Elliot Washor's TGIF 12.19.2025

Are you with me now? A. J. Ryder 

There’s been a flurry of activity right before the holidays. From getting foundation reports ready for the end of the year to continuing the work around the IBPLC, B-Unbound, Harbor Freight and California Redesign of Secondary Schools everything keeps moving along. Also, Pam and I continued writing our book on meaning and mattering in the age of AI with a focus on BPL. Perhaps the most challenging work this week was the meetings around the IBPLC. Here Andrea and I were in friendly but difficult conversations about researchers and policy people still clinging to old ways. It is an uphill battle. Just when you think things are moving along, issues come up. I’m glad we have our Australian colleagues who have pioneered the IBPLC along with us.

All this happening from Ireland where I’ve been at a Wednesday wedding in Castle Leslie. Something I didn’t know but Wednesday is actually the day people got married. Duh! Weds day. I got it now. Here they still have weddings on Wednesday that start a day before and continue a day after.

There’s a ton of things about Ireland that are so different than the US. Here’s just a few for starters. First, if a student takes a class in Irish, they get more credit than if they take it in English. It would be like a Spanish speaker taking a class in English and getting more credit for it. Hmm? Teachers here told me that students taking classes like engineering in Irish actually do better because they have to pay more attention to what is being said. This holds true both in hands on and lecture environments. What else do we have wrong? Also, their focus on immigration is completely different. The doors are wide open. And to add one more thing, the young, the very old and people with all sorts of differences are out in the community with minders who look after the interests of the person they are minding. Hmm? I want to understand more about this concept of minding.

 In Ireland, holiday time has a different twist because of the Winter Solstice. Long before Stonehenge or the Pyramids, Newgrange, now a UNESCO site in Ireland was built in the Neolithic Age. At Newgrange light enters into these massive tombs and caverns at the sunrise on the Winter Solstice and at no other time. These astronomers were something. To go along with that, other pagan customs like Christmas trees and Yule logs have little to do with Christmas in origin and lots to do with celebrating the solstice thousands of years before Christianity came to Ireland. Of course, Christmas is a big holiday here but more than the US, the Winter Solstice also holds people together in a celebration of light. As pianist George Winston stated about his famous Winter Solstice work that “it is a prelude to the new, brighter days, encouraging listeners to find peace and reflection in the darkest time.” Amen.

 A New York state of mind

 I stayed up all night and morning to watch the Knicks win their first championship since 1973. I was there for ‘73. Yep, 53 years gone by. It’s not the end of the year NBA Championship but I like this tournament because it is single elimination and both early and late enough in the season where players are in sync and not exhausted or even worse, out with injuries.

I’m so glad to be around in more ways than one contributing to work with our BPL Fam. We still have a very long way to get to where we all want things to be for our young people but our vision and mission remain solid.

As they say in Ireland, Happy Christmas and happy holidays to all.