Jennifer Ryan
Bio
I write on a wide range of topics from different perspectives so if you look around you'll probably find something you like. If you do find something you like, please share with your friends on social media. Thank you so much for reading.
Stories (10)
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Albert and Sakura
It was a hot day in June when Albert decided he was done working for someone else and picked up his ball cap and messenger bag and walked out of the office. He was frustrated, hot, sweaty, and mad. That was it really, he was just plain mad. His boss was a jerk and didn’t even understand half of what Albert showed him, but he was the one making all the money while Albert scrounged behind the seat cushions when he needed money for the subway. It wasn’t fair, Albert thought. How could someone so stupid be his boss? Albert would never understand the way companies worked. It was like they promoted the people who couldn’t do anything so they wouldn’t mess up the actual day-to-day business. It made little sense, but Albert was done trying to understand. He was going to do his own thing.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in The Chain
My Brother needed me.
And there it is, I thought to myself as I read the latest message in the chat. My student was late because he had been on Zoom with his little brother’s teacher. He had to help his sibling because his mother doesn’t speak English. Of course he was excused. How was I going to tell a thirteen-year-old trying to help his family he was in trouble with me for being late?
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in Education
Ms. My bad.... Top Story - February 2021.
I love my students. Every single one of them. Yes, sometimes teenagers can be exhausting, but they are magnificent and wonderful and full of life and I love that about them. My days are always an adventure and I always learn something new.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in Education
Kintsugi
I haven’t set a resolution in years, at least not in the traditional sense. I don’t do Dry January, set ‘challenge’ goals, or do couch to 5k…mostly because none of it is something I particularly care about. However, the reality of it is I drink very little and I hate to run and challenges always seem like a nightmare of second guessing and recrimination.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in Longevity
Kiva
It all started one year when I was sent a link to a site called Kiva. The idea behind Kiva was to do something about the lack of micro-loans available for people who didn’t have the wherewithal to get loans because they were bad credit risks or lived in places which didn’t have traditional banks. When you go on the website, you can pick a country, a type of person or a group, a goal the person asking for the loan is working towards — it offers information that allows the lender, you and all the other people interested in helping the person/group, to feel like you know where your money is going to go and why.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in Education
Sugar-Free Future
Alexander leaned back and groaned. He was getting too old to haul contraband which, if caught, would see him tortured or killed. He pushed a button and the floor of the tent inflated and warmed, and he relaxed. With a sigh, he started cataloging his profits from the three planets closest to TRAPPIST-1. He’d been visiting old customers, so it wasn’t dangerous. The Stórveldi weren’t active in space, and his wealthy customers had walled compounds where he could land undetected. He was also sure the local ættin, the smuggler hunters, didn’t bother him because some of the contraband made it into their kitchens.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in Futurism
Dear Donald,
When you took office four years ago, I watched my students struggle as they listened to people chanting ‘build the wall’. The children I teach are primarily Hispanic/Latinx and they went from being worried about what kinds of anger had arisen during the campaign to watching people they didn’t know screaming invectives at them and degrading every part of who they are simply because they weren’t born in this country. I watched the shock, dismay, and actual fear that my 13-year-olds were feeling show on their faces.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in The Swamp
The Caves at Wadi Rum
Maritza looked through the pictures from the archaeological site, marveling at the Thamudic wall art. She’d always dreamed of exploring something like this. Her best friend Daniel had found them while rock climbing in Jordan outside Wadi Rum. Daniel was an adrenaline junkie, he had been since they were kids, and he used his skills as a stuntman to get hired for movies that took him to places he wanted to go. This time it had been a trip to Wadi Rum for the filming of part of Rogue One so he could climb the mountains. To her surprise, when shooting wrapped, he had stayed there instead of coming home.
By Jennifer Ryan5 years ago in Wander
