Photo by: Wolfgang Halldorson, Model: Zoe Halldorson

Just a quick rundown of our really cool day.

I wake up. Jeff heats up my water for my shower. Zoe and Griffin are up. I take the moths out of the freezer that I caught last night so I can take some photos outside. Both moths are still alive and well and I get some pretty good shots!

I look up info on one of them and find it’s a Tiger Moth and it starts as a woolly bear caterpillar. It’s too cool. Woolly Bear Caterpillars are my favorite and this Tiger Moth is too! While searching I find an awesome website: What’s That Bug?

The kids catch me a butterfly and another caterpillar. I get good shots of both. All before 10:00 am.

I bathe. The kids bathe. We bring Wolfgang and Zoe to a job. Zoe is mother’s helper and Wolfgang is doing some yard work. Jeff and I take Griffin to Portsmouth to get his tooth fixed. It’s early so we stop at Starbucks. Who stops in but Tom Bergeron. Griffin asks him if he minds getting a photo with him.

We go to get the tooth fixed. It doesn’t go as we’d been told so there was a bit of a bump there. Griffin needs a root canal so they started that. He has to go back in 6 weeks. He was supposed to get the tooth built up but since it was hurting him they wouldn’t do it but instead started a root canal. I’m a little grumpy about all that but…it will work out.

Stop at Walmart so Griffin can look around. On the way out there were some young, hungry travelers looking for food. We stop and take their picture and give them some water and five dollars.  That felt good.

We pick up Zoe and Wolfgang then went to go check out an old school bus for sale in Rochester. It was really cool and blue.

We go do the laundry in Dover. The kids ask if they can walk around with my camera. They come back with lots of pictures and video. My favorite is at the top of the page.

After we finish the laundry Jeff and I take a walk and the kids go walk around on their own and video/interview people about libertarianism. We end up at La Festa and meet up with the Liberty Meet-up group. We meet Chris Sununu (his father used to sign your money…don’t believe me go pull out an older bill) and get to ask him lots of questions about his run for Executive Council. Apparently his wife is a Libertarian…if only we could give him a little reason.

We leave La Festa and head home. I make scrambled eggs (local NOT factory farmed) for all while Jeff, Zoe and Griffin get water for tomorrow. Wolfgang takes care of the dogs and goes online. Zoe heads to bed early. I go in the room and work on the computer while Jeff snoozes next to me. Griffin builds things with his legos and Wolfgang is busy making music on his computer, still.

And as of conversations and learning today, some of the topics included…libertarianism, war, troops, peace, ideas for peace, girlfriends, relationships, moths, butterflies, stars, dancing with the stars, laughter, funny pictures, PJ O’Rourke, video interview questions, what makes a good web video, music, software, dogs, what kind of animals are around the house, how to get the water running faster, greenhouses, government, environmental programs, social programs, bodies of water, foreign policy, republican, democrat, governor’s council, elected offices, districts, distribution of powers, state vs. federal, drug war, drugs, troubled people, compassion, family, traveling, school buses, places to go, where to visit, when to leave, what to do on the road, life, purpose, goals, family, choices, reason, working, babysitting, mother’s helper, gardening, weeding, painting, inspiration, little kids, babies, breastfeeding, …and that is only one tiny tiny little piece of it.

Damn, I feel lucky.

Peace,

Kelly

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

The following quotes are from a New Hampshire Union Leader Article, titled Decision to euthanize NH geese creates flap. The commentary is mine. The photo was taken earlier this year when a pair of geese visited our pond.

On June 23, officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services were paid by two property owners to round up and euthanize geese that had been fouling their properties. The federal government refused to identify the property owners.

They rounded up these geese and their offspring and killed them.

Dick Wright of Newbury, who lives near the lake, wrote letters to the editor of New Hampshire newspapers last week decrying the practice.
He said the problem is property owners who create large lawns and fake beaches that attract the birds and detour them from their migratory route.

I find this piece very interesting.

Jared Teutsch, president of the New Hampshire Lakes Association, said conflict between the Canada geese and lakefront property owners is on the increase across the state.

He said native shores of brush are in some cases being replaced by lawns and man-made beaches. That is a welcome mat for migratory geese to settle down and nest. Once born here, they return and bear their own young and have life spans of up to 25 years.

So here is a case when we (meaning humans) are not destroying another creatures habitat but instead are creating something they inviting and hospitable and that’s not good either?

