Research in the Teaching of English Volume 48, Number 3, February 2014 365 Sandy Hayes Becker Middle School, Becker, Minnesota The 2013 NCTE Presidential Address: Standards, Students, and the Meaning of Life The following is the text of Sandy Hayes’s presidential address, delivered at the NCTE Annual Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 24, 2013. Last spring, in a burst of optimistic energy, I tackled my File Cabinet of Doom, sorting through forty years of artifacts characterizing our profession, from the ridiculous to the sublime. Amid the jumble of memorabilia, I found a copy of the Minnesota Model Learner Outcomes—1988, by my reckoning—the great-great- grandparent of our current state standards. It was an ambitious document. Among the almost eighty broad goals were these statements about things that each learner will be able to do: • Be familiar with the ideas that have inspired and influenced mankind. • Understand that efforts to develop a better self contribute to the develop- ment of a better society. • Express self through artistic creation. • Understand society’s responsibility for dependent persons of all ages in a manner consistent with the growth and development needs of those persons. • Practice stewardship of the land, natural resources, and environment. • Act in accordance with a basic ethical framework incorporating the values which contribute to successful community life such as honesty, fairness, compassion, and integrity. And my two favorites: • Accept that there is more than one way of being human. • Develop a foundation for meaning in life. I was saddened that the ambitious heritage of goals like these has become a com- petition of narrow statistics in this current iteration of standards.
Transcript
Hayes The 2013 NCTE Presidential Address 365
Research in the Teaching of English Volume 48, Number 3, February 2014 365
The 2013 NCTE Presidential Address: Standards, Students, and the Meaning of Life
The following is the text of Sandy Hayes’s presidential address, delivered at the NCTE Annual
Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 24, 2013.
Last spring, in a burst of optimistic energy, I tackled my File Cabinet of Doom, sorting through forty years of artifacts characterizing our profession, from the ridiculous to the sublime. Amid the jumble of memorabilia, I found a copy of the Minnesota Model Learner Outcomes—1988, by my reckoning—the great-great-grandparent of our current state standards. It was an ambitious document. Among the almost eighty broad goals were these statements about things that each learner will be able to do:
• Actinaccordancewithabasicethicalframeworkincorporatingthevalueswhich contribute to successful community life such as honesty, fairness, compassion, and integrity.
Andmytwofavorites:
• Acceptthatthereismorethanonewayofbeinghuman.
• Developafoundationformeaninginlife.
I was saddened that the ambitious heritage of goals like these has become a com-petition of narrow statistics in this current iteration of standards.
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ButasIturnedtothedrawerscontainingmyarchiveofstudentmemorabilia,mydragon’shoardofgemsofcreativity,insight,poignancy,andspecialrelation-ships,Irealizedthatitisn’tthestandardsthatareessential;itisthefirstprinciplesunderlyingthestandardsthatliveinthesetreasuredartifacts,thatarecelebratedinthese memories we keep, that spark magical connections with our students. This is why we became, and remain, teachers.
Sandy: Vignette 1Itwasmyfirstteachingjob.IhadbeenhiredonthelastFridayofwinterbreakand started work on Monday. I was the fourth teacher these 7th and 8th graders had had. I spent a frantic weekend planning how I could make it a fresh start for the students. I knew I had been successful when, at the end of the second week, Gerri,onherwayoutofclass,handedmeanenvelopewiththisenclosednotewritten neatly on the belly-buttoned kewpie doll stationery popular at the time:
