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Thursday, February 24, 2011

On the Ground in Wisconsin - Bridging Differences - Education Week #wiunion

On the Ground in Wisconsin - Bridging Differences - Education Week

On the Ground in Wisconsin

Children hold signs at the Wisconsin protests
Dear Diane,

I am trying to stay angry, so I won't be overcome by sadness, Diane. But last Saturday I found a way to overcome the sadness in another way—by joining a public action.

Writing about what's happening to our country (and our world) doesn't do it for me, and I have no daily responsibilities for educating our youth to keep me hopeful. But on Saturday I went, quite by accident, to Madison to join the demonstrators. It was the end of a fascinating week "on the road"—from southern Ohio; Chicago; Mundelein, Ill.: and Wisconsin. In the midst of the annual North Dakota Study Group (NDSG) gathering in Mundelein, Bob Peterson (of Rethinking Schools) came to talk about events in Wisconsin; when he finished, we all rose to applaud him and within 15 minutes we cancelled the day's remaining sessions, climbed into whatever vehicles we could find, and headed off to Madison—a two- to three-hour trip.

It was an amazing day as you can see from the two photos in this blog. (The photo below captures me—holding