Really miscellaneous articles


Coaching Kids' Soccer

Coaching soccer is very different from coaching Little League baseball. I have a dozen years of coaching recreational soccer, kids from six to fourteen, with much of that experience in the under-ten group. Here is a primer for those who might now be getting into it.

Reading, TV, and Parenting

I tripped over this Baby Blues strip on August 26, 2021. Immediately, it brought to mind what happened when my kids got their first reading lessons in school.  (Cue the flashback music.)

Learn a Musical Instrument -- Early

Learning a musical instrument is the hardest thing we ask of kids below about 10. There is more work before you begin to see and hear satisfying results than almost any other activity. But eventually you do. And the work habits instilled will stay with you the rest of your life.

Music Rant

Somewhere around 1960 the public's perception of popular music changed from a song orientation to a performance orientation. Before 1960, there could be many interpretations of a song that audiences would appreciate. But after 1960, only one performance was the legitimate embodiment of any popular song, in the mind of the public.

Me, Myself, or I

One of my retirement pastimes is editing stories, fiction, for some Internet authors. More often than I would like to see, authors use "I" when proper grammar demands "me". Here's a fairly simple rule to tell which you should use.