There is this desire to control…that is just HUGE. I think it involves issues of mortality and impermanence.

What do you think about it?

Peace,
Kelly

Every time I sit down to write about peace and the wars, I get overwhelmed. Terribly overwhelmed.

There is much to write about yet I don’t want to hurt or offend anyone, especially, not any of our men and women overseas or their families wishing for their safety back here at home.

I want to write about it. I want to communicate about it. Despite my desire to do so mostly I’m not able to. I’ll end up posting links to articles and/or an occasional short thought/observational but nothing substantial.

I’m going to try today. Hopefully, I can do it in a way that shares my perspective without causing anyone pain.

PLEASE if this entry moves you in any way post a response. I want to hear what YOU think. I mean that genuinely, whether you agree with me or not. I’m nobody special, nobody uniquely important…I’m just a mother, a wife, a daughter, a woman…with some thoughts…some questions…some dreams…not to unlike you. Your thoughts are just as valid as mine.

Here political cartoon is from two years ago:

It was emailed to me through a Ron Paul group during the primary season in 2007/08. I remember hoping it didn’t represent a reality. Surely, the artist was exaggerating…Obama, Clinton and the rest of the Dems coulndn’t possibly be pro-war? Can/could anyone be pro-war really? I thought. Obviously, the answer is yes. Sadly.

I checked out Obama’s voting record. I listened to Edwards talk. I had heard enough from Hilary (since high school) to know she and McCain were so close on the political spectrum they might actually be the same person but I read what she had to say anyway.

I never had intension of voting for Obama. 2008 was the year I stopped voting for the lesser of two evils and started voting only for candidates that support peace and freedom. But even though I was never an Obama supporter I didn’t dislike him. I didn’t think he was a *liar* either but I did question him to some degree.

I remember when he was elected my kids asked me. Do you think he’ll bring the troops home like he said?

I replied, I think he’ll probably bring some home pretty quickly. They’ll make a big show of it then the rest will stay put or move over to Afghanistan.

I never anticipated we’d be digging ourselves in deeper and deeper into war. I never thought Obama would be *this* pro-war. I really didn’t. Call me crazy, I just didn’t. I thought negative Obama administration consequences would be more about social programs, added regulation of businesses and a monstrous healthcare plan, NOT an increased negative presence around the world.

Clearly I was misguided and/or too trusting.

Barrack Obama is young, handsome, intelligent and an extremely well-spoken orator. It’s really no wonder he was so convincing (even a little bit to me)….considering what we had before.

When he made this statement…did YOU believe him?

And what do you think now? Do you think he’s trying?

I know I don’t think so. I think, sadly, he’s all for the perpetual war. It doesn’t matter if we are fighting Oceania, Eurasia or Eastasia…

I recently read the Rolling Stone article, The Runaway General. It’s worth reading. The article painted a fascinating, albeit disturbing, picture of our mission (and mismanagement) in Afghanistan. And despite my disagreement with some of the author, Michael Hastings’, conclusions I found it on the whole to be remarkably informative. Leaving me feeling woefully less-informed than I’m comfortable with.

From the start, McChrystal was determined to place his personal stamp on Afghanistan, to use it as a laboratory for a controversial military strategy known as counterinsurgency. COIN as the theory is known.

COIN calls for sending huge numbers of ground troops not only to destroy the enemy, but to live among the civilian population and slowly rebuild, or build from scratch , another nation’s government - a process that even it’s staunchest advocates admit requires years, if not decades, to achieve.

I thought our troops were overseas to protect our freedom? I care deeply about our troops. I understand and appreciate how many men and women enlist hoping to help their fellow citizens. I see them risking their lives and it breaks my heart. I wish every one of them was safe with their families here at home.

Afghanistan has surpassed Vietnam as the longest war. I have two teen boys. One will be 16 by the end of this year. What happens if this war continues and we run out of young men and women to fight in it. Should I worry about my boys being drafted?

Even if I needn’t fear a draft. My sons are young and the military promises to make men out of boys. Might they listen? Who knows.

Here are some more tidbits from the Rolling Stone article…

Obama has quietly begun to back away from the deadline he set for withdrawing U.S. troops in July of next year. The president finds himself stuck in something even mroe insane than a quagmire: a quagmire he knowingly walked into, even though it’s precisely the knid of gigantic, mind-numbing, multi-generational nation-building project he explicitly said he didn’t want.

