Curtis Jerry Smothers
Teacher . Editor . Poet . Writing Coach . Historian . Online Tutor
Select an underlined page title to visit that page. The bullets show the articles or poems found there. To search for a specific article or poem, go to the "Search the Site" menu.
• Alternatives to a College Degree
• A perspective on Adult Learners
• Tips for Older Students
• Older Students Online
• Employers's Responsibility for Adult Education
• Adult Education Resources
America's Wars
• Second War of Independence (War of 1812)
• Mexican-American War
• Spanish-American War
• World War I (The Old Order Collapses)
• World War II (The Mistakes of Versailles)
• Korean War
• Vietnam War
• America's Response to 9/11
• Gulf Wars
American Revolution
• Causes of the Revolt
• A Closed Frontier
• The Hated Stamp Act
• More Taxation...
• First Causualty of the Revolution (Crispus Atticus)
• A Waste of Good Tea (The Boston Tea Party)
• How the French Helped
• Why the British Lost
• Beginnings of a New Republic
Articles and Essays about Writing
• Why Good Writing Matters
• It's About the Reader
• Exploring Inspiration
• Overcoming the False Start
• Avoiding the Dead End
• How to Use AI
• When Deadlines Ovecome Planning
• It's Not About You
• How to Write an Essay
Basic Easy Computer Stuff
• My Life With Computers
• Get to Know Your Computer
• Mac or PC--You Choose
• Windows 11 vs. Mac OS
• File Management Tools
• The Office Museum
• Office Applications
• The Mote in God's Eye
• Daemon
• The Road
• Under Enemy Colors
• Grant Speaks
• The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth (Manhunt)
• Battle of the Crater
• The Traveler
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• A Blaze of Glory (Battle of Shiloh)
Civil War History
• Causes of the Civil War
• Why the South Lost
• What if...(the South had Won)
• Lincoln's Second Inauguration
• Jefferson Davis (Never Tried for Treason)
• U.S. Grant (Our Greatest General)
• Geroge McClellan (Brilliant Organizer, Reluctant Warrior
• Battle of Shiloh
• Battle of Antietam
• Battle of Gettysburg
• Siege and Capture of Vicksburg
• John Wilkes Booth-The Man Who Shot Lincoln
Colonial America
• Overview of Colonial History
• Jamestown Settlement
• Types of Colonies
• Why the Pilgrims came
• First Thanksgiving
• Wreck of the Sparrow Hawk
• Coming of Age (The colonies)
• French and Indian War
Colorado Seasonal Poetry
• Autumn Leaves
• Autumn's Breath
• Fall Fashion
• Autumn is King
• Winter's Coming
• Spring Is Here
• Mountain Spring
• Indian Summer
Cyber Security Made Easy
• Malware Explained
• Avoid Phishing
• Avoiding Ransomware
• Passwords and Multifactor Authentication
• Cybersecurity Checklist
• Protect Backups
• eMail and Other Scams
• Cybersecurity on the Internet
• Making Your Mac Safer
Databases
• Database Design
• Planning Your Database
• Building Your First Database
• Updating Databases
• Relational Databases
• Filemaker Pro--Cross-Platform Database
• Queries and Scripts
FileMaker Pro Made Easy
• What FileMaker Can Do
• Quick Start for Excel Users
• A Sample Recipes Database
• Powerful Searches
• By the Numbers (Calculations in FileMaker)
Flash Fiction
• Blackmail
• Last Chance
• Cupid's Arrow
• Resentment
• The Elephant Trainer
• Hal the Roach
• The Vindo Viper
• A Pirate's Tale
•Your College Admission Application
• Freshman Year Do's and Dont's
• High Cost of College Texts
• Cutting College Costs
• Working with Your College Profs
• How to Write a Research Paper
• Taking Online College Courses
• Classroom Skills in the Workplace
• Pros and Cons of an MBA
Humor
• Unauthorized History of Country Music
• I dreamed of Chad
• The Amish Are Cruel
• Class Reunion
• American Accents
• I Earned $10 Million by Blogging
• Pop Knew Pie Was Round
• Computer Insanity
• How to Lose Weight
iPhone Made Easy
• Get to Know Your iPhone
• Free Apps on your iPhone
• Fingertip Control of your iPhone
• iPhone Mirroring
• Create a WifFi Hotspot
Life's Long Afternoon (Poems)
• Aging
• Burning in Time
• Life is...
• Tunnels
• Walking in Fog
• Shadow of Myself
• Those We Love Don't Listen
• Solitude
• Ocean Waves
• Water
• Life's a Blank Page
• Broadband Explained
• Web Browsers Compared
• Search Engines Compared
• Best Free Email Services
• The Cloud Explained
• Virtual Private Networks
• Virtual Money and Bitcoin
• Your Digital Estate
Miscellaneous Poems
• A Farmer's Prayer
• Footprints
• Fire
• Steam
• The Parrot who Could Not Sing
• A Poem in My Pocket
• Wild About Horses
• Smoking at the Altar of the Snake
• One Drink is One Too Many
• Poetry is..
