Great to Visit The Taft School Yesterday and to See the Powerhouse Gina Ludlow & to Carry Writing Our Lives Traditions Forward

It's a Monday morning. The sun is bright and skies are blue, but I want to go back to bed under warm blankets. I can't, of course, but pissing and moaning seems accurate for the beginning of a new week. Actually, I need groceries and grading is at the forefront. Grading & Groceries, a memoir.

It's a tradition at Taft to rub Abraham Lincoln's nose as you walk by, hence the bronzing of his nasal passages as all the students take in serious. The swipe is real, and I'm sure he might be found guilty of spreading germs, colds, and stomach bugs, too. 

The school is like Hogwarts...the hallways huge, tall, and mythical. I looked for Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom, but all I found were tampons. They had all gender spaces to pee, which I found interesting. 

Darius Phelps was great. He arrived safely from Brooklyn, and I got to drive north of Waterbury to see another part of Connecticut....a space which seems to have been forgotten. The way to campus was through very depleted towns, forgotten bridges, and homes that are in disrepair. It was almost 3rd-world, and I wonder why the State has neglected such space. It didn't seem real.

It was also more mountainous than I expected, with glacier rock collections in all directions. Beautiful and historical, but not what I expected to see, especially since graffiti was sprayed upon most of the rocks. Odd that a school with such high tuition would be surrounded by such poverty. Then again, look at Yale. Seems to be a Connecticut thing.

Okay, time to get this mind and body working. Thank you, coffee. You make the day after Sunday that much more tolerable. 

One more day of February. Phew. And it looks like the lion will win this year.