You think? And just in case you didn’t realize *who exactly* this General that Obama hired to be commander of the US & NATO troops…

When Donald Rumsfeld made his infamous “stuff happens” remark during the looting of Baghdad, McChrystal backed him up. A few days later, he echoed the president’s Mission Accomplished gaffe by insisting that major combat operations in Iraq were over.

After Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former-NFL-star-turned-Ranger, was accidentally killed by his own troops in Afghanistan in April 2004, McChrystal took an active role in creating the impression that Tillman had died at the hands of Taliban fighters. He signed off on a falsified recommendation for a Silver Star that suggested Tillman had been killed by enemy fire.

I often find myself questioning everything.

I am heartbroken, frustrated and deeply saddened by the escalation of violence and increasing meddling on foreign lands.

Please can we consider coming home?

And one last thing to read and think about from Orwell’s 1984. It’s shockingly relevant.

‘We didn’t ought to ‘ave trusted ‘em. I said so, Ma, didn’t I? That’s what comes of trusting ‘em. I said so all along. We didn’t ought to ‘ave trusted the buggers.’

But which buggers they didn’t ought to have trusted Winston could not now remember.

Since about that time, war had been literally continuous, though strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. For several months during his childhood there had been confused street fighting in London itself, some of which he remembered vividly. But to trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any given moment, would have been utterly impossible, since no written record, and no spoken word, ever made mention of any other alignment than the existing one. At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.

The frightening thing, he reflected for the ten thousandth time as he forced his shoulders painfully backward (with hands on hips, they were gyrating their bodies from the waist, an exercise that was supposed to be good for the back muscles)–the frightening thing was that it might all be true. If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, IT NEVER HAPPENED–that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death?

The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’.

I have so much more to say…but that’s the start. I want to stop being afraid to
speak for peace. Thank-you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts.

Peace,
Kelly Halldorson

In a matter of months my youngest will be turning 13 years old and Jeff and I will be the parents of three teenagers. You think I’d be dreading it. Teenagers we are told are horrible, obnoxious, self-righteous brats. I mean, we all were. Were we not? I think…maybe not.

So far I’m finding the teen years to be exciting, joyous and full of learning. No, my kids are not perfect but neither am I. What my teens (and soon to be teen) are is unique, inspiring individuals that I am ever so grateful experiencing life with. I am humbled as I watch their wisdom grow, their minds expand and their futures develop.

Wolfgang is interested in making music, being a DJ, and a filmmaker. Griffin’s latest interest is in welding. He’d like to be an underwater welder. We found a couple of folks willing to help him with that and hopefully he’ll be welding soon. Zoe’s love is for art and writing. She creates, dabbles in dirt, writes and reads…and this morning she said she thinks she’d like to be an archeologist when she is older.

All three share their interests and goals with Jeff and I with enthusiasm and spirit. They talk with us openly and comfortably about most things other parents fear talking to their kids about…drugs, sex, violence, lying, philosophy, politics, choices…and the list goes on. We listen and appreciated their unique perspectives.

I owe most of it to the biggest shift in our lives, we aim to practice non-coercive parenting. We focus on our relationship with our children and learning. All of us learning, together. Mindfulness. Choices. Values. Inspiration.

Learning happens all the time. We, as parents, try to create the optimal environment for positive learning through enriching activities, adventures, resources and discussion. Lots of discussion. Did I say LOTS of discussion?

Our children are our friends and we are their partners in learning. We ARE *still* their parents and their guides but we focus on respecting them as individuals and not demanding their compliance and/or servitude. We are *NOT* trying to be the cool buddy buddy type parents that buy their kids beer and throw anything goes parties for groups of teens. We want to be GOOD friends/mentors to our kids…not negative ones!

We are raising free people. It’s incredible, free teens don’t have a need to rebel…at least not in the same way as other kids. They make poor choices here and there (don’t we all) but for the most part if it’s a big choice…a life altering choice…they talk to us to get our feedback first.

I feel so honored to be their mother.

<3 Kelly

Okay, I’m sitting here at a friend’s home in Rye, NH. I’m writing and working on my photos. The kids are playing with Legos. They have created stores and currency. They are bartering, trading and buying different things from each other. This isn’t some kind of school economics or math project/assignment. It’s just how we roll. It’s five kids ranging from six years old to fifteen playing/learning happily together undirected.

