Ska Hammer

27 posts
Skahammer started his career in politics, and has been moving more or less laterally ever since.

My Soccer Nemesis

Penalty Kick cropped

I grew up a small-town jock. This modest social role came with a number of comforting certainties. For instance, from about seventh grade onward, I played the same sports with basically the same teammates each season. My town was just barely large enough to field one team in most sports.

In our competitions, we faced mostly the same kids from each nearby town. And we all knew our assignments right away. For instance, on the soccer field, I was always the goalkeeper. I didn’t have any talent for the position, really — but I worked hard, obeyed coaching directives, and occasionally got lucky. Continue reading →

A Real Life Fifty Shades of Grey

Warning: This post contains adult themes that might not be safe for your work environment.

There were definite limits to our relationship. She never wanted me to ask detailed questions about her family. She hated ordering food over the phone and taking her car in for maintenance — so if those things needed to be done, I had to do them. And she didn’t mind if I found other women attractive, but she always wanted to be the one to raise the topic first. Continue reading →

Climbing Solo at the Hill Cumorah

In order to visit Jerusalem’s Temple Mount — which includes sites holy to Muslims, Jews, Christians and others — non-Muslims are expected to follow guidelines set by the Jordanian Ministry of Religious Places. In order to play a round of golf at the revered site of Augusta National, you need an invitation from a club member. To visit the Scientology Celebrity Center on Franklin Boulevard in Los Angeles, it surely helps to be a member of the church. And also a celebrity. Continue reading →

The Funeral: A Feel-Good Story

White flower photo by Carol Browne via Flickr

When my grandmother died, I was in law school.

And I was busy: My first trial (really an administrative hearing) was scheduled for the following week. I had to make a decision about whether to stay at school and file the necessary court briefs on time — or else go to the funeral and file late. I decided to file late. This was not the ideal way to represent my client. But I had the blessing of my clinic instructor because of the circumstances. And of course I had everyone’s sympathy too. Continue reading →

A Visit to the Birthplace of Joseph Smith

I was staying with some friends at a Vermont inn in November, some years ago, when inspiration struck me out of nowhere. In the form of a 38.5-foot-tall granite obelisk.

Idling in the inn’s lobby one evening, I discovered a pamphlet touting the birthplace of Joseph Smith. The Prophet of the Latter-Day Saints and translator of the Book of Mormon had indeed been born just down the road from this inn, in a tiny hamlet in rural Vermont. Continue reading →

Blood and Guts in Alternative Junior High School

When I taught junior high, it was at a rural “alternative” school — a school for students who had been expelled from other urban schools in the county. “At-risk” kids, if you like: Virtually all had chaotic home lives, or incarcerated parents, or something. There was also abuse, of course — although that issue was more the province of the social workers than the teachers. (This school had two full-time social workers on staff — for a student body of sixty kids in total.) The entire institution was specifically designed to educate this “population” of students: It was situated at some distance from other schools in the district, and was reached via a long ride through the countryside on an actual “short bus.” Continue reading →