—
“there is an old saying that the course of civilization is a race between catastrophe and education.
in a democracy such as ours, we must make sure that education wins the race.”
-john f. kennedy
—
image credit: jeff bondono
—
“there is an old saying that the course of civilization is a race between catastrophe and education.
in a democracy such as ours, we must make sure that education wins the race.”
-john f. kennedy
—
image credit: jeff bondono
when walking by the river
—
“today is one of those excellent january partly cloudies
in which light chooses an unexpected part of the landscape to trick out in gilt,
and then the shadow sweeps it away.
you know you’re alive. you take huge steps,
trying to feel the planet’s roundness arc between your feet.”
-annie dillard
—
huron river, argo park, ann arbor, mi, usa – january 2023
north manistee, michigan lighthouse pier
As days drag on and the sun still sets relatively early, you may be left wondering are the days truly getting longer? The short answer is, yes. But only by a few minutes. Each day in January we average an extra 2 minutes from the day prior.
By the end of February, we can expect an additional two hours and 30 minutes. February 28’s sunrise is at 7:20 A.M. And the sunset is at 6:30 P.M. The first 6 o’clock sunset of the year arrives on February 5.
As we ease closer to our longest day, June 21, we’ll gain an additional 6 hours and 41 minutes of daylight. The longest day of the year, the summer solstice on June 21, is 15 hours and 21 minutes long.
We’re on our way!
—
“run for daylight.”
-vince lombardi
—
credits: wxyz-tv detroit, isabella hulsizer, photo: john l. russell
“i love handwritten letters. the way the words get jumbled up when the writer’s excited.
the way the words get neat when the writer is trying not to make a mistake.
the way the words get pretty because the writer’s in love.
i love handwritten letters.”
-word porn
—
January 17th is National Send a Handwritten Letter Day.
The idea is to save the dying art of letter writing and help the ailing Post Office
by sending a letter(s) to someone you care about.
Who will you surprise with a letter? Saving the world one letter at a time.

In the spring of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. With entire families in attendance, city police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, but the event drew nationwide attention.
In his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, King eloquently spelled out his theory of non-violence:
“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community,
which has constantly refused to negotiate,
is forced to confront the issue.”
—
credits: biography, history channel, photo credit: the atlantic
such a beautiful wedding celebration
lots of love, and dance, and music, and friends. and food, and flowers
and a bride i’ve known
since she walked into my school in kindergarten.
—
“growing up, I had one very specific idea of what a wedding should be,
and that was the wedding of Fraulein Maria and Captain von Trapp in ‘The Sound of Music.”
-ellie kemper
my classroom is chock full of
multi-age kinder (3s-young 5s)
who stay with us for two years.
one of the very best things
is watching the older kinder
who were the younger kinder
just one year before
as they quite naturally and organically grow
to become the leaders/teachers/helpers/mentors
to the new group of younger kinder
who were at home
just one year before.
what a joy it was to watch someone older
spend a very long time
finding all the special markers she needed
to create an easy to see linear rainbow
for someone younger
who wanted to create
her very own rainbow picture
in her very own style
using all the special colors.
judging by their faces
when she finished her very own rainbow
they were both equally proud of the results.
—
“nine tenths of education is encouragement.”
-anatole france
not me, but the same look i get when i realize i’ve forgotten a part of my only joke, yet again.
—
i love to tell stories, laugh, talk, improv, and share amusing tid-bits
but for the life of me
i absolutely cannot tell a joke
forgetting a line
mixing up the order
messing up the punchline delivery
all that
and
i only have one joke
and that’s no joke.
—
“i don’t know how to tell a joke. i never tell jokes.
i can tell stories that happened to me… anecdotes.
but never a joke.”
-lucille ball
—
image credit: pinterest