Nice Peace

I’m watching Killian play the jazz standard Guilty with Phil on the porch. Yesterday, Killian flexed his forearm for the first time in a month and said, “it doesn’t hurt when I do this.” As the sun lowers, that’s his 2nd day with no pain “in months and months.” My guess is, the radiation to the arm has kicked in and has killed enough of the encroaching bone disease to put an end to the pain there. We are drinking in the peace, gulping it actually. Though many exciting things are happening with Killian’s music project, he was thrilled most for Cally today. They are so dear, and their relationship is such a gift for Phil and me. One year ago, she began asking the editor of the local bi-weekly, the Olive Press, if she could take over the Kids’ Page. This column has been written by another girl for maybe four years or more, and Cally had VERY strong ideas about what she’d like to do with it. The editor of the paper told her to start with letters to the editor. So, one year and lots of letters later, he contacted her to say she had the column! AND, though she has a real deadline, she gets paid! She says her first purchase will be a Sham-Wow. She emailed the editor, “I feel like I will stick with this forever… this is something I can really call my own.” Here’s her first column (if you’re local, pick up this week’s Olive Press OR Phoenicia Times and look at the back page (prime newspaper real estate, by the way…)

The Death of Try-it Tuesday

Last year, we had this lunch thing called Try-It Tuesday. It was supposed to make us like more kinds of foods. Some kids won’t even eat chicken patties, and Try-It Tuesdays were mostly about expanding our palates toward veggies. They would have ratatouille (like the movie), steamed broccoli, asparagus, and this really cool chickpea salad. I thought the Try -It Tuesday was most often good. I think I was the only one that liked the chickpea salad though. Probably a quarter of the kids in my school liked Try-It Tuesday food.

This year, we haven’t had Try-It Tuesday at all. The population of kids liking Try-It Tuesday was going down. My mom said they should start Vegan Wednesday, but I completely disagree. I told her kids would be upset by this, and that it would break their tiny, minimized, non-food-tasting hearts. But, I miss Try-It Tuesdays.

I would love it if we could grow veggies at school. We could take care of them, and it could be our responsibility. That would be so awesome! If the lunch ladies used the veggies we grew, I think kids would eat more kinds of veggies. It would taste fresher, and be more interesting because it would be what we grew. My brother said the Green Committee at the High School was talking about this. Editor, maybe you could ask your readers if they want to help me start a vegetable garden at Bennett. If they do, maybe they could contact Holly Heppner, who is working on the garden and wants to do vegetables too. I think if we make food with our hearts, the chances are the food will taste better.

C-a-l-l-y!!!!!! (Mansfield, 3rd Grader)