Author Archives: John

About John

About John John Bolinger was born and raised in Northwest Indiana, where he attended Ball State University and Purdue University, receiving his BS and MA from those schools. Then he taught English and French for thirty-five years at Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana before moving to Colorado, where he resided for ten years before moving to Florida. Besides COME SEPTEMBER, Journey of a High School Teacher, John's other books are ALL MY LAZY RIVERS, an Indiana Childhood, and COME ON, FLUFFY, THIS AIN'T NO BALLET, a Novel on Coming of Age, all available on Amazon.com as paperbacks and Kindle books. Alternately funny and touching, COME SEPTEMBER, conveys the story of every high school teacher’s struggle to enlighten both himself and his pupils, encountering along the way, battles with colleagues, administrators, and parents through a parade of characters that include a freshman boy for whom the faculty code name is “Spawn of Satan,” to a senior girl whose water breaks during a pop-quiz over THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Through social change and the relentless march of technology, the human element remains constant in the book’s personal, entertaining, and sympathetic portraits of faculty, students, parents, and others. The audience for this book will certainly include school teachers everywhere, teenagers, parents of teens, as well as anyone who appreciates that blend of humor and pathos with which the world of public education is drenched. The drive of the story is the narrator's struggle to become the best teacher he can be. The book is filled with advice for young teachers based upon experience of the writer, advice that will never be found in college methods classes. Another of John's recent books is Mum's the Word: Secrets of a Family. It is the story of his alcoholic father and the family's efforts to deal with or hide the fact. Though a serious treatment of the horrors of alcoholism, the book also entertains in its descriptions of the father during his best times and the humor of the family's attempts to create a façade for the outside world. All John's books are available as paperbacks and Kindle readers on Amazon, and also as paperbacks at Barnes & Noble. John's sixth book is, Growing Old in America: Notes from a Codger was released on June 15, 2014. John’s most recent book is a novel titled Resisting Gravity, A Ghost Story, published the summer of 2018 View all posts by John →

The Inflexibility of Family Politics…or Welcome to Fantasy Island

Political views and their values are some of the most difficult things for me to understand. Their furor is almost religious in many of those who are displaying signs on front lawns but also their establishing social systems with mentally … Continue reading

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The Way Things Seem

For the past two years I’ve had the feeling that I’m some kind of marionette floating around rather a small puppet theater, my strings controlled by someone else. I know I’m alone and that others everywhere yearn to participate fully … Continue reading

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Remnants Of Youth That Persist

Waiting patiently for my 80th birthday to pounce upon me in a little more than a year, I still miss my parents and siblings (David and Connie). I think of them daily through reminders in almost every room of my … Continue reading

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Old Family Photo Albums

I suspect that in most homes, there are books of family photos. Such collections in many houses tend to be on top shelves of closets or even in attics where they sometimes become forgotten visual histories of the residents. Those … Continue reading

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When Writing Becomes a Treasure

Writing is something we can all use to save some of our thoughts and ideas. Whether the process uses a pen, pencil, computer or typewriter is of little consequence. It’s what we have on our minds that means a lot, … Continue reading

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The Profound Value of Friends

I sometimes like to believe that when the point of my pen touches a piece of paper, some kind of magic occurs in that inexplicable moment when an idea or perception comes into focus out of yearning, recollection, rage or … Continue reading

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Hello, 2025

Every January first morning I sit for a while in my favorite wingchair with a glass of Mimosa (orange juice with Champagne) looking at the Christmas tree while contemplating the previous year. That experience has a cleansing effect that helps … Continue reading

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The Pain of Politics

Most of us have ideas and hopes bubbling beneath the surface of our daily activities. We react, at least internally, to social and political occurrences. I think of my dad, who while watching the evening news, would suddenly explode with … Continue reading

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Goodbyes: The Toughest Parts of Growing Old

I remember that during childhood, the word “goodbye” had a most melancholy effect when it was used to leave the homes of my grandparents, especially during the Christmas holidays when I, my siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered for Christmas … Continue reading

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Mystery of The Donald

I no longer lose sleep over the consistently cruel and mean-spirited Donald Trump. He is now, to me, a simple, completely predictable cloddish cartoon without a speck of empathy, respect (except for Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Kim Jon Un) … Continue reading

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