Volume 1, number 2

I just sent out volume 1, number 2 of my newsletter series, Woodworking at home with the kids at the Clear Spring  School. https://mailchi.mp/3c1d8e02c351/woodworking-with-the-kids-at-the-clear-spring-school If you use the link, it will allow you to subscribe and to view the first in the series if you missed it.

The photo shows an original first edition of the book Paper Sloyd along with a "wall pocket" and  a hand crafted valentine I found saved in the book.

Make, fix, create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

a review

I sent a review pdf of my new Guide to Woodworking with Kids to a very dear friend in Sweden, who had been my guide and host at Nääs, Sweden, the home of Educational Sloyd.

Though quite elderly, Hans Thorbjörnsson, wrote the following:

"Your creation Guide to Woodworking with Kids is a remarkable creation. You have brought The Teacher's Handbook(Salomon's) ... and The Theory of Educational Sloyd into the 21st century - in a much better version. Lots of photos of high quality, very instructive and filled with interested children. Drawings so easy to understand that even Rosie can use them. And best of all - your text caracterized by your passion for educational sloyd and it's good fruits, especially the co-ordination between hands och brain, Wisdom of the Hands.

"The models are adapted to children's and young students'interests, much better than Salomon's dusty ones. Carl Malmsten - remember his criticism - is applauding you from designers' heaven.

"Educational sloyd and good woodworking are most essential in our digital time. You have done your best and I feel happy to have seen it happen before I close my eyes."

Hans, a historian and teacher, had written books about Educational Sloyd and Nääs. When I met him, he was the curator of Otto Salomons library at Nääs and he has been my correspondent for years as I've delved into the history and methods of Educational Sloyd.

In his note Hans makes reference to Carl Malmsten, a Swedish designer craftsman who had been at Nääs, and later became James Krenov's teacher, and through that had a tremendous effect on American woodworking. Malmsten had caused great dissention at Nääs, as he tried to bring Sloyd forward into the 20th century. His ideas and ideals of fostering the child's creativity and responding more directly to the interests of the child were not well received at the time.

In my own shop, I'm working on designs for a bathroom bench, and preparing lessons for my next newsletter.

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

a simple new look...

A simple new look. I've been making some boxes with veneered panels glued into the top. Some were left with too large a gap surrounding the panels, so my fix has been to put a fresh veneer on the top. I like it and hope you do also. Now final sanding, the installation of a lift tab on the lid and the application of an oil finish will bring these to completion.

A friend in Finland wondered about how to sell boxes for a price that reflects the effort required to make them. He mentioned living in an Ikea world in which everything was made cheap. But making is not just making. It's learning, and it gives shape to the feelings we have about ourselves. It's therapy in hard times, and gives us the ability to cope with difficult circumstances. As we pursue growth of skill, we influence those around us to do the same. And if we want to live in strong communities, we must encourage each other to do as follows:

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

an invitation

My first newsletter about woodworking with kids went out this afternoon. You are welcome to invite others to subscribe. https://mailchi.mp/cef1b62cd29a/woodworking-at-home-an-invitation

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise

an insatiable desire to make things.

This video about the  woodworking of Russ Zeitz. https://youtu.be/Hz4maPRwVCc came to me from Lee Valley. Russ says, "You will never get bored if you start making things." Russ describes his "insatiable desire to make things."

In the meantime, I'm just getting ready to send out the first of my woodworking with kids emails to the parents of my Clear Spring School kids. To subscribe you will have to send me an email. It will offer tips for parents of students grades K-12 but also may be useful to woodworkers in general.

Stay busy, stay well.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in living likewise.

moment to movement

What do our hands offers learning? Some research has shown that we learn science more effectively (and it's remembered) when we learn hands-on, even when less breadth of material is covered.

I suggest a revolution in schooling to make use of concrete learning to a greater degree than we do now. The covid-19 epidemic is likely to divorce learning even more from concrete learning unless we can figure out how to become a channel for propelling kids to get off their digital devices and into the real world. Many years ago, a friend had suggested to me that my brains are in my hands, and that threw me for a loop. I realized he was right, and over the years became aware that was not only true for me, but for most others as well.

