As I sit here writing in my own journal, I hope you might be doing the same. I imagine ourselves cheek to jowl around the big table in our classroom. Some of you are falling off your stools. Some of you are pretending to listen. A few of you have finished your work. Your shirttails are out, your shoes are untied and your hair looks like you stuck your tongue in an electrical socket. But none of that matters. I would give the world right now for some reason to find something wrong in what you have done--you didn't put a comma after the conjunctive adverb; your essay lacks a unifying theme; it is obvious you didn't read Chapter Six in The Call of the Wild nor can you name the one-eyed monster in The Odyssey; you can’t understand my overuse of semi-colons, and heck, you don’t even know what the word “obfuscate” means. 

Our old reality is now a blessing. Our new reality seems a curse.  Right now you are supposed to be on some warm beach with your family, or falling knee deep in powdered snow, or hanging out at the playground with your friends, or simply chilling at home on your much deserved spring break--and what a break it is--a break from what is normal and a time to start something new with wisdom and fortitude, with as much humor and faith as you can muster and more kindness than you ever dreamed possible.

I can’t say go to the malls and streets and corridors, or to get out and roam and do something with your friends, but I can say, go within and find your inner strengths. Nurture the time with your families. Reach out to anyone and everyone who needs company. Our hardships, no doubt, pale beside the hardships of others. I never thought I’d say this, but pick up your phone and text grandma; download Zoom or Twitch and invite your brother to chat with your friends; clean the house without being asked. Learn the buttons on the dishwasher and fold your own clothes. Be understanding...

Richen yourself. Read a classic book. Read a junky novel.  Create a podcast. Write. Write some more. Maybe even edit what you write:) Post to your blog, comment on your classmate’s blogs, engage the community we have. If little else, we are stuck with the gift of time--a gift of time to write in our journals, flesh out some poems, finally finish all my stupid writing exercises; really, just do what we always do as classmates, soulmates and comrades. When you are done, go into your yard and turn some soil over and prepare a garden--literally and figuratively.  If you have no yard, fill a bucket with soil and plant a perfect seed.

Know that in every nanosecond of time you are loved... 

Don’t wait to live a fuller life in every way possible.  We are not imprisoned. We are not condemned to dank cells. We are home, engaged in an untimely battle of life, and we are simply doing what needs to be done.  Live within. Stay home. Follow the curve of your genius. Give a damn and figure it out. Cut your new path today.  We may be out of class, but we will never be out-classed. Your grade is the degree to which you live. Your diploma is the life you live.

Mark Twain once wrote, “Don’t let school get in the way of your education,” so seize this weird day and learn stuff, make stuff, create stuff, and do stuff you never dreamed you would do, and trust me, if you don’t, I plan to bother the hell out of you all spring, (which I plan to do anyway). 

After break, of course:)

Love,

Fitz