365 short posts–done.

Now I go back and see if writing 365 posts fits with Ray Bradbury’s theory that you write a short story every day, at the end of the year, with 365 short stories, three or four will have to be good because ‘its impossible to write 365 bad short stories.’

I am looking to see what can keep us going in our school buildings with determination to do what matters for kids’ lives.

I know one theme that kept popping up fit with another  quote from Ray Bradbury: “Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.” Ray Bradbury

What if you substitute the word ‘teach’ for ‘write?” Teach only what you love, and love what you teach….You have to et up in the morning and teach something love, something to live for.”

So I move out of this daily posting and move into reflection and perhaps analysis. I start the next year with this:

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening

that is translated through you into action,

and because there is only one of you in all time,

this expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist through

any other medium and be lost. The world will

not have it. It is not your business to determine

how good it is;

nor how valuable it is;

nor how it compares with other expressions.

It is your business to keep it yours clearly and

directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself

or your work. You have to keep open and

aware directly to the urges that motivate YOU.

                             Keep the channel open…

No artist is pleased…

There is no satisfaction whatever at any time.

There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction;

a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and

makes us more alive than others.

Martha Graham to Agnes DeMille