I was a weird teenager. In addition to hanging out with friends, avoiding homework, and performing in school plays, I loved reading about current events and especially enjoyed editorial essays.
I first read George Will in Newsweek, and his syndicated newspaper columns followed me as I lived in D.C., Atlanta, and Syracuse as well as in hotel lobbies on family trips. But I noticed something. Some newspapers, especially in lesser known cities, ran the syndicated pieces with a much older photo of Will. He wasn’t the only syndicated columnist in this camp.
This amused me, but also I didn’t understand how, in an email age, they couldn’t just ask for an updated photo.
As it is in 2022, we are more than two decades into blogging and social media. We can all be editorialists. The photo of me on this blog was taken in 2017, I think. Today, my beard is graying. The guy in the about me picture on this site was regularly told he looked 5 to 10 years younger than his actual age. Today the math has reversed, which I’m fine with. Maybe I’ll change my photo. Not today.
Tim's Teaching Thoughts 
Today I wrote about my grey hair, but I didn’t consider my blog photo which, like you, was taken before the grey set in . Hmm. Maybe I need to consider updating it.
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I shared this with my mom. She loves George Wills. Also, you got me thinking about my workplace photo (a ten-fifteen year younger version of me). Ha! This writing has a Seinfield feel to it. Humorous observation of a funny-quirky-true-fact.
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P.S. A great Wills sentence: “Putin believes, or wants the world to believe that he believes, that his war against Ukraine, now entering its ninth year, is an act of re-creation, bringing Ukrainians home to the community from which they were sundered when the Soviet Union expired.”
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Lol. I learned more than few strange words reading George Will, even his baseball columns. And his sentences are just like that with clause, after clause. I don’t agree with him on a lot of things, but he can write.
Thanks for the Seinfeldian connection. I see it!
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Interesting! I was thinking of changing my photo on my driver’s license but I qualified for the “pay online and we’ll send you a renewal sticker” so I took that instead.
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This post made me smile, especially when you were talking about the outdated Will photo. It’s a great observation!
I have several photos that I could update, too. I kind of like hanging on to my younger days.
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Some day I’ll tell you about my picture and its timing and importance and nope, I’m not replacing it. I love how you weave your past self with the current decision/dilemma. You made me laugh!
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Thanks, friend! Maybe your story is a slice?
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Haha, don’t know George Wills at all, so you’ve updated me on someone new, even if the photo isn’t! On my photo I’m in an ipad surrounded by students, so you can’t even see me, that’s my favourite kind of selfie image!
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