A Phoned-In Podcast by Bill Chalmers
Try not caring what they learn, but only who they are.
Tell the world to take a hike and chase a shooting star.
Catch it, lash your classroom on, and take it for a ride.
Chase a universe of love and pull that love inside.
Knead it, flour it, roll it out, and wrap it ’round each kid.
Let learning fill more hearts with love than teaching ever did.
My dad, Bill Chalmers of Juneau, Alaska, was an English teacher, author, poet, football enthusiast, raconteur... a wonderful, warm, and giving person. Inspired by his locally-legendary answering machine messages, we gave him a phone number he could call to leave a message, a poem, or a story. Each call became an episode of this podcast. He died on September 30th, 2026, and these recordings are just a small refraction of the light that he leaves behind in all of our hearts. –- Devin Chalmers, October 2026