I would urge all teachers and all students, even those in academic subjects to thoroughly examine their own learning experience sand particularly those a-ha life changing moments that brought them to an extreme interest in a particular subject area, and assess how deeply their hands were engaged at the time. Were they doing something real, were they out in a real place, and did they connect what they were learning with actual real world experience? I believe effective learning for all of us, must involve engagement in reality. And where the hands and mind are equally engaged, the heart follows. 

This is what I try to write about in this blog. So let's see how we can build this moment into a movement. There's a real world out there folks. Let's examine it hands-on and learn from it, and build a better world from what we've learned.

In the meantime, I'm working on boxes and trying to figure out how to get tools and materials distributed safely to our kids. Thanks, Dana,  for the ostrich. You can discover such cool things when you're paying attention to wood.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

new Woodworking with Kids newsletter

During this time of crisis, and with kids out of school for the time being, I'm looking for ways to keep out students engaged, and also to help other woodworking teachers to do the same. So I'll be using mail chimp to help me to send weekly newsletters to student's families offering projects that can be done at home.

If you want to subscribe, I'll need your name and email address, which can be sent to me at douglasstowe@gmail.com The first issue of volume one will be sent in the next few days. You can unsubscribe at any time.

The photo shows wooden squares recently glued up and "squared," for student use. These will be sent home for our students to use and learn from. They are like the ones we use at the Clear Spring School, but these will be theirs to keep.

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

path to learning

Scott Bultman has launched a podcast based on the interviews they conducted with over 100 educators from across the US. You can join in here: http://www.pathtolearning.us I was one of the educators interviewed for the History of Kindergarten documentary film project https://youtu.be/MXolv_XGL8E and some of our Clear Spring School kids will likely be included. I'll try to let my readers know when my own interview will be released.

We seem to be facing a revolution on all fronts, and I hope the Kindergarten model of learning can play a role in what comes up in education and in life.

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

self-sequestered

Today we begin our second week of being self-sequestered in our homes, maintaining a safe distance from others and figuring out how to move forward. I've finished a brief article for American Woodturner magazine that will appear in a future issue. I've also set up a small photo booth to take pictures of boxes so that I can list them for sale on Etsy.com

All of our teachers, students, parents and families are adjusting to new circumstances. So we are feeling our way. I talked to my sister Mary in Lincoln, Nebraska where schools are also closed for the time being. They are being told by administration to go lightly in their expectations and in assignments for home learning. What the kids need most will be assurance and support.

My wife an I and many others are lucky to live in a nice home, and to have managed to avoid poverty. We were able to stock up on supplies. This is not the case for many and there will be extreme, devastating effects. Can we not, as a nation with such wealth, make certain that the least among us are offered security of food, security of home, security of health and freedom from fear? It seems that since FDR, the two parties have answered that question in different ways.

In the meantime, the Republicans are working on a bailout for American corporations. The Democrats are working on a bailout of the American people. If we soon weather this crisis and put it behind us, the folks with big money will be making Wall St. bounce back, while folks in the street will will continue to face devastation for years.

There's a tendency in the news to present the stock exchange and what happens in it as "the economy." Let me assure you that the economy is much larger than Wall St. It includes the nurses and doctors that go to work each day to care for our sick. It includes the grocery clerks who struggle to provide curbside service and are there to make certain that in our sequestered state, we eat. Yes, it even includes boxes made in a very small woodshop and placed Etsy. And it includes teachers now struggling to find new ways to keep their students engaged and learning.

Make, fix, create, care for others by taking good care of yourself.

on the square

Yesterday I began making tools to send home with our kids in busy bags to keep them learning while being sequestered in their homes. So we start with the square.

The square and the geometry it entails is fundamental to modern civilization. In woodworking, square cuts and square edges allow parts to be well fitted to each other. And with the use of the square to examine the world that surrounds us,  perhaps we and they will note a few things of interest. I will present some exercises using the square as lessons to the kids.

With two of the the Educational Sloyd precepts in mind, Start with the interests of the child, and move from the concrete to the abstract, the square presents and opportunity for learning. For each student to have a tool of his or her own, will excite interest. Each square is a concrete object with which to examine abstract concepts.

