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Eric F. S. Larson

Beautiful Altadena

A writer/storyteller, student, teacher/nurturer, world traveler/curious explorer (outward and inward), and big picture thinker/non-linear synthesizer of disparate ideas.

Interests: Kids, Education, Twice-Exceptional Beings, Climbing, Mountaineering, Outdoors, Backpacking, Camping, Bouldering, Sport Climbing, Travel, Food, Spirits (multiple kinds!) Expats, cooking, friends, diversity, and lots more.

Recent Activity

Ansel, Orville, and Georgia

A dozen decades ago, February 20, 1902, a being named Ansel Adams came into this world. As some may know, Adams has long been a personal seminal voice. A deeply complex, spiritual, and thoughtful human being, his work sowed an early seed-muse that lead me—a shy and anxious New England... Continue reading

Posted Feb 22, 2022 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Today’s Meditation

Today’s Meditation Diving into the deep parts, Seeing what lies in-between. In the place that is Ajna and lying directly in front of me. Blind to this world, Though peering into others. Vastness. Incomprehensible emptiness, nothingness. Space. Ineffably dense matter. Sub-atomic, nuclear, molecular, Planetary, celestial, galactic. Infinite space in the... Continue reading

Posted Jan 13, 2020 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Remarkable Reflections

One of my long-time teachers, Jeanne Heileman (@jeanneheilemanyoga), recently posted a, well, remarkable story regarding one of her own remarkable memories from the past year. She asked others to share their remarkable memories. Naturally, I was inspired. Naturally, I found a way to riff and improvise on her seed of... Continue reading

Posted Jan 3, 2020 at The Dirtbag Educator

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Eric F. S. Larson added a favorite at Everything Typepad

Jan 2, 2020

The Odyssey Contained (in part) Within a Contemporary Poem

There is also a wonderful film about another Odyssey, The Way with Martin Sheen and directed by his son, Emilio Estevez. The Way Friend, I have lost the way. The way leads on. Is there another way? The way is one. I must retrace the track. It's lost and gone.... Continue reading

Posted Dec 1, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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An Ineffable Point of Embarcation

So begins this blog, The Dirtbag Educator, not at the beginning, but at a continuation of a journey already in progress. There are journeys taking place on many levels, all the time. For oneself, for other human beings, for flora and fauna, for life itself. For geologic substances, for particles... Continue reading

Posted Sep 30, 2019 at The Dirtbag Educator

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Remembering the Meaning of Labor Day

Adapted from my Labor Day Instagram post. Today is Labor Day. I asked my high school students on Friday what it means to them. Most didn’t know the origins of why we celebrate this day. I reassured them that many American adults don’t know or don’t remember. Today is more... Continue reading

Posted Sep 7, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Largo and the Bird: The Last Interview

The rush and crush of this Type A glorifying culture alternately can put you unto either a manic, frenzied, high energy state or can lock you down into a fog of numbness and blithering social media ramblings. Or worse. Yet, every now and then, you are jerked from this modern,... Continue reading

Posted Jul 28, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Going Down the Rabbit Hole of Student Curiosity and Teacher Excellence

Andrew Niemeijer, via his TEDx talk (Niemeijer, 2013), expresses two supremely important concepts: (1) the need for teachers to fuel student curiosity rather than to suppress it by requiring them to strictly color within the lines (so to speak) and (2) the need to “invest in teachers” to ensure that... Continue reading

Posted Jul 2, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Daniel, My Brother

I saw these words today (image at left) and there was instant resonance. In addition to all the other significant impedimenta that I’ve been carrying (for some time now), my brother, Daniel Larson, passed away four weeks ago tomorrow (as some of you already know). He had been living—and i... Continue reading

Posted Jun 13, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Music and Nerds: Ever the Twain Shall Meet

What is the connection between music, technology, and by extension, mathematics? Are there any? If so, how might they be connected? As I’ll describe, this topic holds a deep fascination for me; it has done so for quite a long time, dating back to my observations and experiences from a... Continue reading

Posted May 24, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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The Beginning: Irving and the Tomatoes

I wrote this remembrance on the occasion of my dear friend and teacher, Irving Schwartz's retirement (1993) and has become part of a trilogy of pieces about him. I'll be posting the other two in the future. This piece marks the renaissance of my own writing. It came at a... Continue reading

Posted Mar 25, 2019 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Summer is for Slowing Down

"I associate summer with shade, resting and reading, napping." I am in complete alignment with this childhood association of Linda Wertheimer's! #typebunderachieversunite Fields need winter to lay fallow, rest, and regenerate. Summer can be this for humans too. Colin with the right idea. We Should Turn Down The Volume Of... Continue reading

Posted Jul 8, 2018 at The Dirtbag Dad

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident..."

