Back in the early days of the Internet it was not uncommon to have a “personal webpage.” It was in this environment that I started my own. More than twenty years later the topography of the Internet has changed. Fewer persons use “computers” (desktop or laptop) to access online, and use their “mobile devices” (cell … Read more
I think I have attended only a handful of meetings in my life that were worth the time. I’m not talking about the informal meetings with a co-worker on almost a daily basis about the nuts and bolts of the job — I am talking about formal meetings with the boss and many others. One … Read more
I drive around the streets where I live at 3:30 in the afternoon and I am surprised at what I don’t see: kids running around playing. The streets seem devoid of children playing. I do see clumps of middle and high school students getting off yellow school buses and walking sullenly to their houses. But … Read more
I would say a few words, gentle reader, about two recent passions in my life: guns and yoga. Maybe it is just that I am a Gemini, that I would have hobbies so seemingly dissimilar (even antithetical). Yoga and guns? Are you crazy? Maybe. I enjoy them both. But I have highly nuanced feelings and … Read more
For the better part of two decades I have been chronicling my New Years Resolutions, for better or for worse. New Years Resolutions This year is no different. Gentle and esteemed reader, I present to you my resolutions for 2018. Wish me luck! P.S. Although Elizabeth did buy that huge stuffed lion as a 2017 … Read more
RIDING AWAY FROM THE CHURCH: Colin and Katherine are off and biking towards future adventures in their marriage! November 30, 2017 Dear Colin, I enjoyed your wedding last weekend; thank you for inviting me. I remember getting married on June 21st, 2003 — how stressful it was to be the center of so much attention, … Read more
“Let no one weep for me, or celebrate my funeral with mourning; for I still live, as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men.” Quintus Ennius 21 years, mom. 21 years ago you died. At first, of course, it hurt worse since the wound was fresh. But now it hurts in a … Read more
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln It is said that “rich and powerful men are a powerful aphrodisiac for women” – I remember hearing this line during the late 1990s with the Bill Clinton “bimbo eruptions” that culminated in the infamous … Read more
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” — Heraclitus We were for many years blessed at the high school where I work with an excellent security officer, Mr. Dana Eaton. Dana was tasked with the sometimes unpopular job of being the … Read more
“The dream of reason produces monsters” Francisco Goya I have always resisted interpreting my dreams, or seeking to tie large meanings to one’s life from the subterranean miasma from which dreams arise, half remembered upon waking. I know Jungians and the like place huge importance on dreams, and in endlessly analyzing them. I am not … Read more
President Donald Trump, Enfant Terrible February 23, 2017 Donald Trump has been president for a handful of weeks, and it has already been frustrating, excruciating, exhausting, and enraging. The purpose of this essay is to examine why I am so angry, how I can control that anger so it does not drive me crazy, and … Read more
As is the tradition, I post my New Year’s Resolutions for this coming year, 2017. But unlike in past years, I find I don’t have much to say. Am I in a “dry period” with regards to personal growth? Or are things going well and I don’t feel the need to change much? No need to … Read more
Yes, it happened. Back in 2000 I was incredulous that my fellow Americans flocked to see Charlies’ Angels and wrote about this in my essay “Revenge of the Political Center.” I thought the idea of a Charlie’s Angles movie ridiculous at face value. Plenty of other Americans voted with their pocketbooks and bought tickets to … Read more
Flowers left on Margaret Mary Geib’s grave on October 31, 2016 by Richard John Geib. Twenty years, mom. Twenty years ago today you died. Your body eaten up by cancer like an old fence eaten up by termites. Twenty years is a long time. You have missed the weddings of your children and the births … Read more
Happy 20th birthday to my personal webpage! On October 9th of 1997 I started this online experiment. The date today is October 9th in 2016. Twenty years afters its inception my online presence still lives. And today I celebrate this fact. Over twenty years my work on rjgeib.com has waxed and waned, to be certain. … Read more
Cross country on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at 7:00 a.m. on campus before school. Swim team practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, followed by soccer practice from 5:30 to 6:30 on those days. Then there is tennis team practice on Fridays at 4:00 pm, and I play with … Read more
What good is it to learn to do something without teaching it to others? As Dr. Samuel Johnson claimed, “He has learned to no purpose, that is not able to teach.” This has defined a large chunk of my life as an educator. This sentiment has equally influenced me as a parent, if not more so. I … Read more
I recently finished Gerald Marzorati’s new book, “Late to the Ball: Age. Learn. Fight. Love. Play Tennis. Win.” I enjoyed the tennis references, of course, but what I most enjoyed were the meditations about retirement and aging, friendship and connection — and on learning to do anything new and grow in the process. For Marzorati, this … Read more
Today my state, California, votes in the 2016 presidential primary. By the end of the day, it should be the end of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. And I will be happy almost never to hear his name again. What a primary season it has been! Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as viable candidates for … Read more
We approach the twentieth anniversary of my humble domain, rjgeib.com. It has been my creative home on the Internet. I have worked on it, then let it languish; its progress has mirrored that of my own life. My online life waxes and wanes, largely dependent on what is happening in my offline life. Extreme exertion … Read more
“To find oneself more than a bit lost — while disorienting and even frightening — is far from irremediable.” It was sometime in early 1997 as I walking westbound on Superior Avenue in Newport Beach, California. My sister and her then fiancé happened to be driving by, saw me, pulled over, and offered to drive … Read more
It has been too long since I last posted, I know. Especially after having promised to work more on my personal website. Sigh. But, in my defense, this “Farch” (February and March of school year; the hardest time of academic calendar) has been an arduous one. There were more health issues (including shoulder surgery), and … Read more
I tend to agree with the ancient Athenians who, Pericles tells us, scorned the person who took no interest in politics — “We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.” And it is … Read more
Happy New Year, everyone! I indulge in the annual list of ways in which I can improve my life. Cheers!
The main reason I enjoy Facebook, despite all the petty posts and sophomoric banter, is that I can keep tabs on my former students, to some degree. Christian P.? What college is he attending again? Megan L.? Is she still with the Italian boyfriend and working for the Red Cross in London? Facebook usually allows … Read more
Today I read yet another article about cord cutting, and how the business model for cable TV in the United States is changing. The idea that one must pay for many channels in which one has no interest in order to get the few one does. The cable companies are, they say, fighting a long rearguard … Read more
Julia and friend as beginners at tennis. I remember trying to teach Julia how to hit a tennis ball when she was around three years of age. It was a disaster. A torrent of tears. Lots of blaming daddy. Julia was really too young still to hit a tennis ball with any success. Julia has always … Read more
MOTHER AND SON: 19 YEARS AND COUNTING Children think their parents know all the answers. Their parents are pillars of rock to which they can tether themselves in the storms of youth. When all falls to the ground in seeming ruin, parents still stand tall. It gives them comfort. It makes them feel safe. I … Read more
I have written hundreds and hundreds of college recommendation over the past fifteen years. Each fall the task of writing these letter has always been above and beyond the teaching and grading of my Advanced Placement students in public school classes that were significantly larger in number than the twenty six the College Board urged. (My principal would … Read more
As I write this, it is the 19th anniversary of the birth of my webpage. I look back with fondness on the excitement and novelty at the dawn of the Internet circa 1996 when “early adopters” such as myself flocked to the World Wide Web to communicate and explore the artistic possibilities. To this day … Read more