So, what is a starnado, and why did starnado make the cut as the name of this blog? After asking my colleagues for ideas and getting responses like “johnsiedoesbikesandteachin” I decided to ponder ideas on my own. Honestly, my favorite idea was “jackofall” since I do often feel as though I am a jack of all trades, master of none. Well, jackofall.wordpress has been taking by an old page which features just one definition of the term antisemitism… That’s it. Just one definition.

With the goal of starting a blog before the end of summer in mind, I began digging deeper. What is something that is uniquely ‘me’? As this thought resonated more and more, I pulled out the starnado. For the past two years I have used the starnado symbol as a mark of mastery in my class. For some reason students seem to appreciate a starnado on their paper much more than ‘100%’, ’10/10′, or ‘A+’. So, the symbolic connection to me as a teacher is there, even if it is a stretch.

On a deeper level the starnado has been with me since fourth grade when we wrote a short story for class. We were supposed to peer edit and sign off on someone else’s work. After reading someone else’s writing I drew a star, but it came out in a unique way (probably because I was rushing). I liked how this symbol looked and decided if someday I was ever famous I would sign off with this simple symbol. I am not sure how aware I was of Prince at the time because I think if I had known about his identity change I would have never made this remark. Either way the starnado stuck around in my mind as doodling throughout school and work continued.

Currently, when we get to the genetics unit in my biology class I really emphasize how each of us is unique. I also believe our uniqueness is a gift to be celebrated. For me the starnado is something uniquely created from me being me, so I think I should celebrate what this symbol represents. The starnado is a link to my past, a symbol used by my current self, and I think a beacon to the unknown future. Peace.