ifwehadsomethingtosayandnoonewasaroundtolisten,weshouldwriteitdown!There were a lot of times like that for me. WhenImovedintomiddleschool,myteacherssaidIhadaveryartisticstyleandthatthevoiceinmypiecesclearlydistinguishedmywritingfromeveryoneelse.Ievenwonafewwritingcontestsinmiddleschool,Idedicatedeveryprizetoyou. Whenmymothergotreallysick,westoppedmovingaroundsomuch.Mymotherwastooweaktotravelandat lastwecouldstayinoneplace.Iwassecretlyrelievedbecausefinallyforthefirsttime,Icouldstaysomewherelongenoughtoreallymakefriendsandnotbeforeverknownas“thenewgirl.” Thebadthingaboutnotmovingthough,wasthatthatmeantthatmymomwasnotgoingtogetanybetter.Thereasonwehadmovedaroundsomuchinthefirstplacewassothatwecouldfindaremedy,orprocedurethatwouldextinguishthecancerinherbody.Afterfifthgrade,therejustwasn’tanythingelsethatcouldbedone.Somomdecidedthatweweren’tgoingtomoveanymore,butstaywhereitwaswarmandsunny. Iwrotesomuchinmywriter’snotebookduringthattime.Judgingbyallthenote-booksIhavepiledinboxesaroundmyroomIhadalottosaythatIcouldn’tsayaloud. I took pictures of the things that made my mother happy like palm trees, the snow on the mountains, the rabbits, and the colorful birds. I kept all these things in my notebook withallthepoemsIwroteforher.SheloveditwhenIreadsomeofthethingsIhadwritten to her. She said my words comforted her. IguessyouarewonderingwhyIhavewrittenyouthisletteraftersomanyyears.Mymomdiedlastyearandwearemovingagaintobeclosertomygrandparents.Ididn’twanttoleavewithoutlettingyouknowhowmuchyouhelpedmebethepersonIamtoday.Yougavemeconfidenceandtaughtmehowtobepatientandstrong.Mydadisnottakingittoowell,neitherismyyoungersistersoIhavetobethestrongoneforeveryoneelse.IcandothatbecauseIhavemywritingtoescapetowhenlifeseemstoodifficulttobear. Youinspiredmetohaveavoiceandtoexpressmyselfthroughmywriting.Iwillneverforgetyourwisewords. Thankyou,Ms.Martinforbeingsuchagreatteacher.Iamsoluckytohavebeeninyourclass.YoumademefeelliketherewasnothingIcouldn’tdo!Ineverknewthenjusthowmuchofadifferenceknowingyouandhavingyouasateacherwouldmaketomy life. I will remember you always,Grace...yourformerfifthgradestudent
Vignette: Kevin Hodgson, William E. Norris Elementary School, Southampton, MassachusettsNotlongago,Ihadasixth-gradestudent,aboy,whobegantheyearrefusingtowriteanything.Maybeyou’vehadsomeonelikehiminyourroom,too.Hewasn’treallyrudeaboutit.Hewasjustresistant.Hedidn’twanttowrite.Atmost,hewouldquicklyjotdownafewsentencesandthatwasaboutit.Hedidn’tseethevalueofhiswords.Ilearnedfromoneofhisparentsthatthishadbeenthecaseforsometime,althoughhewasanavidreader.
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Overthecourseofthefall,though,Iwatchedthiswonderfullycreativeboyslowly emerge from that shell.
Itbeganmid-year,withourvideogamedesignunit.Here,finally,wassome-thing in school that he was interested in, and our work around using writing and designinthedevelopmentofagameopenedhiseyesinwaysthatnothinghadbefore.
Gaming was the hook, and soon, this student was personally pushing himself tocraftthenarrativeofhisvideogameandtowriteoutdetailedinstructionsforhow to play the game. He began to understand the connections between the writ-ing process and the design process that underpinned the structure of something heloved.
Notonlythat,hebegantowrite,morethanever,andhefoundwaystocon-necthiswritingtosomethingmeaningfulforhimselfandforhispeers:thevideogame that he was designing that would be published and played by an authentic audience.HeevenlatersubmittedhisgametotheNationalVideoGameChallenge.
Almostasifthedamhadfinallybrokenopen,hebeganwriting—insideofschool and then outside of school (unheard of, according to his mom). Not just anywriting,either.HebegantoworkonanovelthatwasinspiredbyhisloveofThe Hunger Games, The Lightning Thief,andahostofadventure-stylevideogamesthat he enjoyed playing so much. It was as if some light suddenly went off in his head and he was full-in.
He and I had long discussions about plot and characters, and how to pace a novelwithscenes.Hesentmedrafts.Iwrotehimcomments.Hesawhimselfasawriter,finally.Videogamesoftengetabadrap—sometimes,thatisjustified—andIsuspectnoteveryteacherinthisroomwouldseegamedesignasanalogoustowriting, but you know, this was the hook that turned a reluctant writer into a buddingnovelist.