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

paper sloyd

Paper Sloyd was written by Ednah Anne Rich and published in 1912.  I just finished scanning it, arranging it and uploading it so that you can download, enjoy and make use of in the stay at home education of kids. I added my own article about paper Sloyd from Woodwork Magazine published a number of years ago as I was reintroducing Sloyd to American woodworkers. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9htq977pigw8wbc/papersloyd.pdf?dl=0

So why is this important now? Kids are stuck at home and parents are wondering what to do about it. Kids need to continue learning and we know that hands-on is better by far than being stuck at a computer all day. Academic third-party learning and hands-on discovery-based learning each refresh and nourish the other.

Paper Sloyd was a means to prepare very young students for later lessons in woodworking. It involves accurate measuring, and the ability to follow instructions. Unlike origami, the outcome instead of being merely decorative is useful. The projects are arranged to take advantage of how kids learn, moving from the known to the unknown, from the easy to more difficult, from the simple to the complex and from the concrete to the abstract. It also engages and develops spatial visualization, that will later be important in finding success in math. But just because the book shows very young children at work, does not mean that older children and adults would not learn from it and enjoy it.

The tools of paper Sloyd are scissors and ruler, both of which should be available in most homes (at least I hope so!) Only paper is required to make the models from the book which offers three years of paper folding lessons. I prefer to use card stock for most of the projects, to make them more lasting, but lighter paper can be used.

Even if you never use this book, the way projects are laid out is instructive as it illustrates the way that lessons were laid out in woodworking Sloyd. When you've learned the lessons from one project, what you've learned will make the next just a bit easier and the instructions just a bit more clear as you build skills in a sequential and natural manner.

A student favorite from the book is making paper pinwheels as shown.

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

make a wish, make a list...

Years ago, a friend who had spent WWII in China had told me that the Chinese symbol for crisis and the Chinese symbol for opportunity are the same. And so, what do you want to learn, and what do you want to develop that you can during a time of being sequestered from our normal reality.

Kelly McDonough, director of the Eureka Springs School of the Arts has always wanted to knit socks. So with a new knitting kit in hand, and her dad crafting some lovely new needles, she's ready for some days or weeks, working at home.

We need a way that we can share what we're learning, so I suggest visiting the ESSA facebook page and sharing with others in our arts community. If you do, and even if your results are not what you might hope for at first, you'll likely find encouragement and support from others facing the same challenges. https://www.facebook.com/EurekaSpringsSchoolOftheArts/

Decide what you've always wanted to learn. Make a wish for it, and that you find a way for it. Make a list of what you need. Do some careful shopping if you must. Or think about things you already have in your home that might help. As a friend Paul Ruhlman suggests, "Do what you can with what you have." But don't forget to share with others.

If you don't have any ideas, go to my blog, Wisdomofhands.blogspot.com There you'll find years of ideas from my teaching at the Clear Spring School and from my time teaching adults in woodworking clubs and schools and through articles in various woodworking magazines. Spool knitting is a great way to occupy and excite children's hands. I plan to supply knitting spools to our students at the Clear Spring School. https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2013/09/this-day-in-css-wood-shop.html

In the meantime, and as an example from the blog, you might wonder about your hands. Did you know that wearing a single glove on one hand or the other can actually change the way you think? https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2012/01/estrangement-from-whole-self.html

In thinking about Kelly knitting socks, I'm reminded of a pair of gloves I bought in Helsinki from a woman who knitted fingerless gloves while talking to me in a market. How can a person's hands be so smart? As proof, I have a pair of her gloves in my coat pocket.
https://wisdomofhands.blogspot.com/2008/10/at-some-point-soon-i-hope-to-get-into.html

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

unprecedented times

I have been reading my friend Charles Templeton's new first novel based on his actual experience as a crew chief on a CH46 tandem lift helicopter in Vietnam. Boot-A Sorta Novel of Vietnam is now available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Boot-Sorta-Vietnam-Charles-Templeton-ebook/dp/B085DCYQM8/ His is an amazing story about the incredible idiocy of war and the young men thrown into Vietnam. Post war, Charles became a lifelong teacher and educator, who has become a beloved member of our own community. His novel has been in the works for years, and is a very good read. He and I feel towards each other that we're brothers, so to read his book is a very good thing.

