Small Schools Coalition Education Blog
A Quality of Sanctuary: The Grauer’s Gorilla
George Schaller was unique because he never carried a gun. Others before him entered African gorilla country with trepidation and suspicion, armed and prepared for confrontation. But Schaller stepped into those forests and lowlands the way great teachers enter a...
The Quiet of the Arctic (A Meditation/Story)
“This stillness and quiet and repose of the soul are a great blessing.” — St. Teresa of Avila When was the last time you put your mind and heart into something — when your mind and heart were completely aligned, and became the same? Full immersion, the experience of...
Apology
It was six in the morning after the elections and I was pumping gas. Across from me was a fit and nice-looking fellow filling his Ford SUV. We were across the pumping aisle, no more than four feet apart, pumping and silent. It had been a somber and tense night in our...
Thin Trail: A Parallel Narrative
“We set out on a winding, thin path, thick with moss covered rocks gently protruding, creek beds off to the right, and hardwood trees of quite a few species. These forest trails can be tricky to follow. You need to find ways to pay attention, ways you never need in...
A Hat from the Arctic
“There’s a gentle mystery to paddling this long river north, as if its quiet currents hide a secret soul below.” I do not know exactly why I accepted an offer to paddle canoes into the far north country and into the Arctic, but as soon as I got the offer, I knew it...
Cooperative and Authentic Leadership
In 1876, American baseball players did not use gloves and the pitcher stood in a box 45 feet from the batter, not today’s 60 feet. Original basketball games used peach baskets. Those were “the rules of the game.” Games are the mother of organization. So, imagine if...