...I stole a .gif off the internet to replicate the image where I hiked...
...where I processed an incredible workshop hosted by Weir Farm and teacher Richard Novack...
...where I experienced the brilliance of K-12 teachers who chose a profession of entrusting knowledge onto the next generation...
...where I watched a black water snake, perhaps an Eastern Rat Snake, rest on a rock hoping for August sun...
...where I witnessed a Cooper's Hawk in search of a late-afternoon snack....
...where I said hello to butterflies that landed on my shoulder...
...where my luck as an educator afforded me a temporary calm to be outdoors...
...where the calm followed the a.m. tweets of a President who is supposed to uphold American values, but tweets trains instead (then takes it down)....
...where a calm existed hours before returning to the real world, the news, the rogue leadership unhinged...
...where I later walked the dog to process the world I know, the students I've taught, the vision I have for a beautiful nation, and the unraveling (perhaps revealing) of what I thought was mythology from a time that once was.
I wanted to repost a section of Whitman's Song of Myself, but I'm not there yet...I'm revisiting the love I have for this nation, what I hope it stands for, what I believe in, and what I feel is just and right.
My politics have always wavered. That, I believe, is healthy. This is surreal.
And now I must realize the calm arrives from a place of privilege...I can choose this, but recognize that my choice will create anarchy for others. We are being tested, right here, right now.
Cry The Beloved Country. Alan Paton, I'm channeling your wisdom. I'm looking for a way to believe in hope once again. To believe in love...
...the calm I get from a bourbon on ice, wondering what America really wants to be....
...the calm I feel when reflecting on news from my mother that Chitunga made the Dean's list at LeMoyne College, a first-generation refugee kid who believes in the American dream --- one he's always been willing to fight and die for.
We all can use such calm...the shire perhaps. But Frodo met the Orks and Sauron. Potter knows the anti-muggle league. Stormtroopers have their Death Star...
The story continues.
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