Greetings! My name is Anthony Kuykendall. I am 26 years old and currently working as a Middle School Social Studies Teacher in Bahrain. I am a native of the Pacific Northwest and grew up just outside of Seattle in the suburb of Bothell, Washington. I welcome you to this blog and always invite you to read, share, subscribe (its free!) and contact me about anything I have written. This blog will center on my experiences traveling and teaching abroad, but will very well include writings about issues that are happening outside the confines of my profession. Below you will learn more about me as a person and what has motivated me to become an educator. You will learn about my inspirations and my diverse interests that will intersect and feature in this blog. Once again, I thank you for reading and I look forward to embarking on this journey together. Let’s ride!
I have many passions, talents, hobbies and personal characteristics that are influenced by both where I come from and my work as an educator. To start, I have always enjoyed the domains of social studies, learning, communication and the movement and ordering of people. History, in many ways, is my first love. I remember watching the History Channel as a kid (yes, I really did that) and being fascinated by the stories, imagery and narratives that connect the past with the present. The American Revolution, the World Wars, The Cold War, Ancient Rome, Greece, China and Egypt, the development of major religions, the growth and evolution of political systems, and military history are among the many subgenres of history that have captivated me since I was young. This love for history (and humanities in general) has evolved and grown into a vast passion for other subjects like religion, politics/government, the environment, urban planning (roundabouts!), economics, citizenship, public policy, animal welfare, geography, human movement, language, natural science, philosophy and more! It is from history that I have learned the value of stories, the value of education, of effective communication, of basic skills like reading, writing, and rhetoric, the value of truth, and of thinking. I find myself spending much of any typical day contemplating the subjects mentioned above. History is the foundation from which my passions have evolved and it is the reason I am a history teacher today. It is not about times, places, events, or dates. It is about people and the connections between them. This essential message is what I hope to pass on in school everyday and is why I became a teacher.
Away from my intellectual pursuits (and the classroom), there are interests that likely intersect with yours as well. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I have a love for nature and the many outdoor activities that are avilable in the region. Hiking is my favorite of these pursuits and I’ve made it a point to get outside wherever I go. Our planet has an unquantifiable abundance of natural spaces and to not explore them is to miss an essential part of the human experience. I am also a huge sports fan. I have been playing sports since I could walk and my favorites include basketball, tennis, golf, and soccer. Basketball is my first sporting love, while soccer is my sporting religion. I try to watch as much as I can and I listen to soccer news/analysis daily. I have an ever-growing collection of club and national jerseys that I will continue to build as long as I live. The beautiful game is beautiful.
My allegiances as a sports fan start with The Emerald City. Whether its the Mariners, Sounders, Seahawks, Kraken, or Sonics (when they come back of course), I will always support Seattle. I thoroughly enjoy watching events live and in person. After all, sports are entertainment and entertainment is best experienced live and surrounded by friends and fellow fans. There’s just something about a baseball game in the late summer, a thumping long-range goal in soccer, or a highlight-reel dunk that ignites human emotion. I love sports. For analysis and commentary, my favorite shows include ESPN FC, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Chris Sims: Unbuttoned, Futbol Americas, First Things First, and more.
When not outside, there a couple of main hobbies that I enjoy doing indoors. First and foremost is reading. I have always loved reading, and there are many foundational texts that captivated my imagination and fostered my love for reading. These books/series include Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan, Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling, Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull, The Tapestry Series, by Henry H. Neff, The Inheritance Series, by Christopher Paolini, Halo, (like the video game), The Last Dragon Chronicles, by Chris d’Lacey, Redwall, by Brian Jacques, Guardians of Ga’Hoole, by Kathryn Lasky, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, by Rick Riordan, The Daevabad Trilogy, by S.A Chakraborty, and The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig. You’ll notice that these are all fiction. Of course we all liked to read fiction as young kids, as it stimulated our inquisitive and imaginative young minds. Fiction also has tremendous value to adults as well, and it is my recommendation that you continue to read them. Fictional stories build our inventories of empathy, language, creativity, passion, and idealism while communicating important humanistic ideas that stay with us forever. To paraphrase the words of political scientist Lilliana Mason, I believe that fiction allows us to connect with people outside of our immediate vicinity and familiarizes us with those who we would otherwise consider other.
