Curtis Jerry Smothers
Teacher . Editor . Poet . Writing Coach . Historian . Online Tutor
Select an underlined page title to visit that page. The descriptions following each page either describe their contents or list individual articles/poems in each. To search for a specific article or poem, go to the "Search the Site" menu.
Alphabetical List and Links to Main Menu Pages
Alphabetical List and Links to Individual Pages Beneath Each Menu
A-H
Accidents and Personal Liability
Negligence, personal injuries, legal responsibility, and compensation
Adult Education
Practical advice and observations about returning to school and learning as an adult.
America's Wars--From the War of 1812 through America's response to 9/11 and the Gulf Wars.From the War of 1812 through America's response to 9/11 and the Gulf Wars.
The causes, personalities, political developments, and military campaigns of the Revolution.
George Washington, Thomas Paine, The French, and the divisions among Americans during the revolution
Articles and Essays about Writing--The causes, personalities, political developments, and military campaigns of the Revolution.
Basic Easy Computer Stuff--Getting to know your computer, Mac versus PC, Windows and macOS, file management, and 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--The causes of the war, its great battles and leaders, and the reasons for Union victory.
Colonial America--Jamestown, the Pilgrims, Plymouth, the First Thanksgiving, colonial development, and the 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
Crimes, constitutional protections, criminal justice, and punishment.
Cyber Security Made Easy--Malware, phishing, ransomware, passwords, backups, scams, and protecting your Mac or Windows PC.
Databases--Database design, planning, relational databases, queries, scripts, and FileMaker Pro.
Accessibility, equal opportunity, and personal information protections
Workplace rights, wages, discrimination, and wrongful termination.
Marriage, divorce, custody, adoption, and emancipation.
FileMaker Pro Made Easy--• What FileMaker Can Do
A practical introduction to FileMaker, including searches, calculations, scripting, and switchboards.
Flash Fiction
• Blackmail
• Last Chance
• Cupid's Arrow
• Resentment
• The Elephant Trainer
• Hal the Roach
• The Vindo Viper
• A Pirate's Tale
H-P
Higher Education--College admissions, freshman year, textbook costs, professors, research papers, online courses, and the 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
(Plus my newest additions)
INSURANCE PROTECTION MADE EASY--Life, auto, homeowners, renters, personal-property, umbrella insurance, and the annual insurance checkup.
Preparing for interviews, body language, virtual interviews, common mistakes, and ways to stand out.
JOB SEARCH
Finding openings, networking, government resources, and private employment assistance.
LIFE'S LONG AFTERNOON
• 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
• My Chat With a Shaman
• Youth
LIFE ONLINE--Broadband, browsers, search engines, email, cloud computing, VPNs, Bitcoin, and your digital estate.
MEDICARE MADE EASY--Medicare Parts A, B, and D, preventive care, Medigap, and Tricare for Life.
MONEY AND DEBT--Budgeting, emergency savings, reducing debt, credit scores, investing, car financing, credit cards, bankruptcy, and debt collection.
MILITARY FAMILY LIFE--MIilitary moves, living on base, role of military spouses, and growing up as a "military Brat."
MILITARY FAMILY SEPARATION--Practical guidance and insight to help families prepare for a loved-one's deployment.
MILITARY CAREER (BUIILDNG)--The journey from joining up to retirement and evrything in-between.
NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY--Native America before Columbus through the present day, including major leaders, conflicts, and the Trail of Tears.
NAVY MEMORIES--A 25-year coillection of memoirs from boot camp through return to civilian life.
POEMS ABOUT OUR HEROES
• Soldiers
• Sailors
• Air Force Men and Women
• American Revolution
• Patriots
• D-Day
• Civil War
• Greatest Generation
• Campaign Promises
POEMS — MISCELLANEOUS
• 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
• All That Glitters Is a Web
• A Villanelle About Poetry
• Kin Yew Spell?
• Motion is the Journey
• God's Breath
POWERPOINT MADE EASY--Creating, enhancing, running, and delivering PowerPoint presentations.
Presidents Who Were Not Successful
Van Buren, Pierce, Buchanan, Grant, Harding, Hoover, Nixon, Carter, and Biden.
R-Z
RÉSUMÉ WRITING
Résumé content and work histories, chronological, functional, student and targeted résumés, and cover letters.
Romantic Poetry
• Love and Marriage
• A May-September Romance
• A September to Remember
• Forgiveness
• Unrequited Love
• Losing Love
Secondary Education--High schools, foreign languages, becoming a student, AP classes, struggling students, bullying, sex education and community colleges.
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
The basics, claiming decisions, benefit amounts, working while collecting, spouse benefits, disability, and Social Security after retirement.
Some Advice and Pointers on Blolgging
Pointers from a writer who has been there and done that.
South of the Border (History)--The Incas, Maya and Aztecs; Cortés and Coronado; colonial Mexico; independence; revolution; and recurring themes in Mexican history.
Spanish Made Easy--Pronunciation, gender, articles, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, ser and estar, por and para, adverbs, and past tenses.
Spanish (Not-So-Easy Verbs)--A tense map plus the preterite, future, conditional, subjunctive, present perfect, and past perfect.
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
Spreadsheets-Excel basics, formatting, formulas, functions, charts, and using Excel as a database.
Studying Smarter--Learning science, study preferences, note-taking, group study, active recall, and learning history beyond dates.
Taxes Explained--Tax liability, filing status, deductions and credits, side income, estimated payments, amended returns, tax software, and identity theft.
Teaching and Learning--Good teaching, digital and student-centered instruction, student advice, source verification, competition, 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
Vice Presidents Who Became President--
Tyler, Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Ford.
Word Processing Made Easy--Word basics, Styles, tables of contents, indexes, citations, headers, section breaks, and bookmarks.Word basics, Styles, tables of contents, indexes, citations, headers, section breaks, and bookmarks.
Spelling, numbers, punctuation, the em dash, word choice, sentence construction, fragments, and proofreading.Spelling, numbers, punctuation, the em dash, word choice, sentence construction, fragments, and proofreading.
Youthful Memories
• Corporal Punishment
• My First Writing Experience
• Typing Class
• Confessions of an Altar Boy
• A Lucky Break
• The Starving Time
• I was a Fry-man at Carroll's of Missouri
I-R