VAST SKY

The sky here is

so vast it can

hold opposites

of weather at

one time --

blue sky, a

storm,

a sunrise,

all at once.

If feelings are

the weather

of the soul,

perhaps

we're all

Montana skies,

quite vast enough to hold it all.

- Judy Brown -

(The Sea Accepts All Rivers and Other Poems)

We talk a good deal about resilience and grit in education. And we are usually talking about our students. But as teachers, we need to cultivate this as well. The past few years for educators have been some of the most challenging and trying. Many of us left and never returned. Many of us got or are burned out. Some of us are still trying to heal. This book reminds me that I am capable. It also reminds me that there is still hope, magic, and possibility in the world, even though it can feel so very hard sometimes. I try to bring this into my teaching and coaching of children and adults. With the hope that it inspires them to see their greatness and possibilities.

-Keisha

(Jen McFadden)

Fwd Meeting for Worship: Field House, 10:15

The silence is round:

The curve of the ceiling 

as it arcs to the ground

The wind of string about 

a child’s finger

The shadow of a belly

Spilling out of a waistband

The silence is kind, but indifferent:

You will want it to forgive you

To hold your hand like a lover

You will want to fill it

Or be filled with it, to have it sit

warm and solid on your tongue

Or to have it breathed, someone else’s air

soothing and pretty into your lungs 

But the silence doesn’t belong to you that way;

You can only rest your hand 

on the curve of its back

And feel it rise with a series

Of collective breaths

He is quoted saying:

"Leadership to me suggests that there’s a place to lead the person to, whereas poetry is actually the home of ambiguity, ambivalence and uncertainty."

This video in particular is a story about running into a former student, and what he learned about teaching.

— Laozi