In the spring of 2011, I had just finished a long day of teaching one Friday night, when I got a terrific email. Teaching weekends was a grind during those four week periods. After working all week, the students and I had to sit in a classroom for hours until late at night, only to go back early the next morning for an all day session.<\/p>\n
So I squinted and blinked a couple times to read the message from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editor John Allison, an affable man who had published a feature piece I had written in 2009 on Harry Houdini in the City of Steel. Features for a Sunday special feature called The Next Page were 2,000 words, and he found himself in a pinch for a good story and someone who could write it.<\/p>\n
He found my blog and read about my Pop Teaching movement, which consisted of me structuring an approach to student engagement based around pop culture. He asked if I could throw something together in a couple days. When you’re trying to make a name for yourself as a writer, the answer to that question is always an eager YES!<\/p>\n
I grabbed a six-pack of Red Bull, got through the Saturday lecture, and figured it out. The PG threw together some fun artwork to accompany my words, and just like that I had my second major feature in in a metropolitan newspaper.<\/p>\n