Hi! My name is Often Zhan. That is not my real name. During COVID, my former students tried to look me up and found socials. When they tried friended me, I said, "SHUT EVERYTHING DOWN." Then, I removed my actual name (or at least as much as I could) from the internet.

I'm a 4th grade elementary school Classical teacher, avid reader, and constant tinkerer.

About this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to openly share my inchoate thoughts into some semblance of something meaningful and organized. (I've learned long ago that I seem to understand myself and any subject matter better when I articulate it to others.)

Personality wise, this is a good summary of my temperament—just extrapolate this other parts of my life, and it will probably be a accurate selection of me: I'm more of a broad picture type of guy. I've stopped caring long ago about perfect spellling and grammmer. Sure, I do try my best to make it as correct as possible—unless I'm overtly trying to be snarky. I'm not proofreader or a perfectionist. I would rather vomit my words on paper, and leave it alone to edit later. On rare moments of nitpickiness, I would edit my writing, but that is once in a blue moon.

If this is your first time visiting this website, then this is what I frequently talk about:

1. Anything related to literature: binding, the writing process, typesetting, pens, pencils, writerdecks, the writer's process, etc. My favorite punctuation mark in order from greatest to least is the em-dash, the semicolon, and then the period.
2. Stuff relating to Classical teaching: classroom organization, Latin, progymnasmata, English Grammer, basic arithmetic, classroom management, the amazing Headmaster Stevo (my boss), etc. (Personal note: I've made it points not to talk about my students, teachers (other than Stevo, or parents.)
3. Christianity: I am unashamedly and unabashedly Christian. I am interested in stuff like liturgy, monestaries, church history, faith, fasting, etc.
4. Maybelline, my wife. She is wonderful, and I am falling in love with her everyday. Half of the time when I write about her, I talk about how she makes me happy; the other half is about her peculiarities that makes me confused.

Frequently Asked Questions

No one has asked me questions, but if you do, I'll be sure to answer them here.