WhenIremarkedthatifhekeptupthiswork,hecouldendthequarterwithaB,heshotback,“WhatwouldyougivemeifIdid?”IammortifiedtoadmitthatIblurted,“Ahundreddollars.”HowcouldIhavesaidthat?Jakejustlaughed,butI worried that he had taken me seriously.
IwishIcouldsaythatthisstoryhadahappyending.Buttoplaysports,youhave to have passing grades. He’d had one quarter of success in English. Onesummerofenjoyingbookshepickedforhimself,booksthatdidn’tpassmusterinhishighschoolclass.Nowhehadteacherswhohadn’thadachancetodeveloparelationshipwithhim,andoneteacherwhocouldn’tmaintainarelationshipwithaboyintheadjacentbuilding,whichmightaswellhavebeeninWisconsin.Jakedidn’tplaysoccer.Hedidn’tfinishhighschool.Iwish,though,Ihadhisletter.
Vignette: Carla Beard, Connersville, IndianaSometimesweteachtoacommonstandard,andsometimessomethingextraor-dinaryhappens.I’dliketotellyouthestoryofalessonthatstartedouttobeonething but turned into something much more.
Ihadagroupofstudentswhoweren’tgoodeditors.Theyhadtroublestruc-turingasentence;theydidn’tunderstandthepowerofagoodparagraph—you know the kids I mean. How could I engage them in editing when the worksheets andtheexercisesweresodeadlydull?
I had them write a book.Moreaccurately,wecollaboratedonanoralhistory,wheretheyinterviewed
someone who was at least a generation older than they were, and we compiled the results.
Eachsemesterthekidschoseadifferenttheme.Thebestonewas“Mischief,”wheretheyinterviewedsomeoneaboutsomeharmless—mostly legal—trouble they got into when they were high school students. Story after story came into school,andthekidslaughedandlaughedandsaidoverandover,“Ilearnedawholedifferentsidetomyfolks.”
Eventhestoriesthatweren’tfunnyprovidedthekidswithsomeinsight.Onesemesterthethemewas“HighSchool,”andagirlinterviewedhermother,whohadgonetohighschoolinasmalltown,andtheywentoutforluncheveryday. The mother had always ordered the same thing—a hot dog—and she told herhighschoolbuddiesshejustLOVEDhotdogs,butshetoldherdaughteryearslateritwasallshecouldafford.Andeventhoughitwasallthoseyears
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later, the mother would not allow us to publish the story. The daughter said inclassitwasveryinsightfulforher.
The kids were all engaged in this project, but I knew I really had a hit when parents started mentioning how meaningful it was for them to partici-pateandhowgladtheywerethattheirstudentswerehavingthisexperience.IknewIwasreallyontosomething.Itwasthepowerofnarrative;itwasthepower of storytelling. Kids and the community were connecting in new and unexpectedways,andpowerfulthingswerehappening.Oh—and their editing skillsimproved,aswell.
Vignette: Lisa Scherff, Estero High School, Estero, FloridaAs some in the audience may know, after ten years in teacher education, this past AugustIreturnedtothehighschoolclassroomtoteachEnglishandreading.Infact,IcamebacktotheschoolwhereIbeganmyteachingcareerin1996.Whenpeople ask why, it is hard to articulate one particular reason I made this decision, butmainlyitrelatestothegoalofactingonthebeliefthateachindividualhasvalueas a human being and should be respected as a worthwhile person. Goals like this, whichshouldbethefoundationofeveryP–16school,havebeenreplacedbynarrowstandards,high-stakestests,andvalue-addedmodelsthatdotheopposite.Ihadanentirelydifferenttalkprepared,butthenonWednesdaybeforeIleft,Ireceivedthisletterfromastudent.Shegavemepermissiontoreadittoyouthismorning.