Maya Angelou's poetry that has me reflecting on the United States' Independence Day in a new way; an alternative declaration of independence for which all of humanity must strive. See also a full discussion around this poem and Carl Sagan's "pale blue dot" from Maria Popova's Brainpickings: A Brave and... Continue reading

Posted Jul 7, 2018 at The Dirtbag Dad

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A belated Mother's Day post. But not too late for Mother's Day itself. Of course, lest we forget, everyday is Mother's Day. Dear Mom, These words struck me first: because I don't mean these poems only but the unseen unbelievable effort it takes to live the life that goes on... Continue reading

Posted May 29, 2018 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Patti Smith on Robert Mapplethorpe and Having a Calling as an Artist

Powerful, beautiful, wise thoughts from Patti Smith (interviewed live on Alex Baldwin’s Here’s the Thing podcast): “Your prime directive has to be to do something new, to give something new to the canon of art, to give something new to the people, to do something great, to do something enduring,... Continue reading

Posted Dec 31, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Prelude: "The night is always darkest just prior to the dawn" (Thomas Fuller and many others since and likely before). Gone When he’s gone, it won’t be because he did not care It won’t be because was not capable It won’t be because he could not love It won’t be... Continue reading

Posted Nov 25, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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One Hell of a Mother...

Another episode in the Defining the Dirtbag Dad series. Hardship, deprivation, and struggles of many varieties have made me one resilient, tough, and resourceful motherfucker. Yet they have not made me vengeful, cynical, or hardened. Instead, this journey has wrought increasing gentleness, kindness, and compassion unto me and just as... Continue reading

Posted Sep 17, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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A Journey of a Thousand Steps...

...sometimes need not begin with even a step, but a deep kiss: "Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground." —Rumi "Follow your bliss." Joseph Campell didn't originate this, he just affirmed what has lain within the human... Continue reading

Posted Sep 9, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Slowly, Slowly, Do not rush the unfolding of your soul. Everything takes time to bloom. —Unattributed. Anyone know from where this came? I have a gut feeling it may be from either some Sanskrit text or a poet like Rumi. A vastly more poetic version of my old technology industry... Continue reading

Posted Sep 3, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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My Dad Wasn't a Climber

But he did provide the inspiration that set me on this journey. Another in the from the Dirtbag Dad origin story series. My dad was very interested in backpacking. In the early 1970's, he was inspired by Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker, bought an Optimus Stove, and scads of other... Continue reading

Posted Aug 28, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Margaret Mead on the Dirtbag Dad

In the never ending journey (and why would I want it to end?) to give substance and form to the essence of what a dirtbag dad is, I came across these words attributed to Margaret Mead. Even though they are expressed in a language prevalent around 50 years ago, they... Continue reading

Posted Aug 28, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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The Guest House

A poem from Rumi, resonating on multiple levels in this season of renewal and rebirth. You just can't go wrong with Rumi. The Guest House This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected... Continue reading

Posted Apr 30, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Distress and Impairment

These symptoms (distress and impairment) are a critical element to a mental health diagnosis. Not only is this aspect misunderstood with regards to the President, but for those who suffer from mental health ailments in general (perhaps more importantly). Dr. Frances eloquently (and succinctly) clarifies this in his letter to... Continue reading

Posted Mar 3, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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Made My Day (not the Dirty Harry version)

A highly worthy repost (re-poem?) from Dr. R. Scott Colglazier: The Bible as Haiku (1) The sun begins to shine. Large dark clouds gather in our hearts. The sun keeps shining. The Bible as Haiku (2) Paradise is lost. We never stop looking for it. Paradise finds us. The Bible... Continue reading

Posted Feb 16, 2017 at The Dirtbag Dad

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