• This Lie
• My Creativity
• Night
• A Villanelle About Poetry
• Kin Yew Spell?
• Native Americans Before Columbus
• How Native Americans Helped the Pilgrims
• Great Native American Leaders
• Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears
• The Unconquered Seminoles
• A History of Native American Massacres
• Little Big Horn
• Native Americans in America's Wars
• Native Americans Today
Navy Memories
• My Bootcamp Blues
• Living on Navy pay
• I Saw the World
• Our Two Years in Scotland
• Ten Years of Carriers (Part 1 of 2)
• Seven Years Deployed on Carriers
(Part 2 of 2)
• My Five Seconds of Fame
• Miracle at Malta
• Ralph the "Dalmutt"
• The Earth Moved at Mail Call
• Navy Father, Army son
• From wog to shellback
Poems About Our Heroes
• Soldiers
• Sailors
• Air Force Men and Women
• American Revolution
• Patriots
• D-Day
• Civil War
• Greatest Generation
• PowerPoint Explained
• Running PowerPoint
• Building your first PowerPoint Presentation
• Enhancing PowerPoint
• Giving a PowerPoint presentation
Romantic Poetry
• Love and Marriage
• A May-September Romance
• A September to Remember
• Forgiveness
• Unrequited Love
• Losing Love
Secondary Education
• What High Schools Are Doing Best
• Why Teach Foreign Languages
• Becoming an A Student
• Advanced Placement Classes
• Struggling in Class?
• Parents Guide to Bullying
• Sex Education and the Role of. Parent
• The Community College Alternative
Six Short Stories
• Nurse Sally and the ICU
• The Hunter's Trap
• Picnic by the Lake
• A Happy Family
• Narrow Escapes
• A Body to Die For
Some Advice and Pointers on Blolgging
• Your Complete Guide
• My Path to Blogging
• Retired but not tired? Consider Blogging
• Outsource Your Blog
• Blogging for the Cloud
• Does Your Blog Need Help?
South of the Border (History)
• The Incas
• The Maya
• Cortés and the Aztecs
• Coronado and His Search for Gold
• Spain's Secret Weapon (Horses)
• Christianity and Aztec Religion (Faiths Collided)
• Izta and Popo-Mexico's Romeo & Juliet
• Father Hildalgo's Cry For Freedom
• Revolution in South America
Spanish Made Easy
• Spansh Pronunciation
• Omitting Pronouns before Verbs
• Gender in Spanish Nouns
• Spanish Definite Articles
• Adjective Placement
• Gender in Spanish Nouns
• Moving Pronouns
• Prepositional Pronouns
• Get Moving with Verbs
• "Boomerang Verbs
• Ser and Estar
• Por and Para
• Adverbs
• Past Tenses in Spanish
• Beginning Spanish Porpourri
• Spanish verb tense map
• Two Past Tenses in Spanish
• Preterite Tense Verbs Change Meaning
• Spanish Future Tense
• Spanish Conditinal Tense
• Spanish Subjunctive Mood
• Spanish Present Perfect Tense
• Spanish Past Perfect Tense
Sports Articles
• Baseball: My Favorite Sport
• Football's Role in the American Saga
• Basketball: America's Gift to the World
• Modern Changes that Damaged My Favorite Sport
• Why I don't like Soccer
• A tribute to the Harlem Globe Trotters
Sports Poetry
• I love Baseball
• Hockey
• Football's Game Day
• Soccer: Another Brand of Football
• Basketball's Ballet
• Tennis, Anyone?
• Golf's Gentle Insanity
• Why Learn Spreadsheets?
• Getting Around Excel for Mac
• Formatting Cells in Excel
• Excel Formulas
• Excel Functions
• Excel Charts
• Excel as a Database
Studying Smarter
• The Science of Learning
• Discover How You Learn Best
• Note-Taking Stragegies
• Does Group Study Work?
• Remember More with Active Recall
• Study Less and Lern More
• Learn History Beyond the Dates
Teaching and Learning
• What Good Teachers Do
• DigitalWorld Teaching
• Student-CenteredTeaching
• Advice to Students
• Beyond Learning Styles
• Verifying Sources on theNet
• Students Can Compete
• Parents and Homework
Theater
• Why Theater is an Art Form
• Oedipus and Willy Loman...
• Antigone: Sequel to Oedipus Rex
• Othello and the Green Monster
• Shakespeare's Warning
• Taming of the Shrew: Social Roles and Shakespeare
• Same Time, Next Year: A 25-year Affair
• Damn Yankees
Word Processing Made Easy
• About WordProcessing
• Getting Around Word
• Styles are Powerful
• Automatic Tables of Contents
• Automatic Index
• Academic Citations
• Headers, etc.
• Section breaks
• Bookmarks, etc.
Vice Presidents Who Became President
• John Tyler
• Millard Fillmore
• Andrew Johnson
• Chester Arthur
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Calvin Coolidge
• Harry S. Truman
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Gerald R. Ford
Youthful Memories
• Corporal Punishment
• My First Writing Experience
• Typing Class
• Confessions of an Altar Boy
• The Starving Time
• I was a Fry-man at Carroll's of Missouri