Articles by Amy Shinneman

Quietly kind

Middle school … to many, some of the most miserable and tormented years of one’s life. It is often a challenging, transitional period of life when so many changes are…

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Mrs. B

Some teachers change your life. For me, one of those teachers was my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. B. She was one of a kind and is written in my book of…


Live unedited

Many of us have things we look back on as we analyze our younger years that we wish we could get a “do-over” for. That is just part of living…


New things

If there is one thing that instantly sends me into panic mode it would be when someone suggests that I try something new. As I sat in a local coffee…


Recess

Elementary school recess. It should be a great time in a child’s life. Something to look forward to. It helps to break up the long school day. I remember my…


Derailed

Chances are you’ve had something or sometime in your life when things didn’t go the way you thought they would at all. You are suddenly left without a plan of…


Humbly courageous

When you are forced to be courageous in an everyday battle, humility is inevitable. This is the thought that came to mind when I was trying to think of what…


Why I write

Aside from a few papers in high school and college and a sporadic journal I kept, writing and I really didn’t have much of a relationship. I was sitting in…


Dear diary

Anyone else have a diary with a lock on it in your early school days? Where you kept your deepest secrets and privately wrote about your childhood crushes? Under NO…


Cloak of shame

For much of my life, I wore a heavy cloak of shame. I couldn’t shake it. Even if I was successful in ridding myself of it for a short period…