The United Way and New Haven Public Schools highlight “the ART of school success” —  attendance, reading, and time for conversation — as ways for home life to bolster students.  Such efforts demand greater attention, from early childhood on.  Literacy is an appropriate focus.

The New Haven Register recently published "Improving Education Involves Everyone" – a piece that I wrote on related themes.

The ineffable cruelty of the violence in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday has prompted grief around the world.

For me, the surreal shock and relative proximity of the events evoked in some ways experiences of September 11, 2001, when I was living and working in Manhattan.

This afternoon, it was moving to listen to a choir perform a “Holiday Joy” concert in which scores of girls participated, from age seven (including my daughter) to teenagers, holding hands as they represented the innocence and ideals we cherish.  The choir sang, in addition to such favorites as “Come all ye faithful” and “Gloria in excelcis Deo” and Hanukah standards, the following words of the song “Let peace begin with me”:

Let there be peace on Earth,
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on Earth,
The peace that was meant to be.

The world is our family,
Brothers and sisters are we,
Let us walk with each other,
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me,
Let this be the moment now,
With every step I take,
Let this be my solemn vow,

To take each moment and live each moment
In peace, eternally.
Let there be peace on Earth,
And let it begin with me.

The Yale Daily News (YDN) ran a December 4 article, “City schools win AP recognition,” that included an interview with Wen Jiang, featured days earlier in a New Haven Independent article.

According to the YDN article, “... Jiang attributes the success to a ‘supportive environment’ created by teachers, counselors and peers. Jiang said he felt encouraged to take AP classes and so did many of his peers, adding that teachers would stay after school multiple times a week to help students with their coursework.”

I donated blood yesterday and encourage others to give blood, which one may do every eight weeks.