About

The name “Chat With Andy” refers to a class title that evolved over the years in my teaching at Puget Sound Community School (PSCS). Term after term, year after year, I’d offer classes on subjects like kindness, or leadership, even on Taoism or life’s big questions. But when I tried to focus these classes on their original topic, they often fizzled. Turns out that what made them work was just sitting in a circle and chatting. I finally caught on and one term offered a class simply called “Chat With Andy.” For a couple of years, it was the most popular thing we offered at PSCS. One year, the whole school turned out, including the staff.

So that’s what this blog has become, like my old “Chat With Andy” class. What I’d do back then is bring in something that I’d hope would start a good group dialogue. It might be a story or a short film. It could be a song, a poem or a short story. I’d share it and then ask a question. From there, it was up to the class to see where it would go.

That’s my intention here now. Mostly, I’ll do what I’ve always done on this blog, which is tell stories from my life. But occasionally I’ll branch out, share a video or a link to something that has inspired me. And I hope any time you feel inspired, you’ll take a minute to say so in the comments section.

To learn the full story behind this blog, read “A Story.” To further understand why the URL is frenchsabbatical.wordpress.com, read “French Sabbatical.” To learn more about me, read “Meet Andy.”

Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy your stay.