David Praamsma – Medium

David Praamsma

Why Americans are Over the Moon for Underdogs

Like most Americans I am easily inebriated by underdog stories. Give me a few swigs of an unlikely hero story and I’m flushed beyond…

4 min readApr 4, 2024

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Why Americans are Over the Moon for Underdogs

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David Praamsma

How Artificial Intelligence is plotting our Eventual Stupidity

Call me old-fashioned, but up until recently “AI” meant nothing more to me than the sound you make at the end of the day when you lay on…

4 min readFeb 1, 2024

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How Artificial Intelligence is plotting our Eventual Stupidity

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David Praamsma

How to Reinvigorate Unpopular Family Holiday Traditions

This Christmas will mark the 18th year that I have been forcing my kids to make homemade gifts for each other. It has been a source of…

4 min readDec 23, 2023

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How to Reinvigorate Unpopular Family Holiday Traditions

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David Praamsma

To Tree or Not to Tree

I have a complicated relationship with trees. To me, a big, old, wind-toppled maple tree is both a heartbreaking sight as well as a…

4 min readNov 10, 2023

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To Tree or Not to Tree

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David Praamsma

Welcome to Vermont: Home of the Garden Zealot!

If there is a role columnists take very seriously it is that of a social watchdog — sounding alarms when troubling trends arrive. In light…

4 min readJun 7, 2023

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Welcome to Vermont: Home of the Garden Zealot!

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David Praamsma

Why it’s Hard to be Happy about Finland’s “Happiness Streak”

Finland has just been awarded “Happiest Country in the World” for its sixth straight year and while I’m sure they are all marvelously…

4 min readMay 8, 2023

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Why it’s Hard to be Happy about Finland’s “Happiness Streak”

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David Praamsma

In Defense of Sentimentalism

I recently saw a movie called “A Man Called Otto”. It was a shamelessly sentimental film with a predictable storyline, and it reduced me to…

3 min readMar 23, 2023

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In Defense of Sentimentalism

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David Praamsma

How Frozen Pipes Helped Build My Character While Destroying My Basement

In Vermont it’s advisable to hold your tongue about cold winters until you’ve weathered at least a few good pipe freezings.

4 min readFeb 8, 2023

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How Frozen Pipes Helped Build My Character While Destroying My Basement

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David Praamsma

In Defense of Scandalous Family Christmas Letters

Each Christmas season I experience strange and uncomfortable irony as an English teacher. Come December my wife morphs into a schoolmaster…

4 min readDec 16, 2022

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In Defense of Scandalous Family Christmas Letters

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David Praamsma

Negotiating November

If there is a month with a bit of baggage here in Vermont it has to be November.

4 min readNov 10, 2022

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Negotiating November

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David Praamsma

David Praamsma

English teacher, father and monthly columnist for the Brandon Reporter, a small Vermont rural newspaper. The following are reprints of my monthly contributions.

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