I'm also led to compare those days when our nation was torn apart by war, with these days when we are at war with a deadly virus and led by an administration that for weeks bent over backwards to assure us that all was OK and everything is under control as the deadly virus spread undetected and undetectable through every state. In the meantime the invasion of the Covid-19 virus is nearly complete. Unlike a nation torn apart by war, this is actually worse. It's a war that we don't send young folks off to fight. It's here and it's a war we are left to fight ourselves.

In war young innocent men and women are sent away into battles, returning with scars that are often unseen but that have deep effects on their lives and their families and communities. In this case, we have the opportunity to rise up and stand of defense of each other, and the oddest thing at this point is that we protect each other by hiding out until test kits are actually delivered and we are assisted with tools to fight the deadly disease.

One of the challenges in all this is to keep our heads on straight and our spirits up. One of the tools that's proven to be successful for that is to engage our hands and hearts in meaningful creative work. Yesterday I spent some time cleaning my office and sanding boxes. Today I hope to continue in the same vein. Reading is another good thing, as I proven to myself through my enjoyment of Charles Templeton's book.

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

under control?

My wife and I have self-sequestered in our home with our dog, Rosie. I hope all are taking Covid-19 seriously and are doing the same. In 2001, I was one of the founding members of the New England Association of Woodworking Teachers, NEAWT.org. While wood programs throughout the US were closing, that association for mutual support was proposed and has persisted to this day.

Now members of NEAWT are sharing ideas about how to continue offering hands-on learning to their student while their schools are closed. We will persist, and grow. A great friend from that group, Paul Ruhlman, shared the following:

I got some remote teaching ideas while jogging this morning.

1. Lloyd Kahn just came out with a book, Half Acre Homestead. Lloyd goes way back as one of the principles of the Whole Earth Catalog and later a founder of the Shelter Institute and related books including Dome Book One & Two. His core philosophy is "Do what you can, where you are with what you have." A good philosophy for these times. There is a great 25 minute video of what he is up to at: https://youtu.be/z6kPzMSvdDA

After watching the video, I will be asking my students to come up with a project using things they find around the house. I will be asking the kids to come up with a project using materials and tools found around the house. They get extra credit if they write up the project so that they can share it with their classmates.

2.The artist Alexander Calder is a huge influence in American Art. He is best known for popularizing the mobile. One of my favorite pieces by him is the Circus. During the depression he made circus animal and human figures using mostly wire, scrap wood, and wine corks. He packed his miniature circus in an old suitcase and went to various neighborhoods and put on circus performances for kids and parents. Charging just a penny, it helped him make it through the Depression. There are tons of videos of his work. I’ll let you choose. I will be asking my students to make a piece inspired by Calder, either a mobile or another piece from materials found around the house.

3. I will be asking my students to put together a hypothetical optimum tool kit if they had a budget of $250, using Home Depot or Lowes. Students have to say why they would choose particular tools. You or the students can vote on the best student submission.

4. Cabaret Mechanical Theatre is a great source for mechanical sculpture ideas. I have included a link to sculptures made from food you probably have at home. They also have great mechanical sculpture ideas made using wood. I often make prototypes using cardboard from cereal boxes and toothpicks. A great exercise in creativity and mechanical problem solving. https://cabaret.co.uk/making/making-automata-with-food/

This is just a start. "Do what you can, where you are with what you have."

We will get through this.
Wishing you the best.
Paul Ruhlmann
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School

You can find other ideas on the woodworking teacher website http://www.woodworkingteachers.com/ and at NEAWT.org

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise

getting ready

I'd planned to be at ESSA today to get ready for my 5 day Viking Chest class. I have a very large table stacked with parts, all planed and ready for joints to be cut. Staves are cut for forming coopered lids, but all the parts will be put in storage for now as we make adjustments due to the coronavirus, Covid-19. My class is being postponed to a later date. Fortunately, the students come from our local area, and with luck, we'll be able to find  better, less dangerous date.

Is it too soon to be sequestered from the dangers of the disease? With no testing yet available, despite the administration's claims that millions of test kits were being sent out, we are operating in the dark, and we dare not take the risk of our students getting sick with this potentially deadly disease.

I'm also attempting to get my head around my own coronavirus response. How can I keep my Clear Spring School students engaged in learning? What tools and materials do they have in their homes? Can we supply some? Woodworking and crafts are ways to cope, and to build mental health resilience to stress.

