Life in New Hampshire is good. I currently sit on the screened in porch of a cabin the woods in the middle of New Hampshire-there are no bugs, the temperature is cool but not cold, there is a fire in the fireplace incase I get cold and I should be working on curriculum but I just stopped to look up and the sky is so blue. So I went inside,got a beer and have decide to contemplate the true meaning of life (again). I will attend the wedding tonight of a young lady that I met 16 years ago at my first summer as woodworking specialist. She has grown from the awkward little girl into a very assertive woman. She always tried to live up to her mother and her success but all was usually in a state of conflict-when she chose to go off and be her self, then she became a success. Somehow there is a message there.

Education is still in a state of flux-trying to build a community of young people who really are not interested in community becomes a challenging process. However, as we finish MAP testing several students have raised their scores from previous years, mostly as the result of working harder. I hope that this is something upon which we can build. Monday will be another test as we seek to perform service to the building as we attempt to work together to paint. I have tried to stay patience and let students/staff determine our way with a little direction from me. We need to utilize the out of doors, the needs of the community to determine our vision. We have a vision but I am not sure who wrote it, definitely not the students! Next week I hope to formally name the program/school with a name chosen more by the staff but at least it is a beginning.

The fall of the year, the smells, the temperatures always remind me of the start of school and FOOTBALL. How cool it was to get dresseed in the pads, take the field, play the game both with the wins and losses, then to coach the game with the same smells. Homecoming was filled with assemblies and music-the best - Bill Haily, Buddy Holly-the girls always looked pretty and we were too cool for words! Those were the times. And yes "All I have learned about life, I learned from FOOTBALL"!