March Blogathon Wannabe

March 2, 2013

I have looked forward every day to reading Procrastination Salon's February blogathon and had imagined that March would be the month for Zebra Shoes to attempt the same. But then, it turned into March and already it is March 2nd. So here's to March, the month of Geniuses (a favorite quote from the movie Fanny with Maurice Chevalier).

I was thinking yesterday, as I completely burned out on a ten-day work week, how lucky I am to have work that requires that I continuously research the state of the human world. Not bad to have spent the first thirty years of my career thinking about babies and toddlers and young children and now to spend my time trying to understand how to help students move forward into life. Yet, while my head is filled with too many ideas and information, I find myself thinking a lot about all the things I have done or wanted to do, but left behind in some memory of doing; playing the piano, speaking Chinese, writing chinese calligraphy, learning Italian, learning a second instrument, drawing, painting....the list goes on and they all feel like partially formed abilities. I'm afraid my doing has not matured as fast as my body or mind.

The Civil Rights Movement has become an important reference point in our conversations with high school students as more and more material becomes available. Most recently is Makers: Women Who Make America, a PBS documentary. When I re-visit my past through these documentaries, I try to remember what it was like taking in these events as a 14 year old. In most instances, I am surprised at how little I remember of the time and how unaware I was of the bigger issues, and yet, the choices I made were clearly influenced by a time of active protest and change.