GracieisaseniorinmyIntensiveReadingclass,adoubleblockofreadingforstudentswhohavenotpassedtheFCAT,Florida’smandated10th-gradegraduationexam.Graciehasbeenthroughalotinherseventeenyearsandsomefearedshemight not graduate from high school. I feel for my reading students, like Gracie, wholoseelectivesandopportunitiestotakeotherclasses;theyaretired,demoral-ized,andfearfulofnotpassing.Manyofthesestudentshavebeeninreadingclassessince middle school. Their entire worth seems to be tied to one test score. This past OctoberwasFCATretakes,somethingverystressfulformyreadingstudents.Afternot passing for two years, Gracie passed. And she wrote me this note:
Dear Dr. ScherffGracias!Forbeingthebestreadingteacherever!Thankyouforbeingpatiencewithus.WhenifirstenteredyourclassroomIwonderedwhatwhereyoudoingteachinginahighschool???BecauseInoticedyournamehada“Dr.”infrontofit.Thesepassedfewmonthsinyourclassroomhasbeenagoodexperience.I’veenjoyedreadingALLyourbooks:).Igota3ontheFCAT.NowforsureI’monmywaytograduating.Thankstoyou!!GodBlessandhaveawonderfulThanksgiving:)
Gracie is more than a test score. And I will hang this letter in a place to remind meeverydaythatfosteringself-worth,confidence,criticalthinking,andaloveoflearning is why I do what I do.
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Vignette: Mike Roberts, Rowland Hall, Salt Lake City, UtahI think it was probably somewhere around 11th grade when I began to realize thatmostofthestuffIhadlearnedinschoolwasn’texactlytransferabletomyeverydaylife.
Imean,memorizingtheGettysburgAddress?Really?Orhow’boutthatpe-riodictable?Yeah,I’mstillkindofwaitingforthedaywhereknowingthatAUisgoldisgonnapayoff!Andlet’snotforgetabouttheoldPythagoreantheorem.OK,truthbetold,Ineverreallydid learn that one, but I think you get the idea.
Longstoryshort,mostofwhatIlearnedinschoolonlyseemedtobenefitmewhile I was in school.
SowhenIbecameateacherfifteenyearsago,IknewthatIwantedtomakemy 8th-grade classes different from those that I had taken. And while I understood thatthereweresomespecificrequirementsthathad and needed to be taught, I was determined to make howIexploredeachtopicsomethingthatwouldtransferbacktotheeverydaylivesofmystudents.AndratherthanhavingtheconceptsIdispensed be useful only for grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, I wanted my students to ob-tainskillsandknowledgethatwouldbenefitthemfive,ten,fifteen,oreventwentyyearsafterleavingmyclass.
Sowhatdoesthislooklike?It’sadiscussionfocusingonhowthethemeoflonelinessin Of Mice and Men
Inclosing,notonlydoIadmittousinglivechickens,YouTube,andtheKardashiansinmyclassroom,butIdosoveryproudly.Andwhilethismightnotbeconsidered“textbook”teaching,itcreatesalearningatmospherethatisrelevant,meaningful,andlastingformystudents.Thiswasmygoalfifteenyears ago, and it continues to be my goal today.
Sandy: Vignette 3 It was during the last days of our traditional Diary of Anne Frank/Holocaust unitwhenIreceivedaphonecallfromTinaat10:30atnight.IhadknownTina’sparentswhentheywereseniors,thoughIhadnevertaughtthem.I’dhadTina’stwobrothers.Forallofthem,schoolhadbeenastruggle.ButthisphonecallshowedmeadifferentsideofTina.Tinahadseenateno’clocknewsstoryrecognizingthe60thanniversaryoftheliberationofDachau;thisstoryfeaturedaMinneapoliswomanwhohadsurvivedthecamp.Withsur-prisingresourcefulness,Tinatrackeddownthewoman’sphonenumberandcalledherat10:25toaskifsheevervisitedschools.Thewomanreplied,“Haveyourteachercallmeinthemorning.”Tinadidn’t—couldn’t—wait to tell me. Iwouldn’thavecaredifshehadcalledmeatmidnight.BecauseofTina,thisclassexperiencedadeeplypersonalandnever-to-be-forgottenunderstandingoftheHolocaustthroughGretta’svisittoourclass.
Vignette: Sarah Gross, High Technology High School, Lincroft, New JerseyTeachingisrifewith“trialsbyfire.”Weknowthathands-onisoneofthebestwaystolearnbecausethat’showwelearn!Noclasscanprepareyouforthosemoments,andwehaveallhadthosemoments(youknow,thosemoments,hours,days,evenweeks)whenwehavetorelyonourwitsandintuitionandnottextbookknowledgeor notes from a college class.
