today, is a big day.

At noon we deliver canes to our local medical center. At 1 PM we take our Bevins Skiffs to Lake Leatherwood for the launch. The press may be at both locations. It should be commonplace for students to do real things in schools, but American education has a pattern of sequestering schools from communities and students from reality. So service projects like making canes for the elderly or building boats are not as common as they could be.

Yesterday hundreds of thousands of school students went to the streets to protest gun policy in the US. I stand in awe of their youthful activism. Smart kids in a stupid country. The idea of turning schools into armed camps, further separated from community life is dead wrong. Instead, we should work to make all of our communities safe. If that requires the removal of certain kinds of weapons, and making sure that certain types of people do not have access to them, let's do that. It's reasonable, and our kids have demand it. Even though the government is out of touch, I stand with our students and demand action.

Schools should be deeply embedded in and responsible to their communities, and schools should serve the whole of community life. By having students actively involved in real life, we build citizens. Perhaps that's what worries some most.

The cat was made by a new first grader at the Clear Spring School. He said of it, "It's my best work yet."

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning likewise.