The idealism and imagination that fiction cultivated in me as a kid is now paired with an interest in non-fiction. What was fantastical and magical, is now visionary and provocative. I enjoy reading books that delve into history, explore new ideas for our social/economic systems, and help guide me in my personal life. This includes the vast amount of news articles and podcasts that fall in the non-fiction realm. Some of my recent non-fiction reads and listens include The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, The Bible, The Qur’an, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport, Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing by Robert Kyosaki, The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History Podcast, and Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius. The importance of varied perspectives in the news you consume is crucial to being a well-rounded thinker. I am frequent consumer of The New York Times, Fox News, Vox, The Atlantic and The Seattle Times. A few of my favorite independent shows are The Joe Rogan Experience, Johnny Haris’ YouTube channel, Real Time with Bill Maher, and the YouTube channel Kings and Generals.
Another of my favorite pasttimes was video games! Video games have long been a passion of mine and through them I have forged meaningful friendships and relationships that will stand the test of time. Much like fiction literature, video games have a tremendous ability to activate our imaginations, teach life skills, tell stories, and take us to worlds we thought unreachable. While I started solely as a console player, I was a PC gamer and console gamer for several year. As a kid I was what the gaming community (really just PC snobs) would consider a casual gamer. Classic franchises like Halo, Call of Duty, FIFA, Madden and 2K dominated my childhood and games like Skyrim have seen much playtime. Once I transitioned to mostly PC, my gaming interests expanded greatly. My favorite PC games include Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Assassin’s Creed, Team Fortress 2, Civilization 5, and Wolfenstein. CSGO is probably my favorite of all time and I can honestly say I’ve logged over 2,000 hours on that masterpiece of a game. I will always cherish the memories and entertainment that video games provided me. Despite this, I have all but removed them from my life. For me, video games became a “timesink.” While I still play occasionally, I have begun to intentionally shift my interests to activities and hobbies that will give me longer-term satisfaction. With that being said, I cannot ignore the role video games had on shaping my relationships with some of my closest friends.
Lastly, one of my passions is obvious: travel. It goes without saying, but I am extremely lucky and privileged to have traveled so much in my life and too continue to do so now. For that all thanks go to my parents, who enabled me to pursue so many amazing opportunities through their hard work, dedication, money management, and encouragement. Only 26, I have spent time in 32 US states and over 20 countries on 3 continents. (Including Bahrain, where I am writing this now) I have visited countless cities, national parks and physical landmarks, seen a number of natural and human world wonders and spoken with diverse people. It is something I will continue to do so long as I am able and it is something I hope to provide for my future family. On a more serious note, travel is a fundamental pillar of learning. It involves all the senses, pushes one outside their comfort zone and is truly a holistic human experience. Especially when one can travel, live and work in a completely different place. This is truly where the heart and mind grow at a higher level. What is also important to consider and understand is that travel does not need to be “exotic.” Yes it is amazing to travel internationally or cross-culturally, but travel can be as simple as visiting a neighboring town, a natural feature previously undiscovered, or a weekend get-away. It is also something where you get out what you put in. Sure, seeing important landmarks or doing the typical tourist activities are fun and meaningful, but it is also necessary to step off the beaten path and just wander. I am a huge fan of taking time out of your travel days to literally just walk around. Pick a direction and start walking. Often, it is these times when you may discover the hidden gems of a new community. As the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen said, “To travel is to live.”
I cannot underestimate the importance of the people who have inspired my views on society, politics, religion, economics, leadership, and pedagogy. Historical figures like Winston Churchill, Lyndon B. Johnson, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. Current political and social leaders such as Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Jay Inslee, and many more continue to shape my world view. Scientists and thought-leaders that influence my thinking include Bill Maher, Robert Kiyosaki, Jordan Peterson, Neil Degrasse-Tyson and Sir Ken Robinson.
Lastly, I’d like to take a moment and publicly thank the many teachers, coaches, bosses, colleagues, and friends that inspired me and shaped who I am today In no particular order, they are: Mr. Teeney, Mr. White, Mrs. Beth Stewart, Mrs. Susanne Kanning, Mr. Tim Curtis, Coach Pat Scott, Coach Jeff Castro, Mr. Jon Vandemoortel, Dr. Kyle Greenwalt, Coach Justin Kinney, Dr. Scott Durham, Dr. Peter Nelson, Mr. Ted Christensen, Mr. Jim Rice, Pastor Mike Anderson, Coach Guy Perry, Mr. Corey Martin, Mr. Peter, Mr. Firas Ben Amor, Mr. Bacem Belhadj, Mr. Jeffrey Smith, and many others.
Congratulations! You’ve made it through this introduction of all things Tony. Soon, you will be reading about my time here in Bahrain, as well as my general thoughts about teaching. As I mentioned above, this blog will focus on my time abroad and my experiences as a teacher. Rest assured it won’t all be school related and you’ll quickly find that these posts (of which I am hoping to do weekly) will lack a clear pattern. That being said, I will be sure to connect my posts to my personal and professional life, and to the broader world. Without further ado, lets get started!
Tony Teaches 