Thatsamepracticalityistranslatedtoourteaching,dayinanddayout.IhavestandardsIneedtohelpmystudentsmeet,andIhaveacurriculumtofollow.Thosestandards tell me where my students need to end up, but in the wise words of my friendPaulHankins,theydon’ttellmehowIhavetogetthemthere.IhaveheartlessonsthatIknowarevitaltomystudents’growthashumanbeings,whetherornotmystateorfederalgovernmentformallyrecognizestheminadocument.Iknowthatmystudentsneedtopracticestewardshipoftheenvironmentbeforeit’stoolate.Ineedthemtolearnhowtobegooddigitalcitizens.Iwantthemto
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contributetothedevelopmentofabettersociety.Andmypassion?Iwishforthemto be passionate and lifelong readers.
Nothing I just cited is listed in my state standards, the Common Core Stan-dards,oranystandardsI’veeverbeengiven.Butnomatter!Theyaremystandards,andIworktowardthemeverydaywithmystudents.
That’swhymystudentsspentonedaylastweek,onedayinOctober,andonedayinSeptembersittinginthewoods,observingnature.It’swhytheyareread-ingDr.DavidHaskell’sPulitzerPrizefinalist,The Forest Unseen, as part of a joint projectbetweenEnglishandbiology.Inthepastthreemonthstheyhavecreatedeco-art,studiedasquaremeterofforest,andfoundaboneinthewoods!Alittlebitofresearchshoweditwaspartofadeerfemur.Youwon’tfindanythinglikethatinmytextbook,butwow,havetheylearnedalot!
My students also spend a great deal of time on social media. Many of them follow me on Twitter, and we use hashtags in class. I consider it a compliment when theytellmemyTwitterfeedisboringbecauseI“talkalotaboutteaching.”I’mmodelingapositivedigitalfootprintforthem!DuringclasswehaveparticipatedinTwitterchats,theNationalDayonWritinghashtag,anddissectingtherhetoricofthepresidentialdebates.Asaresult,manyofthemhavecleaneduptheirdigitalfootprintsandbecomemoreconsciousofwhattheypost.That’simportanttome,and it will one day be important to them.
AndIlovewhentheyuseourclasshashtagtobooktalktheirfavoritebookor to get recommendations.
They might not join a book club on their own, but they are getting recom-mendationsfromfriends,justlikeadultreaders.Justlastweekastudenttweeted,“Iamactuallyreadingabookinplaceofmynormalprocrastination”andreceivedresponsesfromstudentsinotherclasses.Iwatchedasaconversationaboutbooksexplodedonourhashtagandmyheartfeltlikeitwasgoingtoburst!ThenAprilHenry, the author of one of the books, joined in and my students were stunned. I couldonlysmile.Youwon’tfindthatinmyofficialstandards,butit’spartofmy“heartstandards”becausethat’showyoumakeareader!
Vignette: Meenoo Rami, Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaLike many of you, I missed my students while being here. So, on Friday, I was able toSkypewithmy11thgradersback inPhiladelphiaat theScienceLeadershipAcademy as they continue their work on a project in partnership with the National PublicRadioaffiliateKQEDinCalifornia.Wehavetakenonaverybigquestion:Iscollegeworththecostanddebt?
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Theyhavesecuredinterviewswithcollegestudents,professors,researchers,parents,eventhesuperintendentofPhiladelphiaSchoolDistrict.Andtheyareturningtheseinterviewsintomultimediapiecesthatintegratetext,links,maps,andinfographics.ThesepieceswillthenbesharedbyKQEDtogenerateconversationsaround this topic with students across the country.
Now, I know this kind of learning is not happening just in my classroom but alsoinclassroomsacrossthecountry.Ithinkthisisthekindofexperienceourstudentsneedtolearnandleadinourworld.Theyneedtotakeonrich,complex,andworthyquestions,andtheyneedtoexplorepossibleanswersincollaborationwith each other. There has been a lot of talk about the Common Core Standards thisatthisconvention.Perhapsweneedtothinkaboutwaystomakejoy,curiosity,and passion the standards of our classrooms.
WhetheryoufindyourtribeonTwitteroruseFacebookorwalkacrossthehallway to talk to another teacher at your school, our work will be better if we are connected.
