I will be taking a break from my intermittent comments for a while. My day job is about to take over my life. For the next few weeks I am prepping 45 summer workers for 8 to 10 week jobs. It is one of my favorite times of the year. All potential-no regrets, but it sucks the creative juices out of me. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend. As a slightly conflicted, liberal who has worked for the military-industrial complex, I leave you with Churchill's, "Never give in; never,…

I recently spent a morning writing poetry with fourth grade students from Hawthorn Hills Elementary School. My goal was to get them to give their senses a voice. Mother Nature cooperated with a beautiful day. We began outside with a five-senses scavenger hunt. Seven teams of five went out to the playground to "collect" and record what they saw, felt, heard, smelled and (imagined) they tasted.

Their task was to write down the best description of their sense-by-sense experience before…