Jessie Voigts's Blog, page 15
January 13, 2025
Read This: Why Shooting Stars Above is One of the Most Important Books You’ll Ever Read
One of our favorite writers, Patricia Leavy, is back with a novel that is one of the most important books you’ll ever read. Shooting Stars Above is one of those books that, once you start, you cannot put down (yes, 4am bedtime, but happy!).
It’s a story of courage, chosen family, and how love–in all aspects–can help us heal and grow. It has stayed with me, and I cannot stop thinking about the themes, characters, and how we all need more of this goodness in ou...
January 8, 2025
Portrait of a Presidency: Patterns in My Life as President of The College of New Jersey
Publisher’s note: This is an excerpt from Chapter Five (Props for the House) of Portrait of a Presidency: Patterns in My Life as President of The College of New Jersey (Koehler Books: 2025), R. Barbara Gitenstein, President Emerita, The College of New Jersey, Senior Fellow and Senior Consultant, Association of Governing Boards
Another example of successful behind-the-scenes communication in a political matter occurred in Chris Christie’s first year as governor. ...
January 6, 2025
Cultural Holidays: From St. Nicholas to La Befana and everything in between!
The holidays are already a special time of year; when you add in all the cultural components and traditions that we hold onto through our families that have been passed down through generations, it adds something rather special to the holidays…because it’s filled with deep meaning.
I grew up in a Greek and Italian-American family, and for us, the holidays always began from decorating our homes and Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving. December 6 has always been...
Through the Eyes of an Educator: The Next Chapter
We’ve officially turned another calendar page. Whether you’re shocked, surprised, ready, still full of cheese, excited, nervous, or already on your way, amidst the fireworks and fanfare, January has arrived.
How will you greet 2025?
There are those of us jumping in with both feet, ready with our bucket lists, and resolutions to level up life. There are those in the throes of taking stock of what was and manifesting the heck out of dreams and goals for the next twelve ...
December 23, 2024
The Curse of the Dead Man's Diamond
When twelve-year-old Charlotte is uprooted from New York City and forced to move to sweaty, sticky, roach-infested Florida, she’ll do anything to get back home – even conspiring with ghosts. Everyone in the kooky seaside town of Casaluna is obsessed with the supernatural, and Charlie finds herself living in the town’s most infamous haunted house, inhabited by a trio of rambunctious ghosts who were cursed for stealing a dead man’s diamond.
When she l...
December 16, 2024
Music for Journeys Through December and Beyond
It is December at this writing, a season of darkness and light, of looking forward and looking back.
There are many journeys each of us makes in the course of a day, not to mention across a week, a month, and a year from January to December.
These may be physical journeys to a new land to explore, down the street to help a friend, across a room to greet a stranger.
They could be journeys of thought, imagination, storytelling, learning, and reflecting on changes brought ...
December 9, 2024
Through the Eyes of an Educator: Cultivating Your Inner Magic
“You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” - Robin Williams
We’ve arrived in December, the time of the year when hot chocolate drinks warm hands, icicle lights drip from rooftops, and Spotify wraps fill our feeds. Whether you think of it as festive season, one of overwhelm, or one that calls for hiding in a pillow fort ‘til the calendar page flips, it shows up with bells on and only leaves when it’s done. It’s up to us to enjoy it or survive...
December 7, 2024
Life Without Citizenship: A Global Human Rights Issue
A stateless person, as defined by the 1954 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, is a person who is not considered a national of any state. This means that they do not hold formal citizenship of any state.
Citizenship is a legal status that acts as a tie between the individual and the state, representing a form of membership within a state by granting the individual with certain rights and protectio...
December 6, 2024
The Legacy of Vesuvius: Bourbon Discoveries on the Bay of Naples
If you were lucky enough to travel to Naples in the 18th century and hoped to catch a glimpse of the antiquities being excavated at Herculaneum and Pompeii, you would likely have needed an invitation to one of the royal palaces of Charles VII of Naples.
In 1734, at the request of King Philip V of Spain, eighteen year old Charles of Bourbon along with his Spanish troops journeyed to Naples to reclaim control of the region from Austria.
King Philip had appoint...
December 5, 2024
Read This: Prompting Originality: The A.I. Handbook for Humans
As an educator and/or parent, you're probably wondering HOW to teach and work with AI. It isn't easy. The field is constantly changing, and student, parents, and educators don't know where to even start to learn about, utilize, and think about AI.
We all know that students will consider using AI to do their school work this year. And, if they do hit the ‘easy’ button, they’ll most likely be accepting mediocre content. Authentic, human-generated and creative con...