Ournationrightfullyexpectsustopreparethenextgenerationofwriters,thinkers,inventors,andleaders.Todoourlevelbestwiththisresponsibility,weneed to connect as a community of teachers on the local, national, and interna-tionallevelstosharebestpracticesandsupportourstudents’learning.Justlikeourstudents, we need rich connections to colleagues near and far to make our own learning meaningful. So, let us keep talking and sharing, and I want to especially thankSandyforherleadershipandtheentireNCTEcommunityformakingop-portunities like this one possible.
Vignette: Nancie Atwell, Center for Teaching and Learning, Edgecomb, MaineAcrosseachschoolyear,theseventhandeighthgradersinmywritingworkshopengaged in a series of genre studies. Choosing their own topics, they wrote free verse,memoirs,reviews,shortfiction,parodies,essays,sonnets,graduationspeeches.Alongtheway,theydiscoveredtheusesofeachgenre—whatitcandoforawriterandhowitcaninfluenceareader.Becausetheirwritingwasreal,sowasitsimpact.
Theclassreadpowerfulexamplesofadvocacyjournalismandteasedouta list of features of the genre. Sophia called the director of Feed Our Scholars torequestandscheduleaninterview.Aftertheclassgeneratedbaselineques-tions, she typed hers up on a laptop, then spent a morning onsite collecting information—history,logistics,statistics,quotes,andanecdotes.
Backatschool,sheexperimentedwithleadsuntilshefoundthedirectionforheressay.Sheorderedherinformation,draftedit,clarifiedandtightenedit,playedwithalternativeconclusions,brainstormedtitles,andreadandrevisedhertextagainstthelistofcriteriaherclasshadcreated.Finally,theycollabo-rated on a second set of criteria, for how they wanted the younger students to judge the writing.
Sophia’seloquentessaywasnotoneofthethreethatwonoverthelittlerkids.ThekiditdidwinoverwasSophia.Thegirlisonfireaboutfoodinsecu-rityinAmerica.Lastmonth,asaneighthgrader,shedevotedadawn-to-duskSaturday to baking cookies, hundreds of cookies, and on Sunday set up a bake saleatherchurchthatraisedover$700forFeedOurScholars,enoughmoneyfor a year of weekend backpacks for three local families.
ItseemstomethatUSteachersofwritingareatacriticaljuncture.Wecanfocus instruction on the bloodless language of the Common Core, or we can invitestudentstoengageinworthwhileworkthatencompassesthestandardsandexceedsthem,askidslearnaboutwhatwritingisgoodforandthekindsof grown-ups they wish to become.
The goals that Sandy Hayes unearthed should remind us of why we became writingteachersinthefirstplace:nottobetechniciansoftestprep,buttohelpyoung people like Sophia become their best selves, contribute to the development of a better society, and build a foundation for meaning in their lives.
Sandy: Vignette 4LastsummerIwasstandinginlineataJ.C.PenneywhereIseldomshop.Ilookedaheadattheclerkandwithashockthought,“ShelookslikeMartha.”Isneakedapeek at her nametag: Martha.
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thirty students. She was so shy she could not call attention to herself to ask to gotothebathroom,letalonejustleave,asshewasabouttobesick.IferventlyhopedthatIhadbeenworthyofbeingherfavoriteteacher.
In the spring of 8th grade, Martha and her two best friends, also shy girls, inthekindofwildlyunexpected,out-of-characteractionsofmiddleschoolers,performedintheyearlytalentshow.Pattistrummedherguitar,singingalongwithMarthaandChristy.Thesongwas“Michael,RowYourBoatAshore” —with all three of the girls singing in different keys.
Butthisisn’treallyastoryaboutMartha,assurprisinglycourageousasherdebutwas.It’sabouthowsurprisingallkidscanbe.Despitetheurgent,almostoverwhelmingneedtoreleasetensionbylaughingthatevenIfelt,notone student in the audience of 700 giggled, snorted, hooted, laughed, or started aconversationwiththeirfriend.Attheendofthesong,thestudentshonoredthegirlswithhonest,enthusiasticapplause.Ihaveneverbeenproudertobea middle school teacher.
MeetingMarthaagainafterthirty-fouryearsgavemetheinspirationforthisspeech.Weinfluencestudents’livesinwayswecannotguess.Inthestoriesweallhavesharedtoday,noneoftherelationships,joyinlearning,pride,success,or connections with others depended on, or could be measured by, standards. Butthisiswhyweteach,whyweneedtocelebrateeverydaythewondrousways in which we all are human.
