Elliot Washor's TGIF 03.06.2026

Are you with me now? A. J. Ryder

 El on the building intercom to Ayinde: “Buzz me in 4D. This is 1H at 125 Hawthorne St, Brooklyn, NY, let me in the building.”

Sometimes you meet someone in the strangest ways. I met Ayinde Bennett, Senior Director of Education Partnerships for CareerWise, right after I gave my Leadership Journeys talk. In my story, I mentioned 125 Hawthorne Street, where I lived from the time I came home from the hospital until I was 24. As it turns out, Ayinde lives there now. How often—if ever—do you run into someone who lives in the same building you lived in 50 years ago? Almost never, if ever.

At the BPL Leadership Conference in New York City, we reconnected and agreed that we needed a longer conversation about the building and the neighborhood. This week we finally made the time to talk about a place that is both old and new. We talked about the stores, the people, the craziness, and the goodness.

In many ways, the neighborhood is culturally and socially still the same. It’s a place where everyone looks out for everyone else. Ayinde was fascinated by how much—and how little—has changed, and so was I. Gardens in the alleys are still claimed by people as their own and are not to be messed with. Gone are the clotheslines, the incinerators billowing smoke, and the ash cans on the street filled with their remains. Now some of the older homes are starting to be knocked down and replaced by ugly-looking apartments and condos, though that transformation hasn’t completely taken over yet.

The playground still has great hoops. When I was growing up, it was a place where some of the best players in the city came to play.

Our next step is to walk the blocks together and tell the stories the streets still hold. I’m excited—and it all started because of Leadership Journeys, which helped spark this unique friendship.

And once again, because of my time at the Leadership Conference during that snowstorm in NYC, I also connected with the crew from Murray High School, one of our Big Picture Learning schools in Vista, California, about a 40-minute drive from where I live. Isaak Egge has been doing fantastic work there as their coach. My time with them was devoted to conversations with staff about what lies ahead for all of us in San Diego County and across California.

Finally, a big shout-out to Sara Kahn, who was our third principal in our Canadian series, Building Sticky Schools. We had about 30 principals on the Zoom. Everyone loved her talk and the Q&A that followed. In just a few weeks, a group of us will be heading north for the BPL Conference in Winnipeg.

“It is now Post Time” - Fred “Cappy” Capossela

As a kid, I used to go to the track with my dad, where the races were called by announcer Fred “Cappy” Capossela. After everyone finished placing their bets and just before the gates would spring open, Cappy would lean into the microphone and, in a way only a guy from Brooklyn could deliver, declare: “It is now Post Time.” Well, in that same Brooklynite spirit, I’m stepping up to the microphone to call another kind of race and announcing: “It is now CONFERENCE TIME.” Next week the gates open with SXSW in Austin, Texas, running neck and neck with our Harbor Freight Fellows Conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Coming down the early stretch is the California Secondary School Redesign Conference in Anaheim, followed closely by the Deeper Learning Conference in San Diego. Down the backstretch you’ll see the National Association of College and Career Counselors in Washington, D.C. rounding the bend toward the BPL Winnipeg Summit. Still in the middle of the pack is AERA in Los Angeles, with ASU GSV right on its flank by a half-length. What a race to the finish line.

Next week I’m heading to Charleston, South Carolina for our Harbor Freight Fellows Conference—a statewide gathering that Crishell has been working on tirelessly. Each conference that Crishell & Co. organizes seems to outdo the last, so the bar is set pretty high.

Before leaving for Charleston, though, I’ll spend part of this weekend exploring how repairing objects can open a window into something deeper: how we live with being less than perfect. At a time when schools, social media, and so many parts of a young person’s life revolve around unrealistic standards of perfection, the act of repair offers a different lens.

Fortunately, two things recently crossed my path: a TV series called The Repair Shop and an exhibit titled Less Than Perfect. Together, they opened the door to thinking about the concepts—and the beauty—of:

• Failed perfection

• Deliberate imperfection

• Repairing perfection

Be Well!