The other night, I dreamed that I was aboard a sinking ship.

Yeah, my subconscious comes up with reaaaaal subtle metaphors.

Actually, in the dream, it was sort of like we were on a sinking ship and then were supposed to sit down and watch a movie about people who were on a sinking ship, which is exactly what it feels like to experience life right now. The scale and scope of everything that is happening, from fires to the global pandemic to hurricanes to racial injustice, is impossible to take in. We just get our tiny corner of it to try to make sense of, and then we’re watching everyone else from at least six feet away.

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If you have watched the Hamilton movie on Disney Plus — or were lucky enough to see it in person before the world shut down — you might appreciate seeing Lin-Manuel Miranda’s performance of an early version of the musical’s opener, “Alexander Hamilton,” at the White House back in 2009.

Already a seasoned performer, the twenty-nine-year-old Miranda channels his nervous energy into his rapping and singing, creating that magical feedback loop between soloist, accompanist, and audience, elevating the moment and getting everyone on board with something entirely new. At the same time, you can see that the concept is not fully formed, and the piece is definitely not polished. It’s a high-wire act, with all the danger that implies, and Miranda, with the support of Alex Lacamoire, just barely managed to make it to the other side.

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I am a lightweight when it comes to caffeine.

My friends joke about how I get totally wired off of just a few sips of a cup of coffee. My cup is still sitting there, the liquid only an inch from the top, and I’m reorganizing the closet while having ten new business ideas — after writing fifty emails and two articles. And even if the consumption was in the morning, I might not sleep until the wee hours. Consequently, I limited caffeine to just once a week or so.

And then the pandemic happened, and I started drinking coffee almost every day. Not much, but enough to make existence seem a little less bleak. It wasn’t a magic productivity drug anymore — it was a survival mechanism.

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For months, the lives of many otherwise privileged kids have been dominated by screens.

Without anything else to do or anywhere else to go, they’ve been relying on digital devices for entertainment, human connection, education, and enrichment.

It’s great that they have this option, but it’s not enough, and it can’t go on forever. Coronavirus or no, we need to make sure children get ample time to interact with the natural world.

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The legal requirement for school in many places is 180 days.

Why? We don’t know.

I’ve seen students make three years of progress in six weeks when they get excited about the work they are doing.

I’ve also seen them languish for three years without ever making an investment in learning.

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