Reflections on Memorial Day while living in Tangier The trail in Bray, Ireland While my family and friends back in the States celebrate another Memorial Day, where, honestly, people congregate to spend time together and open the summer season, especially in Maine and New Hampshire, I’m here in Tangier, looking for a well-deserved reprieve. Unlike my family, I worked on Monday but will be celebrating on my own later in the week. In a day or two, while the locals celebrate Eid, which I believe is the celebration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son to God rather than a sheep, I’ll be in England, rebooting and recharging. I’m confident, though, as I look across the Irish Sea, squinting towards Bray and Dublin, that I will remember my first trip to that area, the one I want to share now. While the original travel vlog is gone, the experience, the shared moment, and the reminder that we can all impact others in positive ways remain strong to this day. In honor of the those who have gone before us, especially my fellow veterans who paid the highest price on the field of battle, here’s a blog about making a difference, not because I necessarily wanted to, but because I could. That’s the truth,  Bull Island in Dublin, Ireland (Taken from an old blog I wrote on my first trip to Dublin in November 2022)
There was a point in the walk to Bull Island where I intended to share a short story, but between the wind and the run-in with the Easter Island statue, I dropped the ball entirely. You’ll notice as much when you watch the video. My apologies. With the holiday season underway, especially Thanksgiving, I can’t help but think about how important giving is in all our lives. Many struggle this time of year, far more than at other times. Some lack basic necessities, and others lack emotional or physical support. I don’t need to jump into war-torn areas, where we know the need is great, but as I look outside the door and those I pass on a daily basis, I have no other recourse. As a teacher in New Hampshire, I saw firsthand how school districts support those who don’t have enough food, clothing, or even shelter. Here in Poland, it’s a bit different. I know there is a need, but I don’t know what channels they have to provide. The number of Ukrainian refugees living here clearly shows that Poland is a country that embraces a giving mentality. Many Polish families welcomed Ukrainians into their homes with open arms. They allowed them a place to stay until a suitable arrangement could be made during this trying period. Even now, the country continues to support Ukraine in whatever way it reasonably can. Back in the States, many live in a bubble. I know I did until sixteen years ago when I transitioned out of the Navy and went back into education. I remember gathering the belongings I did have in Maryland and, to my surprise, finding that my favorite fleece blanket was gone. I looked around the house, in every drawer, closet, and box. The unicorn blanket had been a keepsake since middle school and a favorite of mine. I didn’t take it to South Carolina or Florida for fear of it being taken or lost, let alone knowing the blanket couldn’t be brought to boot camp or training command without ample ribbing. To say I was bummed was a bit of an understatement. When it came up in conversation at the dinner table, I found out why the blanket was gone and how. Stephen, in his overly generous nature, had given it to a homeless man in Washington DC. My first thought was you gotta be kidding me. Why did he take my favorite blanket? He didn’t donate his Grizzly Bear fleece, but I guess anything that wasn’t my twin’s was fair picking. That’s exactly what happened. All said, some clothes, a second blanket I overlooked, and the unicorn fleece were all thrown into Stephen’s truck and delivered to a homeless person he saw near the Days Inn in downtown Washington. I couldn’t be mad since it was for a good cause, but I found it fitting that my twin had only given up my belongings. I can hear his voice, “You weren’t using them.” From what I gathered, he did this multiple times. It was sort of a funny joke in the end because Stephen had passed eight months earlier, and I could hear him rationalizing his giving even without having a formal conversation. This was the same guy who, after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, said he was changing his life because if the Sox could come back from down 3-0, then he could do anything he set his mind to. Sadly, his own personal quest ended far too soon, but his legacy and the lessons he provided continue to this day. At the very least, I know my blanket found a good home. In Dublin, this specific memory popped into my head after I passed an old woman. Let me backtrack: this memory didn’t show up until a few hours later, on the return walk to my Airbnb. The first time we crossed paths, she was up against a derelict building door. She mumbled something, probably in Gaelic, and held up a paper cup. I waved slightly and carried on, more focused on finding Bram Stoker’s Park and his childhood home. A typical American, I blew by her, but not fast enough to lose sight of her condition or see the whites of her eyes. She was barely sitting up, and if not for the wall, I’m not sure if she wouldn’t be on her side. How she got to that spot, I couldn’t fathom, but at that moment, I also put her out of my mind. In Riga and now here in Dublin, seeing people in hardship pulled at my heartstrings, but I knew I couldn’t give to everyone I saw. There was no way to tell who was truly in need and who was putting on a show. Maybe that’s jaded, but it’s also the truth. Three hours passed, and I was cutting back after my tour of central Dublin. There was the old woman with the squinting eyes still against the wall. A light blue fleece blanket was wrapped around her legs. I’m confident there wasn’t one the first time we crossed paths. Again, she spoke, and I gently shrugged and smiled. Several seconds passed, and I kept walking. I felt for my wallet and wondered how much cash I had. I knew I didn’t have change or anything less than a significant bill. About that time, when I was rationalizing why I shouldn’t stop, Stephen and his unicorn snatching deeds came to mind. Possessed by Stephen’s memory and what was the right thing to do, I turned around. She didn’t see me coming as her back was turned. I tapped her on the shoulder. She lifted the cup, and I shook it off. Slowly, I knelt down and handed her the bill. Tears filled her eyes, and she spoke in Gaelic. I’m pretty sure I know what she said, but we’ll save that for another story. We didn’t have to exchange another word. I saw the angel looking back at me, a woman who hadn’t always been this way, who had a long life up till now, but had fallen on a rough time. I felt what she felt and knew this small gesture would help her more than it would help me find another place to stuff my mouth and fill my stomach. I walked home hopeful for the old woman. More importantly, I was thankful for Stephen, his memory, and the lesson he taught me years earlier. In this season of Thanksgiving, it doesn’t matter how much you give, but that you put yourself in the right place to help those in need, in a way that truly serves. If you happen to see a unicorn fleece blanket, do let me know.
