Networks of Support I used to believe that trees fought one another to reach the sun, get nutrients, and simply to thrive. The smallest tree in a forest was doomed from the start. A few years ago, I learned about a secret communication that exists between trees that tells quite the opposite story. The gigantic trees that we admire above ground are connected through a network of teeny tiny fungi that communicate between trees of all species. If one tree is aware of drought or of an insect manifestation, it sends messages to other trees in the area through these fungi.  [...]

Celebrating What Makes You, You! Last night, as I played with my daughter, I was enjoying music from a new DJ I randomly discovered on Spotify. The music was a confluence of sounds that I wouldn't have anticipated would go together. It was uniquely his own sound yet universal at the same time. Listening to this music made me think about probably the greatest life lesson I learned growing up. When I was a child, my mom always told us, kids, to "Make your life," meaning that we didn't have to subscribe to the "shoulds" and could march to our very [...]

Cherish All Things Big and Small Not growing up in Baltimore, I was shocked when the cicadas emerged all over the city about 15 years ago. They sang their cicada songs at decibel levels I had never heard coming from insects and swarmed my car as I drove through the city. It was a phenomenon! Everyone was talking about it on the news, on radio stations, on the street. I was fascinated that they only emerged once every 17 years and were completely off our radars in-between. This summer, I have thought a lot about cycles. Just as the cycle of [...]

What will we grow this summer? As the days become longer, and the evenings remain warmer, my husband and I spend more and more hours tending to our garden. Seeds we planted this spring are starting to sprout above the earth's surface and grow down into the soil. As I look at the beets, carrots, and blue potatoes growing into the air, I think about summer break. Just as I am curious about what might be happening out of my sights, under the ground, with the vegetables, I wonder how different people's summers might look. Whose summer will be filled with [...]

We're all there... Saturday morning I woke up unnaturally early.  As I sat in the living room reading a book FOR FUN, I was reminded that very, very soon in my future, I will be able to sit and read or draw in my sketchbook for hours on end. How exciting! At school, I see our students chomping at the bit for time to be in summer camps, running around their neighborhoods, and playing in pools and with hoses. We are almost there, all. For now, we all still need to do our homework and end the year strong.   I [...]

A Reason to Celebrate Most of our days are filled with a monotony of the expected. We wake up, brush our teeth, and go through the day with our usual routines, heading home to go to bed and start all over again the next day. This's and that's shake up the routine, but overall most of our days resemble one another filled with mimetic routines. There are ways that we can make our small habitual (mimetic) routines special, like dripping cream into our coffee one drop at a time to enjoy the ways in which the cream overcomes the blackness of [...]

Gratitude The day after the CNH birthday party, I received an email from a parent excited about finding a school that provides the benefits of small town living in Baltimore city. It reminded me of the years I lived in New York City. I found Manhattan to be a collection of small towns existing on top of one another. I lived in South Harlem, walked to my high school in East Harlem, and took the M4 bus to my doctoral program at Columbia University every afternoon. Walking to school every morning, I saw the same doormen, crossed the same people on [...]

A Time to Celebrate What a fantastic week we had in CNH-land last week! Students made CNH gear, ate cupcakes, created banners, sang to the school, and helped to fix-up our playground -- all with the goal of celebrating 10 years of our school. It has been a wonderful time of reflecting upon the school, looking into the future, and appreciating today. I am excited for Friday (6:30-9:30) at the CNH Birthday Party as we FULLY celebrate our school and everyone who has made it what it is! A Look Ahead... May 6-17: 10 Days of CNH Tenth Year Birthday Celebration [...]