know many teachers who are going to deeply miss this particular group of seniors.  That sounds harsh, but honesty is important in education.  By late April, we are all just trying to land the plane without setting the runway on fire.

At this point,  if half the senior class wants to vanish for a day,  I support their journey.  Honestly,  I wish they would ditch every day between now and graduation.

Except my AP students.

They are absolutely forbidden from ditching.  They may begin their own Senior Ditch Season promptly at 12:01 a.m. on May 7, after the AP exam.  Until then,  they belong to me.  After that? Godspeed.  Go to brunch.  Go to Target.  Go sit in a parking lot drinking iced coffee and talking about college orientation.

You’ve earned it.

The rest of you?  You’ve also made a choice.

And apparently, that choice was to make Senior Ditch Day your most academically productive day of the year.


Apr 23 2026 2026-04-23 2026-04-20 NoComment by Ross

Morning Music…

Posted in Morning Music, Music

Alex Lahey – I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself


Apr 23 2026 2026-04-23 2026-04-23 NoComment by Ross

Having a Moment….Not a Great One…

Posted in Family, Old Man Yelling at the Sky

I never had a midlife crisis, but apparently, I am having a 60-year-old crisis.

Somewhere along the line, instead of buying a red Corvette and dating someone wildly inappropriate, I skipped straight to existential dread.

I have this overwhelming feeling lately that I may have wasted my life.

Not in the dramatic “I should have been a rock star” way. I have no musical talent beyond confidently playing the same four chords on bass and pretending it’s jazz. I mean more quietly. The kind that sneaks up on you when you’re driving home from work or standing in the grocery store comparing two brands of paper towels, like this is somehow your legacy.

You take a path because it seems like the responsible thing to do. School. Career. Marriage. Kids. Mortgage. Retirement account. Replace the water heater. Learn what mulch is. Suddenly, you are an expert in things your 22-year-old self would have considered a cry for help.

And for a long time, that path feels right because it is busy. Busy can disguise a lot. If you are constantly moving, you don’t have much time to ask if you are headed somewhere you actually wanted to go.

Then one day, you realize the road is no longer stretching out in front of you. There are fewer miles ahead than behind. That gets your attention.

You start doing inventory.

Did I spend enough time with people I love, or was I mostly banging my head against a wall at a job I didn’t like?

Did I actually enjoy my life, or was I just extremely efficient at completing obligations?

Did I choose things, or did I just keep accepting the next logical step until I woke up wondering “well, how did I get here?” (to quote Talking Heads)

This is not regret exactly. I love my family. I have had good years, great memories, and enough ridiculous stories to keep dinner conversations alive.

But I also wonder about the unlived versions of life. The ones where I  didn’t get married and have kids.  The selfish one where I didn’t give 30+ years of my life to other people and get (frankly) little in return.

I’m not sure what anyone would say at my funeral.  “Yeah, he lived and he died, but did he really DO anything?  Did he really leave any legacy or make a difference in anyone’s lives?”

I’m sort of worried that I haven’t left a legacy or made a difference in anyone’s life.  I know I spent a lot of time raising a family, but I’m not sure I did it “right” or that they are better off having me as a father rather than someone else.

In short, I don’t know what value my life added to the world, near or far.


Apr 22 2026 2026-04-22 2026-04-22 NoComment by Ross

On the Plus…

Posted in Work

One benefit of working here…

I just had a conversation with a student entirely in Spanish.  So, there is that.


Apr 22 2026 2026-04-22 2026-04-22 NoComment by Ross

I Don’t HAVE to Bang My Head Against the Wall….

Posted in Old Man Yelling at the Sky, Work

There’s a special kind of luxury in taking a day off when you actually need it instead of waiting until your body files a formal complaint.

Yesterday was a mental health date, and honestly, I highly recommend dating yourself. I slept like an angel the night before – one of those rare sleeps where you don’t wake up at 3:17 a.m. wondering if you remembered to reply to an email from three weeks ago. I still got up early, because apparently my body now believes 5:30 a.m. is a personality trait, but there was no rush.