Make, fix, create. Keep healthy in mind and body by learning lifewise.

What to do...

With schools closing across the US due to the coronavirus Covid-19, some folks being asked to work at home, there being a shortage of necessary supplies and having been a near complete failure of leadership at the top of things, it appears that the US and the world are headed toward recession.

In 2008 as we were heading into our last great recession, we had a daughter in college, and a mortgage, and I wondered whether my business would survive. Remembering what folks did to survive in the great depression, I pulled lumber from my barn and began making tables which I then managed to sell. The effects were profound.

If I'm sequestered due to the Covid 19 virus and the threat of spreading this deadly disease, and if I'm able, I'll be in my shop, attempting to make beautiful and useful things to outlive my own life.

One of the hazards as we face these times is that of loneliness and depression. One direct way to deflect those feelings, even when alone, is to get busy with a creative life. Let's take whatever time we're given to learn something real, to master something we've wanted to master, to make something that we know will be of service to others. The byproduct of all that crafting will be that feelings of powerlessness in the face of adversity are put aside, and joy can be found, even when not in the company of others.

Today I have more materials preparation for my next week's class in building Viking Chests. The photo shows the hardware that students will be making themselves.

Make, fix, create, and find joy in learning lifewise

Spring break

Today I will prepare stock for my class in making a Viking chest. The wood is white oak, and the hardware will be hand forged under the guidance of master blacksmith Bob Patrick. The class will begin Monday and we are taking extra precautions concerning cleanliness of tools and shop due to the threat from Covid 19.

After today students at the Clear Spring School will go on an extended spring break while we prepare for the Corona virus's eventual effects on our own community. These are scary times. And the reasons for fear are quite real, though as a friend Kari in Norway reminds us, "we are not afraid."

With the Federal government having failed in its response, it appears that people in small communities all across the US will step up and care for each other.

I was surprised last night to see the supermarket shelves completely emptied of toilet paper.
Paul Marsden, a consumer psychologist at the University of the Arts London, explains the psychology of panic buying of such things as toilet paper as “retail therapy” — where we buy in an attempt to manage our emotional state. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/heres-why-people-are-panic-buying-and-stockpiling-toilet-paper.html

“It’s about ‘taking back control’ in a world where you feel out of control,” he said.

There are other ways to feel in control during troubling times. Crafting objects of useful beauty provides what psychological researcher Kelly Lambert describes as  providing"effort driven rewards." Some experts have suggested we find ways to "hunker down" for three months. There may be ways we can rise up instead.

The photo shows my prototype Viking Chest with hardware hand forged by Bob Patrick.

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

A simple skill builder

Yesterday I planned for my elementary school students, grades 1-4 to build skills in measuring, marking and nailing. The lesson was planned as follows: First I showed a youtube video on the use of a tape measure. Even kids who think they know how one works, quickly learn that there's more to it than they knew. https://youtu.be/9caqSJ4sN8Y  "Why does the tip wiggle like that?" is a question even many adults do not know the answer to.

Then I passed out tape measures so the kids could examine what they'd seen on TV. After the kids had measured all kinds of things in the room, I passed out lengths of 2 x 4 in. lumber, asked the students to make a mark at 5 inches, and then use a square to draw a straight line across. The next challenge  was to drive in nails along the line they'd drawn.

The project was a good skill builder, as it kept the students engaged for the full period and even the youngest exhibited growth. It didn't answer the question: "What are we making today?" but that was OK and the kids were joyful in their work.

In addition to teaching this week at the Clear Spring School, I'll be spending time at ESSA to prepare for next week's adult class, making Viking style chests.

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

parthenon

As I've been working with my editors to finalize my Guide to Woodworking with Kids, I've been going through years of photo files and finding interesting things. The model of the Parthenon as shown was part of an exercise in geometry and in making a blocks set representing ancient Greek architecture. Looking back, it's amazing to see how many interesting things we've done.

In addition to a collection of photographs and projects I have an interesting collection of old books on the manual arts.

T. W. Berry in his book The Pedagogy of Educational Handicraft, 1912 wrote about the general school effect of manual work.

