Absence makes the heart grow abscessed...

Hello all,

Forgive my recent and total absence from this lovely project. Just popped on to update-- mine eyes must be failing me-- I can't be in the LEAD! Probably Jeremy and Buffy haven't updated yet for this month. Yes, that must be it. I'm surprised they haven't entered their daughter into this contest yet... she'd probably be beating the pants off all of us.

Tamie, I was sad to read your review of The Unprocessed Child, a book I've been looking forward to reading for a long time. I still plan to read it, but how sad is it that people can take such good ideas and make them into such negative commentaries on Everything Else? Narrow-mindedness is the Devil's friend (Nietsche. Or, you know, Phoenix.)

Anyway, I'm sad to say I've read very few new books in the past month. I've been trying to keep my spending to a minimum, and so I haven't bought new books and I only just took out a library membership (I know, I know *slaps own hand*). And the new books I have read, well, they haven't exactly been much good, or very interesting to write about. Many have had to do with starting a nonprofit company, and all the little details thereof.

Oh, on that note and speaking of unschooling-- I might as well plug my own project here. My dear friend Bryan and I have decided to start an unschool of our own-- a community learning center in which children can learn at their own pace, in their own way, and where we act as mere facilitators to education. We won't be teachers, and we won't be police. We'll simply be there to help the kids learn in whatever way would most benefit them, and we plan on giving the students a lot of control over their own education.

This is a new idea, and a long way from being operational but the pair of us plan to move next year to a location to be named later to start our unschool. Until then, it's planning by phone and email (he lives in San Francisco and I live in New York and we both have real jobs and all that, so we're not making progress quite as quickly as I'd like, but that'll change next year when we move to our new state and really dig into this). We have started a blog (www.unschooledcenter.blogspot.com) in which to write down our thoughts and hopefully, when the time is right, spread the word. It only has two posts so far because Bryan and I have both been very busy, but I hope you'll check in from time to time!

Anyway, I can recommend a few books, if you haven't read them yet. Lately, I've been very curious about the Holocaust and some of the books we're always hearing about but that I hadn't read yet. I give you:

The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, Ellen Feldman
This is fiction, but it's a very convincing fictional account of what might have happened to Peter van Pels had he been allowed to live, come to America, and start over. Very gripping, very honest, and so authentic sounding that I had to remind myself more than once that I wasn't reading the real man's words. I think it is a very good tribute to what happened, and shows as much depth of understanding as anyone who has not been through such an obscenity could ever hope to possess.

The Diary of Anne Frank
Obviously, I also have to recommend this book. I had never read it before, not even in high school. No words, really. Just... read it.

Schindler's List
I had never seen the movie and I'm not all the way through the book so I'll let you know more of my thoughts on this one when I've finished with it. But it's very good so far. I can't imagine not recommending it when I'm through.

I hope everyone is doing well.

-Phoenix