Hard to Believe It's the 15th Year Directing CWP-Fairfield and Leading Summer Programs for Youth @FairfieldU. Bring On the Novelists & Little Labbers

When I arrived in 2011, all I had were books I thought I'd need, some clothes, a pillow, and nowhere to live. In fact, I was put up in the town houses with Sydney Johnson, as he had his first year as the head basketball coach. I co-taught with Lynn Winslow, Faye Gage, Del Shortliffe, Justine Domuracki and Tony (Gosh, I forgot his last name) and a year later, POOF, it all was left to me. We started the literacy labs soon after, lowered the summer price for camps so they were more affordable to non-wealthy communities, and worked to diversity all programs so they were more representative of populations across the state. 

This summer, I hired 15 educators for the 200 kids that will once again come to campus and I also have the teachers in the institute who are along for the ride and learning. We will be engineering human togetherness all the way through the middle of August, ending with our two-week tradition of Ubuntu Academy, our program for English language learners that runs for two weeks.

Yesterday I did some editing, walked Karal, put away laundry, went to campus and organized our rooms, had dinner with Oona and Pam (thank you Oona for cooking the steaks), and then came home to grill food for the week (I also feed college students who live in the dorms by grilling them meat to have in their refrigerator). It's all a labor of love and, truth be told, what I write about throughout the rest of the year. 

The coolest part is that we publish all the kid and teacher writers. That's our mission and we edit the book in the Fall. 

I believe there's much rain possibility over the next week, but I spent a part of last evening giving my plants a soak, because the sun has been beating them up, especially on these longer hot days. The wildflowers and perennials do fine...but the annuals act all dramatically thirsty. 

Today also returns to my on-campus by 8 a.m. ritual, after a three-day holiday weekend. I think we're ready and only time will let us know what we (well, I) screwed up this year.