About Me
Steve Chisnell (um, on the right) is a teacher at Royal Oak (MI) High School. 
American Original Sin: Sesame Street’s PC Monster
Our goal as a consumer society is to eat, eat, and eat. The chocolate chip cookie has ever been, therefore, that perfect product of American consumerism.
American Original Sin: Slave Chocolate
It began very soon after Mama Ka’Kaw was “discovered” by the Europeans when they first “explored” the “New World.” Chocolate, once an indulgence of the elite who could pay for it, fast became accessible and commonplace to everyone once slavery dropped the price.
American Original Sin: The Sacred Ka’Kaw
We had been invited to participate in the sacred creation of chocolate, just as it was practiced by the ancient Mayan discoverers of chocolate. I was in awe, but I was also–at least partly–ashamed.
American Original Sin: Claiming the Cookie
How could the shape or slicing of a cookie change its identity? (And, please, let’s not get into all the “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” or “Is cereal soup?” questions. We know the answer. We just do.)
Frodo Lives
It’s true that Frodo is given gifts beyond what any ordinary person could expect (swords, rings, chain mail, lights of Galadriel), but in the end it is his sheer act of will that gets him to the chasms of Mount Doom. And there he fails.
Ghosts of Writing Past
In some important sense, even in this political chaos, there must be an accountability for all composition.
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