“A nation may be moved by its statesmen and defined by its military but it’s usually remembered for its artists.” John Steinbeck in letter to J.F.K.

I miss Albert Einstein. I think I read that Albert had a difficult time in school with spelling. Of course I’m always captured by his sayings. In fact as I prepared this it dawned on me that beneath my shirt is a t-shirt that reads Imagination is more important than knowledge—Albert Einstein. I wonder what’s happened to imagination.

We became acquainted with imagination in Miss Morey’s classroom at Banfield School. It also seemed to end there. Some of us were involved in a play and were sent down the hall to practice our lines and work on the set with no one there to tell us what to do.

Perhaps it’s that way in most of the classrooms today. It would be fun to drop into the different schools and spend some time observing unless I was the teacher. I think teaching is a tremendous challenge, especially with text messaging that I think students find more interesting than what is being discussed.

If I was 50 years younger, there’s no doubt I would be texting too. But fortunately, at my age, a land-line is all I need and a land-line doesn’t interrupt my walks.

The other day I walked to the dentist’s office to help lower my blood sugar and once there, to have Travis work on my freshly broken tooth and like always he did a nice job. I also got to read a roughly 15-page book about an alligator before Travis fixed my tooth. Norb was taking a break in the waiting room talking to Larry Diggins, a classmate of Norb’s and a good friend to all.

Later, listening to public radio, the head of education picked by Obama was taking phone calls regarding education, and it was nice listening to him. He talked about the need for good leadership in schools and the need for the colleges to quit aiming at the high school graduates for not being well prepared and the for high school teachers stop blaming the junior high students for not being ready and the junior high to stop attacking the work of the elementary students. Instead, he emphasizes the need for the schools to provide for meaningful education.

It was refreshing a while back to sit in the parking lot of McDonald’s on the one-way and drink senior coffee with my cousin — a former teacher and a substitute — and listen to the enthusiasm the President invoked to strengthen education practices.

The head of education answered and received callers with success stories and also concerns. He sounded determined and young and on a progressive tract, and he used the word “creativity.”

This coming weekend, the DFL will be hosting its endorsement thing in Duluth. I just hope they can find rooms for all the candidates running for governor, and I for one will not miss the coming to an end of our current governor who is hoping to be the candidate for the next presidential election. That’s still a ways down the road.

Closer to home, in fact in the home, is a collection of Mello’s dog treats and also a cupboard in the backroom with a pile of socks along with a tie strap for a couch cover that Mello dismantled.  Cloth and cotton are big hits with Mello.

Jeanne and I have both taken Mello to the college to do some walking and to discover what it means to walk with the adult versus walking the adult. Getting her in the car to go to the college is a bit of a task, but once in it she calms down.

Part of the day is spent looking out the front window for people to bark at, reaching her peak after school with students passing by. I have not told Mello that she will have me as her sole dog whisperer who at times is in violation of not whispering, for the next two weeks.

As for my own life, I think my book on my Vietnam experience entitled You Beau Coup Dien Cau Dau is ready for publication. I sent the final copy to my brother to read, and he was going to get back to me the next morning. That would be last Saturday and I have not heard from him yet. I’m hoping it gets published.