Happy new year!   The year of the dragon is generally meant to be a lucky year for pretty much everybody.  I hope so.

This was a very baby-oriented weekend, which was really nice for me.  Paul and I visited with Ken and Karen on Friday, so I got to play with Xak and snuggle with Nova; we babysat for Jojo on Saturday; Sunday all three of the littlest Stringthings made appearances at the knitting group, and we had dinner with some friends of Paul’s who have a really hilarious little toddler.

I’ve been cleaning out old files and trying to distinguish between things that were important to me once, things that are still important to me, and things that might actually be useful (not merely sentimental).  It’s astonishing how much stuff I’d been holding on to that I find I really don’t need.  Spring cleaning!

Meanwhile, to check back in on all my ambitious new-year plans:  my hair looks weird, I’ve been exercising maybe 2 or 3 times a week (which is, while not the same as every day, significantly more than none), and good grief… when is there time to do homework!?  I am seriously out of practice being a student.

I love it, though.  The “big idea” that kept me awake at night when I was a proper student, in my twenties, was all about the “idea” of what a school is, and how that affects what schools are actually like. American schools have been run on a business-model almost right from the start.  And I just don’t think schools should be businesses.  Lots of people agree that they shouldn’t be “factories,” but pretty much every new school reform is just about making a school a different kind of business.  Why should a school be a business?

I think schools should be gardens.