Coffee. Quiet. No work bag. No bell schedule.

I did the full Ross Retirement Simulation.

Went for a run. Went for a swim. Read for a while. Watched a genuinely good movie without scrolling my phone every eight minutes. Read some more. Played drums. Made dinner. Watched hockey. It was 100% enjoyment with no productivity guilt attached. Frankly, I was thriving. If I had put on linen pants and started talking about olive oil, I could’ve become one of those people who moves to Italy.

Meanwhile, in my actual life, I had left what I thought was a pretty fun assignment for my law class.

Find two songs that sound alike – sampling, parody, copyright disputes, whatever. We’re doing copyright law, so I figured this was a layup. Listen to music. Your music. Pick songs. We’ll talk about ownership and infringement.

There are 21 kids in the class.

Two did it.

Two.

I literally assigned teenagers to listen to music and somehow that was too much. Not a ten-page paper. Not Bluebook citations. Not “brief Marbury v. Madison.” I asked them to Google songs that sound alike.

They didn’t even care enough to fake it.

That’s the part that gets me. It’s not just that they didn’t do it – it’s the complete indifference. No panic. No excuse. No “I forgot.” Just vibes. It could have been five minutes of work while sitting in the parking lot before school.

Nothing.

And this is where people love to gaslight teachers.

“Well, if they were more engaged…”

“If the lesson was more relevant…”

“If you built stronger relationships…”

Nope.

Respectfully, nope.

I am the same teacher I’ve been my entire career. Same sarcasm. Same energy. Same stupid jokes. Same projects that used to work. Same assignments kids used to actually enjoy. I’ve done mock trials, debates, music law, crime scenes, contract negotiations – real things, fun things, things designed specifically so they don’t feel like school.

This group of seniors just does not care.

Not all of them, obviously. Two of them did the assignment. God bless those two. I may frame their work like it’s the Constitution.

But when the baseline becomes “I don’t care if I fail,” there is no educational strategy powerful enough to compete with that. You can’t out-teach apathy. You can differentiate, scaffold, build relationships, call home, create incentives, stand on your head juggling flaming copies of the Constitution – but if they fundamentally do not care whether they pass or fail, eventually you’re just performing CPR on a mannequin.

So today, after sleeping terribly because apparently peace has an expiration date, I’m back at work. Making playlists for copyright law. Prepping study guides for other classes. Doing the job because that’s what you do.

But if I’m honest, the tank is running low.

People say focus on the ones who care.

I do.

I absolutely do.

But when it’s 2 out of 21, sometimes that math gets a little depressing.


Apr 22 2026 2026-04-22 2026-04-20 NoComment by Ross

Morning Music…

Posted in Morning Music, Music

The B-52’s – Private Idaho


Apr 21 2026 2026-04-21 2026-04-21 NoComment by Ross

Hater Tuesday … Celebrity Edition

Posted in Hater Tuesday, Old Man Yelling at the Sky

There are a few things that reliably trigger my inner old man. Celebrity culture is near the top of the list.

Nothing makes me roll my eyes faster than a sporting event cutting away from the actual game so the broadcast can show me who is sitting courtside. I do not care that Timothée Chalamet is at the Knicks game. I do not care that Suni Lee is there too. I especially do not care that the announcers are treating this like breaking news.  (link)

“Look who’s here tonight!”

Yeah, thanks. I was actually trying to watch basketball.

I can’t stand celebrity treatment at sporting events. I can’t stand the courtside seats, the camera pans, the awkward waving, the constant need to remind us that famous people are in the building. I can’t stand the sideline access, the locker-room access, the handshakes with players, the little manufactured moments so everyone can post them on Instagram later.

It’s the exact opposite of those old US Weekly headlines: “Celebrities, they’re just like us!”

No, they absolutely are not.

They are treated completely differently from the rest of us. They get the best seats, the special entrances, the backstage passes, the private rooms, and the access nobody else gets. Why? Because they act in movies. Or sing songs. Or have enough followers to qualify as “important.”

