“Are you with me now?” AJ Ryder
Greece was great. Welcome to a land where the fish have bones and the watermelons have seeds.
Except for the few police we saw, there were no guns on any of the five islands we were on, There were no traffic lights either. I met a couple married 72 years who made dinner for us and on the other end of the life spectrum in another taverna, our waiters were 10 and 12-year-olds who told their parents what to prepare for the customers in great detail. The difference in how people live around the world makes all the difference.
On my way home, we changed planes in Zurich. The guy next to me was wearing one of those masks that is a photo of your mouth. For someone who knew, he was pretty easy to recognize but we spoke with him for 35 minutes without letting on and then, he told us, “I’m Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer.”
Good to be back home in San Diego
“Please don’t visit Izola for a bit.”
Of all places you wouldn’t think of San Diego having the #1 bakery in the world but according to YELP it does. And, you wouldn’t believe that the bakers in this bakery had no prior baking experience but they didn’t. IZOLA is a women-owned and operated bakery. It is very, very small and the media attention has caused them to ask customers NOT to come. Imagine that! IZOLA was started during COVID and like I keep saying after every major worldwide event comes a rebirth. These events that disrupt daily routines allow so many people to work on what they always wanted to do and many times the results turn out to be fantastic.
This is IZOLA:
Traits we value: Kindness and empathy, optimism, hustle, work ethic & integrity.
Justice: Economic, Racial, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Environmental, we’re practicing it.
Thanks to Joe Youcha, Charlie Plant, Brooklyn Holt and Karen Gaylord, Jose Hernandez, Joe Latoya, Paul Oliveira, and many others the 311 Certification is going ‘live’ next week with 8 students from Newark. It took lots of meetings to get this to work between a partnership that involved the carpenters union, industry, workforce development and the school district. Everyone wanted to get to “YES.” It was a great process. Now that the work begins there will be bumps but that said, we are headed in the right direction to take this to NY, NJ, SC and CA.
“A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.”
—George Santayana
Yesterday Andrea and I met with LEGO Master builders Gwyneth Kozbial and Paul Lee and his son Max about working with us to develop activities for using LEGO with BPLiving, The IBPLC and B-U. In a nanosecond, we were all on the same page about play, learning and education. Both Paul and Gwyneth are parents who work with their children and a host of adults and youth using LEGOs as ways to express yourself. A few of the themes that came out were that when you play with LEGOs everyone wants something different. Everyone goes to different pieces and when you play with a group everyone starts sharing pieces. This builds community. One challenge they pointed out was that from the ages of 13-16 there is a void in LEGO use. How can play with LEGOs continue during these years for more teens to express themselves? Working with LEGOs around your interest might be a way. I watched Paul’s son; Max do this right in front of me. Next is an upcoming workshop this Friday for BPLiving and then, workshops with Andrea and staff from schools around the IBPLC.
Damian and BPLiving
Through Sonn I had a nice update on what former advisor Damian Ewens is doing with sports and meditation that is directly connected to BPLiving. This week Damian and I had a great catch-up and exchange. Next week, when we have a meeting with Deb Chadwick who is principal of a BPL school in Australia with a sports emphasis Damian will be on the call.
This afternoon, I went to visit Robert Fung on the San Diego Met campus. I had to take some photos for an upcoming photo shoot at the school and then after Robert and I went to lunch to do some planning for next year including discussing the BPL Leadership Conference in December. Big Bang is two weeks away and we are already 'talking Leadership.' I love it.
Be well!