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Teacher Burnout or Time to Walk Away? When Educators Know the Classroom Has Left Them Behind5/17/2026  A perfect homework key If there is one profession where employees need some time to recharge and renew, it’s, hands down, education. For people who think otherwise, I would simply say you’ve never been in a classroom, dealt with twenty to thirty kids and their emotional, physical, and educational issues for months at a time. Even for the most seasoned veterans, by the time June rolls around, we’re tired. I should know, speaking as one of those very educators. What grace and patience we had from September through April have been tapped. How many times can one tell Sally to take out her homework, writing supplies, and start the warm-up exercise, when it’s been the same routine since day one? And parents… let’s be entirely honest: how many emails and grade updates can we share to help you understand that it’s not just teachers and kids in the educational process? It takes the home unit as well, especially in my current base of operations, Morocco. Then again, in some cultures, or maybe it’s just people with changed circumstances, there is no bandwidth or desire to help their kids learn what it really means to be a productive, functioning, and good human being. We could dive into semantics, who needs to do what, and what each role is expected to do and should, but in this blog, I’d rather focus on my fellow educators who are tired and ready to recharge. The question for many, whether they want to admit it or not, is whether this is the final school year they go through this routine, or if the summer is enough to bring them back to this increasingly difficult and at times trying profession. Granted, we all know the educators who have no business being in the classroom to begin with. For them, it’s more about whether they understand that this is not a place for the uninitiated, those who simply want to punch a clock and keep the children at arm’s length, or those who feel the children should simply be robots who follow every directive with blind obedience. For that matter, those who lack empathy and see only in black and white should be shown the door. Here’s a list for teachers to consider whether to hang things up for good. I’m sure I’ll leave some out, but having served in a pseudo-administrative role these past few years, I can speak not only from a teacher’s perspective but also from that of someone who coaches and works with them.  Nine plus years ago - the science experiment that went bad Let’s check out this list.
1. Teachers who pass blame and their classroom issues onto administrators or fellow colleagues need to take a moment. Sure, there are some bad administrators in this world, just like there are bad teachers, but generally speaking, people learn their roles and manage the best they can. Some struggle, but those in administration managed to secure the role by impressing someone, and as teachers, we need to give them grace, even if at times it feels like we don’t receive any in kind. The teacher can’t assume that every admin is out to get them and not support them in the classroom. When you start to believe that, it’s likely time to run for the hills. I don’t care how frustrated you are; if you really think your classroom issues and students' problems are from a lack of support, then you might not be doing your job effectively. If it’s been going on for several years, it’s more about you and time to decide if this career fits. 2. Let’s shift the blame from the administration to the students. Come on, the students should be happy and feel privileged to have you in their classroom as their instructor for the year. Sheesh, if they aren’t understanding the concepts, doing work, and behaving like angels, clearly that’s entirely on them. Honestly, it’s not as black-and-white as one would hope. We are dealing with children after all, who use school as a safe place to test boundaries. Are some total a-holes…yep, while some are the absolute salt of the earth and wonderful human beings. The ones in the middle, those are the ones you can reach the most, if you show that you care and are willing to work with them. Does it solve homework completion? Not necessarily, only because we can’t impact what happens when those students go home. Are students awful human beings for being disruptive in class, pushing buttons, and not making the first mark? No, it’s part of the job to create a system to navigate all of this. It takes work, buy-in, and effort from the teacher to create an environment that gets most of the students on board. If a teacher can’t, then find a different school and see if that population resonates more. Should it not, then it’s not the students, but the educator who isn’t cut out for this dynamic, for this career choice. Not every person who becomes a teacher is able to do the job, and the sooner they realize this, the better for all involved. 