"Children who are dull at literary work are very generally bright when engaged in manual work, and this interest in what is done, stimulated by its attendant success, is reflected in all the School work. The accuracy and neatness of execution and artistic embellishment demanded in Handicraft is imitated in School work generally, so that the moral effect is very great. The variety of work, both as regards materials and nature of models, tends to make a pupil adaptable to varying circumstances, but always aiming at a high artistic finish to a useful article.

"Not only is the direct influence of manual instruction great but the indirect is even greater. The correlation of studies widens the interest, inculcates the spirit of co-operation and interrelationship, and enables the pupil to express his thoughts not in words only but in models, which necessarily demand precision, thus developing a most useful habit."

Woodworking is not alone in reaching the depths of the child. In fact, when schools make a sincere attempt to connect education with real life by doing real things, children become more deeply engaged. When they've become more deeply engaged, they learn at a faster pace and to more profound effect. Is this rocket science, or do you get it, also? Can you draw conclusions from your own life as a learner? I suspect so. Please tell us about it.

T.W. Berry's book mentioned above is one that I got while my daughter was at Columbia University in New York City. I was contacted at a librarian at Teachers College, who when tasked with throwing out old books on the manual arts, could not stand for them going to waste. She would take them to my daughter's campus mail box so they would be there for me to take home when I would visit New York. As a result, I have a rich collection. It feels as though I was entrusted through special circumstances to play a role in all this.

Make, fix and create. Assist others in learning lifewise.

tonight's spring fling

Clear Spring School's annual Spring Fling fundraiser is being held tonight from 6-9 PM at the Holiday Island Country Club 1 Country Club Drive, Holiday Island, Arkansas. The event features dinner, dancing and a silent auction of art and services. It is our most important fundraiser of the year. Join us.

Want to share a box making experience with your very best friends? At the Spring Fling you can bid on a box making package for four in the Clear Spring School wood studio. If you win the bidding war I'll guide you and three friends in each in making a box or two. https://www.facebook.com/events/country-club-dr-eureka-springs-ar-72631-united-states/clear-spring-fling-auction-2020/408151589964214/

This week I've been going through another round of edits on my Guide to Woodworking with Kids. The book is scheduled for release in May. A how-to book comes into being through collaboration, and I'm grateful to be working with professionals that I've known for a long time and worked with on other projects. What we're making will be a very good book. Whether it sells may be up to you.

Yesterday, with steps finished for the outdoor classroom, I found students in it playing school. Some were on the benches while another lectured at the blackboard. That assures me that real teacher led classes in it will be coming soon. There are lots of simple little things that need to be done, but with lovely weather, we're making progress.

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

construction

During the housing crisis from 2008 that lasted well into the next decade, around 10 million families were evicted from their homes due to foreclosure. So what happened to those homes?
A story in the New York Times tells how those homes were snapped up by newly formed companies owned by investors seeking to win big money at rapid rates by taking advantage of the crisis in home values. They were able to buy houses at a fraction of their value and then rent them out at high market rates. The great recession was one of the largest transfers of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy elite in American history.

That transfer of wealth continues as middle class folks pay high rents to wealthy investors who snapped up foreclosed homes. You can read about it here: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/magazine/wall-street-landlords.html

My fifth and sixth grade students have been helping finish the outdoor classroom that has been in the works since fall when cold weather began to intrude. They took turns driving screws and hammering nails. The blackboards are now up and ready for paint. We plan to add small tool cabinets at each end where simple hand tools can be kept for student use.

Make, fix, create and assist others in learning lifewise

wash your hands...

When my mother was a young woman there were three choices for a career. My mom chose to become a teacher and an older sister Marge became a public health nurse. And so as we face a potentially catastrophic Covid-19 pandemic I need to make mention of nursing as one of the important hands-on activities essential to society and to every small community in America. We pray that the pandemic is not as severe as it threatens to become.

Warmer weather offers some hope to delay the spread of the disease, but if things proceed as they did during the flu pandemic of 1918-1920 in which between 40 to 100 million died, there will be a lull in the summer months and a dramatic reappearance of the spread of the disease when the weather turns cold.

This brings me to my point. Nursing is one of the underrated professions. In this blog I've failed in the past to make this important point. Craftsmen make. Nurses make well. We can make their job easier by washing up and wiping down. We are facing a time in which the bravery and intelligence of the nursing profession will need special recognition. Let's start now.

Make, fix, create, make well, and assist others in learning lifewise.