I’ve heard discussions of money, business, adding, percentages (for discounts given) and so much more. There has even been a good amount of discussion about war and planes because….

For the last couple of hours we’ve heard/seen military cargo planes flying over us. We assume landing nearby.  Maybe they are landing and taking off, practicing. I don’t know. It certainly doesn’t seem that way. The first six we could see pretty clearly come in from one direction and head directly toward the airport. Since then the fog has gotten so bad we can’t see them anymore. We can only hear them, so who knows maybe they are all the same ones at this point taking off. I’m not sure…but they sure do sound exactly the same. The sound comes from one direction and fades out in another.

We are up to ten.

TEN.

Hoping for peace,

Kelly

What if everything you’ve ever learned was wrong? What if you were lied to? What if everyone was lied to? What if everyone really was out to get you? What if you were really hurting the people you love when you thought you were helping them? What if the people you love most don’t really love you? What if you really shouldn’t trust people? What if you caused suffering every day by your own choices? What if there really are no choices? What if you have no control? What if there is no god? What if history was fabricated to serve an agenda?

What if Christ was real? What if he came tomorrow? What if you looked the other way? What if you didn’t believe it was him? What if Christianity wasn’t the answer? What if there isn’t an answer? What if you didn’t know the answer? What if the answer was 42? What if you didn’t believe? What if you did? What if the Mayans were right? What if Hindus have the answers? What if the Greek Gods were real? What if all the religions were right? What if none of them are? What if there are pieces of answers in everything? What if there are no answers?

What if you knew why you were here? What if you didn’t? What if you were kinder to the ones you loved? What if the world really was doomed? What if life as we know it really is going to end in 2012? What if all the crazy extremists aren’t the crazy ones?

What if we all opened our eyes and our hearts? What if we all worked together to reduce suffering? What if we respected our children? What if we stopped killing? What if we could make a difference? What if we did have the power to change things? What if there was a beautiful future for everyone? What if we were kind and compassionate? What if nobody lied? What if we didn’t assume anyone’s intent? What if we spoke the truth? What if when we did people would listen and rejoice?

What if you had a billion dollars? What if I did? What if money didn’t matter? What if money is all that matters? What if money really does corrupt? What if money didn’t buy power? What if money was good? What if money was bad? What if money just was?

What if we washed all the birds? What if we stopped all the slaughter? What if we cleaned up all the oil? What if we fed all the hungry? What if we comforted all the sad? What if we found all the lost? What if we housed all the homeless? What if we did it without force or intimidation? What if we accepted not everyone wants to be fed, housed, comforted or found? What if we could make peace with that?

What if we had the freedom? What if we allowed other’s their freedom? What if we were all autonomous but engaged in shared joys, passions, inspiration and love? What if all the sadness could be gone? What if we all cried when we saw sunsets? What if we all saw the beauty?

What if we are all in the Matrix? What if we’re not?

What if life here, life today, life in this very moment is all we have?

Peace,

Kelly

I was at one of your homeschool groups and I was talking to a friend about high school classes and the day before I was talking with another friend about required reading in school. And it got me thinking about my personal experience with school and required work. Last night in bed I remembered something kind of amusing.

I always did extra credit. Always. I remember on at least two occasions turning in tests with ONLY the extra credit questions done but nothing else. It makes me laugh a little…and it makes me sad a little.

Not everything had to be my idea but it always had to be my choice.

If there was a book, a movie, a question, that I could do (or not do) as a bonus…I’d go out of my way to. In some cases even when it wasn’t something I would normally do or even have interest in. I did this in class to. I never read a required book. Never my entire time in high school (I did read one in JR High) but one thing I always did was participate in the discussions about the books.

This start of a poem called *runaway* is literally ALL I remember from my freshman English class. It was an extra credit assignment. I hate poetry. Alright, I don’t hate it (I love Silverstein, Suess & Poe) but it’s generally not my thing. But when the teacher offered up an opportunity to bring a poem to our final (or maybe it was the mid-year exam) for extra credit…I jumped at the opportunity.

I left it on his desk the last class before the test and never even showed for the exam.

you’re all alone
no place left to run
the damage you’ve caused
can’t be undone

the reason you left
you no longer know

I can’t remember the rest but considering I wrote it about 23 years ago and wasn’t all that impressed with it even then, demonstrates something powerful. Having the freedom *to do* or *not do* something is a wonderful thing.