A new school—for my seventh grader—offers lots of things: challenges—it’s not so easy to be new—and delights—the school newspaper, the mini-courses, the river study that takes place outdoors, the Chorus—and another perspective about his old school.
If I know how to swim in the old school, in the new one, I’ve got about three toes in. Take this little observation with a generous pinch of salt is what I’m saying.
This new school, rather than talk about community, just creates it. And last week, when I went to get Lucien before a soccer game (that ultimately got rained out) I had a glimpse of what community looks like. The seventh and eighth graders were putting on a Day of the Dead event with their Spanish teacher in the evening. The kids ended up staying after school, decorating the common space with their Ofrenda displays. There was time between preparation and event to order pizza and watch a movie. That’s the scene I happened upon (before going back to the communal space to snap a photo of Lucien’s Ofrenda): kids, munching pizza, starting to watch a movie, and looking very relaxed. The kids were hanging. The Spanish teacher and her two young kids were hanging with them.
Sometimes, words and ideas cannot accomplish what’s desired. Want a community? Spend time together. It’s pretty simple, actually.
**
Besides, I love Lucien’s Ofrenda to Teddy Kennedy. Almost as much as the display, I loved earlier in the morning when he was loading his creation into the back of the van in the rain, along with the big batch of refried beans he’d made for the event; he looked engaged. We often long to see that for Lucien, his being right in it. Even if he’s still three toes in at school, the community itself is drawing him in, almost like a current moves something down the river. He uses the word we about his new school. I am thinking that pretty much says a lot.
