And With This, I Bring My Personal #WriteOut 2022 to a Close; As Always, I'm Thankful to the @WritingProject Family for All the Inspiration

By the time this posts, I'll be in The Hulk, my Crossover, driving to Wilton, Connecticut, for our last gathering with teachers in this year's Reading Landscape & Writing Nature workshops. We are fortunate to have the beauty of this National Park treasure in our backyard, and even more to have Karen Romano Young living nearby. She will grace our time together with a workshop on #IWasAKid. 

The past 12 days have been a tribute to her influence on me as a Director of a National Writing Project site. I've always been a notetaker and writer, and moved to digital composition 15 years ago. Karen, however, has helped me to learn the impact that digitally doodling has on my thinking. Each post of the past twelve days has been a location where I focused my hula-hoop, a gift we gave teachers during this year's workshops. I never knew what I'd capture each day, but it was always the inspiration for the words that followed.

This morning (well, last night), I focused on the evening sky, knowing it was clear and today we'll keep such luck at it turns to blue (note: I stole a picture from the Internet. The was no full moon last night). For me, prayers, thinking, and dreams launch into the air whenever I look upward for inspiration. That is where the Great Whatever resides, and I love to believe in such hope.

When I was in the classroom, my the kindergarten students began calling me Mr. Moonbeam, a nickname I cherish and that captured their All Stars theme. Monthly, my senior students would meet with them in support of their own literacies, and often we went outside to be inspired by nature and their discoveries. 

As always, I'm thankful to Rich and Kristin who have helped navigate the workshop work in Connecticut for the past six years. We know our collaborations have not ended, and we have enough experience to find new possibilities to offer teachers and young people. 

Seriously, I cannot applaud the work of the National Park Service enough. Who would have ever thought that their Rangers could also be some of the most amazing literacy educators around? Of course, they've also guided the STEAM-iness of this year, as they know more of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics than this English major every knew.

A round of applause goes to the National Writing Project network and all at the Park Service that makes these opportunities possible. All of us are better people because of one another. Ubuntu. These memories are irreplaceable.

I've got a big ol' flannel jacket on. Winter is definitely around the corner. Stay warm.