3. Toxic teachers, the same ones who want praise for doing their actual job, and also want to be paid as though they are better than their colleagues and should have preferential treatment for scheduling, class selection, and duty assignments, should find another life path. The tricky thing about these educators is that they won’t exactly realize it’s time to hang things up. Sure, they’ll mention it occasionally and will daydream about other educational roles, ones that they aren’t qualified for, but feel their experience alone makes them not only viable candidates, but ones that should get paid for taking on this new burden. Granted, many of these types don’t know they are doing this because many are wounded, narcissistic souls who haven’t had enough people call them out on their nonsense. These people are the ones who also blame administrators, students, and parents, and won’t hold up the mirror to their own diluted selves. I wish I could say I feel for these people, but these are the ones who need to be shown the door. If their administration had a backbone, a paper trail, or an authentic understanding that the students are better off without these energy vampires, then these teachers wouldn’t be reflecting on whether to stay; they'd already be gone. 4. Teachers who manipulate the school day and don’t put in the time the role demands need to decide whether they can meet the constraints of the position or look elsewhere. Sure, teaching hours are better than in many professions, with holidays off and, for the most part, every night but a few times a year. Allegedly, we also get summers off. Regardless, those who care won’t leave school until their classroom is ready for the next school day. If grading isn’t complete, it’s done either at home after scheduled work hours or on weekends. That’s the rub: educators have set hours, but veterans know there isn’t enough time in the schedule to get everything done unless one is really effective at time management. Even those who are, if you can’t handle Wednesday afternoon meetings, eight o’clock arrival times, and late afternoon departures, then maybe you need to pause for a bit. Those teachers who show up five minutes before the kids arrive and are running for the door right after the students board the buses home are not doing it right. Sure, that’s my judgment, but if the contract says teachers need to be on site at 8 am, then 8:20 doesn't live up to your end of the bargain. Crying about no time to eat lunch is another big warning flag. Here’s an idea: snack throughout the day, knowing that with kids, things come up. If there is a behavior issue, you shouldn’t be passing on a problem that can be managed in the classroom to someone else, simply because you want a twenty-five-minute break to eat an overpriced school lunch. Would it be nice to always have a planning period, or two, and ample time to eat, sure? But if you are the educator who is complaining to the administration or the teacher’s association about your inability to be flexible at a job that demands constant flexibility, it’s time. 5. On a similar note, those professionals who believe sick days are free days off even if they aren’t sick should reflect on whether their hearts are in the right place. I’ll never forget a colleague whose contract wasn't renewed because of budget cuts. I was in the same situation, but I came to work early every day and usually left later than others, yet this yahoo still had 30-something sick days on the books. What did he do? He took every Friday off and several Mondays for the last 2.5 months of the school year. That’s not someone who should be in the classroom, and if you might fit that mold, the one who is asking HR how many sick days you have left (to use), post that resume now. 6. I’m confident there are more flags that show it’s time to leave the profession, but number one would be when an educator has reached the point where they don’t like the kids, period. Sure, throughout the year, all teachers have a love-hate relationship with their classroom. If they don’t, I want to meet these kind souls. For the most part, it should be a constructive relationship, but if the teacher sees these kids as imbeciles or losers and doesn’t like anything about them, it’s a giant red flag. Our profession dictates time with children, so if being in their presence is revolting, regardless of the reason, it should be a no-brainer to leave. Over the years, I have seen and heard teachers berate their students, telling them they aren’t capable of earning a grade or learning a concept. How dare you, teacher? Sure, some students underachieve, and some don’t put in the time, and yes, we can push them to do more, but when we start questioning their capabilities by putting limitations on what they can accomplish, it’s time to leave. I’d rather have a mediocre colleague who wants nothing but the best for their students than the pedagogically sound educator who demeans and questions the integrity of kids just because they weren’t the teachers who gave them those foundational skills or explained a concept in a way that resonated. On a passing note, educators who believe they are the only ones capable of doing the job should reflect on the profession and whether it serves. Schools are a team effort, period. When one loses sight of this perspective, there is no place for them. Did I leave any of the big ones out? Are there other warning signs? BookBub Free Reads Review (2026): Indie Author Results with 13,000+ Downloads Across Platforms5/5/2026  Rusty Star was the book being promoted. It must have been around a decade ago when I first heard of BookBub. As an independent author, the service is virtually a slam dunk for getting fresh downloads and purchases. The first time I contemplated applying was with The Fox and the Girl series. I just finished writing the last two books, and with a completed series and virtually no traction, the idea of being selected and potentially reaching thousands of new readers was undoubtedly tempting. Then reality set in. There was an application process and vetting, with whatever whim they decided to follow on a given day. Sure, they will say otherwise, but it’s odd how some books with few to no ratings get selected, while others with well over a hundred get no love either. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Authors know that if you can get a featured deal “Bub,” it will mean a bump in sales, regardless. I can’t tell you how many times I applied only to be rejected. Let me think for a moment … maybe nine is the current number. That sounds about right. The first one was in 2018. When I wasn’t selected for this opportunity, to fork over a boatload of money to gain access to more readers, I found myself using Fussy Librarian. Over the years, this has been a reliable service, where I know I’ll get some eyes. Some genres do better than others, but I would say it’s worth the price point, even though it’s not the thousands of downloads that BookBub can bring. To that end, I recently applied to BookBub for a featured deal and wasn’t selected. Not a big surprise at all, but what was surprising was that I was offered a slot to participate in their relatively new service, Free Reads. Full disclosure: I couldn’t find much about this (it only started in fall 2025), and what were the typical results for people who put their free books in this newsletter. Hence, this week’s blog shares some numbers so other writers aren’t entirely in the dark. Then again, my personal findings are interesting regardless, because without knowing the exact readership numbers to BookBub’s Free Reads newsletters and the genres they put as preferences, it’s a bit grey. I also can’t tell you how much of a bump was given by the readership versus just being at the top of the charts, and between getting movement on the Amazon and Apple algorithms. Let’s dig into the actual numbers and interpret them accordingly. The price point for this promotion, to put Rusty Star in the Free Reads newsletter, was $500.00. In comparison, I paid $79.00 for Fussy Librarian. The Fussy Librarian promotion was in early March. All told, on Amazon, if I did the numbers right, I got 1069 downloads. On Google Books, 96, and between Apple/Barnes & Noble, because I can’t differentiate them right now, there were 483 books. That promotion brought in 1648 downloads. From what I have observed, my ratings on Amazon went from 18 to 28, and Goodreads was in the low 20s. I applied to BookBub with 28 ratings and possibly one or two on Apple. Let’s look at the week leading up to the Free Reads promotion. In some act of cosmic humor, and maybe also to prove to me that I don’t need to pay to move any of my books, three days before the scheduled promotion, there were around 55 downloads each on Apple and Barnes & Noble. There might have been 5 on Google Books. More interestingly, 1928 downloads from Amazon. We’ll call that the Stephen Anniversary treat. In effect, that was more than my Fussy promotion, and it was entirely just algorithm-driven. Even the rankings on Amazon were good enough to break the top 100 overall.  The numbers the day before the Free Reads promotion. At the peak, Rusty Star was #6 Free in the Kindle Store. The Free Reads newsletter was emailed out later that week, and things really took off.
Amazon - 11,081 downloads over the course of my promotion. In a remarkable newsworthy moment, there were approximately 2200 downloads through Apple/Barnes & Noble, with roughly 1600 to Apple and 600 to Barnes & Noble. Just for fun, Google Books jumped in and contributed 703. All told, from April 17 to April 28, 13,984 downloads across all platforms. If I wanted to sneak in the bump earlier in the week, 15,921 downloads for half the month. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means I potentially gained thousands of readers this month. Ratings on Amazon have gone from 28 to 41. Now there’s no way to tell how many of those were from my mid-April bump or from the promotion. Goodreads is now at 54. Double Cross, the follow-up book, has garnered 12 sales. On Apple, oh how I love Apple readers, we have gone from 2 ratings to 40. Given its significantly lower downloads, that number is revealing. It means that Apple readers are more serious about their books, while the Amazon ones might just store them for a rainy day. Double Cross purchases are currently at 9. And because we shouldn't leave anyone out, the ratings for Barnes and Noble are abysmal. There are zero, yes, zero ratings, despite 600 downloads. Or I simply can’t figure out where to find them. Then again, Google Books, I believe, is at five. It’s still early in the process, but after two weeks of running the promotion, those are the numbers. I don’t know if I would do it again for the price point. Sure, I’m now showing up on more people’s recommended lists, and I can brag about being number one on several Amazon genre lists, but aside from that, I have to sit and wait to see if I make my money back. As an independent author, while fun to share my stories, between editing costs, book cover design, and promotions, I have yet to break even on any project. That’s the reality of my writing journey. But I love what I create and will keep finding ways to get more eyes on my catalog. I’ll update with more numbers at the end of May, but that’s it for today. Later, JFK Update May 25 - While the Apple reviews have slowed, Amazon has taken off. Maybe it just took readers longer to get to the book. Current numbers as of this morning are Apple at 47 ratings, Amazon at 80, and Goodreads at 71. For perspective, Apple had only a tenth as many downloads as Amazon. Double Cross sales over the same time are an even three on Apple and three on Amazon. |
Meet Mr. Jon- a traveler at heart who loves a good story and walk. Jonathan has over twenty years experience in independent publishing. While he prides himself on crafting a good story, nothing truly beats an adventure and a camera. 
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