Meanwhile, the guy who worked a double shift as an ER nurse? Upper deck.

The firefighter who ran into a burning building last week? Watching from home.

The teacher who spent all day trying to convince teenagers that deadlines matter? Illegal stream and a beer.

No surgeon is getting walked courtside because he nailed a triple bypass on Tuesday.

No paramedic is getting shown on the jumbotron while the announcers gush over their outfit.

No soldier is getting front-row playoff seats because they served three deployments.

And before someone says, “Well, celebrities can afford it,” that’s not even the point. I’m not mad they have money. I’m mad we’ve collectively decided fame itself deserves worship.

We built a whole culture around pretending the famous are more interesting, more valuable, and somehow more worthy of attention than everyone else. And sports broadcasts are one of the worst offenders. I tuned in to watch the game, not a live episode of TMZ.

I know this makes me sound like a grumpy old man yelling at clouds, and honestly, fair enough. Put it on my tombstone.

Here lies Ross.
He hated celebrity culture.
And he really didn’t care who was sitting courtside.

Still true.


Apr 21 2026 2026-04-21 2026-04-20 NoComment by Ross

Morning Music…

Posted in Morning Music, Music

Elvis Costello – Radio Radio (Live on SNL)


Apr 20 2026 2026-04-20 2026-04-20 NoComment by Ross

There Ought to Be a Law

Posted in Old Man Yelling at the Sky

There should be a law that no online business can send you an email or text that they’ve shipped your order unless it’s actually in transit.  None of this “label created” bullshit.


Apr 20 2026 2026-04-20 2026-04-20 NoComment by Ross

The Great MCLE Shakedown: Checking Boxes and Writing Checks….

Posted in Old Man Yelling at the Sky

There is a specific brand of bureaucratic theater that exists solely to make people feel “protected” while doing absolutely nothing of the sort. In the legal world, we call this Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE).

I’ve kept my law license active. I don’t practice anymore, but I still read SCOTUS opinions for breakfast and keep tabs on Illinois appellate rulings because, frankly, I care about the law.  Yet, the State of Illinois still demands I sit through 30 hours of “education” to prove I’m a fit member of the Bar.

The Grift of the Seminar

Let’s be honest about who this actually benefits:

  1. Professional Development Companies: The ones charging $500 for a “Comprehensive Guide to [Insert Niche Topic Here]” that you’ll forget by the time you reach the parking lot.

  2. Legal Organizations: They get a captive audience and a steady stream of registration fees to keep their lights on.

  3. Bureaucrats: They get to point at a spreadsheet and say, “Look! Our lawyers are 100% compliant and therefore 100% competent!”

Performative Competence

The absurdity lies in the lack of relevance. Illinois doesn’t care if I spend 15 hours studying the granular details of bankruptcy law – an area I have never touched and would rather eat glass than practice. They don’t care if I sleep through 30 hours or play games on my phone.  As long as I have the certificate and the “Ethics” box is checked, the state is satisfied.

It’s the exact type of regulation I detest: it feels virtuous. It sounds great in a press release: “We require our lawyers to stay current!” But it’s a mile wide and an inch deep.

The Two Types of Lawyers

The irony is that MCLE doesn’t change behavior.

  • The Diligent: The lawyers who actually care about their clients and their craft are already reading the law, staying organized, and attending meaningful sessions because they want to be good at their jobs.

  • The Slackers: The ones who don’t care will either find the ultimate “blow-off” PDs – where they can answer emails in the back of the room – or they’ll simply lie on the self-reporting forms.

The “College Level” Loophole

Just so we’re clear: this isn’t a “woe is me” post about finding the time. Since I teach law at the college level, I can sleepwalk my way into those 30 hours through teaching credits. It’s not that the requirement is hard to meet; it’s that it’s stupid.

It is a performance without a purpose, a tax on time and money that serves the system rather than the law. But hey, at least the certificate looks nice in the recycling bin.