some thoughts about afterschool

-I think a place where kids can have safe and productive interactions with each other is really valuable

-productive in this case meaning something that they engage in of their own choosing and take confidence from. and have fun.

-fun isn't frivolous. real fun is engagement and discovery and connection. why would you not want to prioritize fun?

-I get really tired and really frustrated with people who don't engage with kids and don't have a connection to kids who think they can dismiss notions like this because it doesn't fit with what they believe education to be. or what they think kids need. without knowing the kids or spending any meaningful amount of time in that environment.

-I get that it's one of those things that just leads to disagreement and everyone has what they think is a valid opinion and a lot of time it just comes down to rank and procedure and I understand all of that and how to work within that environment. But it still doesn't change that I feel really strongly about these things and I know they aren't crazy and I've seen enough to know what matters.

-I shouldn't let myself get so frustrated by what other people think. I guess if someone disagrees the implication is that I'm incompetent for having these ideas or I've missed something somehow. I know I'm not.

but it's alright now, I learned my lesson well, you can't please everyone so you got to please yourself

all ignorance toboggans into know
and trudges up to ignorance again:
but winter’s not forever, even snow
melts; and if spring should spoil the game, what then?

all history’s a winter sport or three:
but were it five, i’d still insist that all
history is too small for even me;
for me and you, exceedingly too small.

Swoop (shrill collective myth) into thy grave
merely to toil the scale to shrillerness
per every madge and mabel dick and dave
–tomorrow is our permanent address

and there they’ll scarcely find us (if they do,
we’ll move away still further into now