Proud of #WriteOut. Proud of @CWPFairfield. Proud of the Teachers Coming to Join Us @WeirFarmNPS. Proud of @WritingProject

It's our second meeting this term. This time, however, not online, after an orientation hosted digitally and the fact that all of last year was conducted via ZOOM & with Padlet (and it was amazing). Even so, nothing beats actually being at Weir Farm National Historical Park. It is one of Connecticut's best kept secrets and Ranger Kristin Lessard is an absolute gem! Pearl! Joy! The prize inside a Crackjack's box. Dr. Richard Novack (recently granted his doctoral degree from Columbia University) and also a Fairfield University grad, is once again at the helm. AND YES, he was in the first cohort of teacher-leaders I was graced to work with during my first summer Invitational Leadership Institute at Fairfield University.

I can't wait to journal, hike, think, question, and paint today under the blue skies of September. Julian Alden Weir was an impressionist painter and although I'm not savvy with watercolors and pastels, each year I appreciate that the park gives me opportunity to try. #WriteOut 2021. I can't wait for it all to begin.

Really, though, the celebration is simply being outdoors, surrounded by like-minded educators, and given an opportunity for Reading Landscapes & Writing Nature...year five of our National Park partnership. We are extra-thrilled, too, that author Ann E. Burg, Flooded, will travel from New York to visit with us during our day at the park (are we lucky or what?). Working with her book has been the most amazing part of 2021. We are focusing on water studies (writing and thinking) this year and have educators from NY, CT, Vermont, and Massachusetts joining us. Ann's poetic narrative, brilliant like all of her work, interrogates stories that were, could have been, and potentially were born as a result of the Johnstown flood of 1889. Who becomes responsible when tragedy, that could have been prevented, strikes?

And with that, I need to pack up the hulk (my Subaru) and head outdoors. I hope you're able to get fresh air today, today, with deep breaths, wide steps, and a focused eye. Make art. Write. Bring a book. Listen. The best stuff is always free. Aim for emancipation each and every day.