The storm has passed, and as I write a piercingly blue sky accents the beauty of a season’s first snowfall. Clumps cling to evergreen branches, like a Christmas card brought to life, as cardinals, all the more red against the pristine snow, join clusters of nuthatches at the feeders. Tracks from the top of the steep ledge behind our house go straight down, then disappear under the deck, creating a mystery.
Maybe whoever trekked down the ledge does that every day, without us noticing. Today the snow reveals its presence.
And so it is that we don’t always see what is right before us. That is darkly true of the coronavirus for the past nine months.
But today I don’t want to dwell on the virus. I want to focus on the good. Perhaps it’s the vaccines giving hope as the winter solstice approaches on Monday. It’s the longest night of the year, but then the light overtakes the dark, imperceptibly at first, day by day.
I like every once in a while to update people and issues I’ve written about and today, probably the snow, the vaccine and the solstice are nudging me to stick with the “positive” news. (Not that news is positive or negative — it’s just news. But some stories inspire while informing.)
The education leader
Perhaps you remember when I brought you to meet Connecticut’s new education commissioner in his Hartford office overlooking the Connecticut River. (“Belief in the individual motivates new education leader,” Sept. 6, 2019) Dr. Miguel Cardona, the first Latino to lead education in the state, spoke of the teachers who were most influential in his life and his belief in the possibilities for every student.
“Each child has the potential to change the world for the better,” said Cardona, the person responsible for the education of about 500,000 students across Connecticut.
Our conversation was warm as he remembered when I wrote about his first day as a teacher at an elementary school in Meriden in 1998. He was 23, fresh out of college, and I was a reporter at the Record-Journal in Meriden at the time when we met in Room 160 of Israel Putnam School. (I told you about this in a column, “State’s head teacher began with 20 inner city kids,” published in Hearst Connecticut newspapers on July 26, 2019.)
“Let The Journey Begin!” read the lettering on the bulletin board greeting his first students.
Update: The journey might be taking Cardona far beyond what he could have envisioned in Room 160. President-elect Joe Biden has Connecticut’s education commissioner on his short list for U.S. Secretary of Education, as first reported in the Washington Post this week.
A few others are on the list, including Dr. Ann Marie Adams of Hartford, who worked with the Obama Administration on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law and for nearly 20 years has been an adjunct in the Connecticut State University system and has taught at Howard and Rutgers universities. It appears that both Cardona and Adams are being seriously vetted by the Biden team.
I’ve never met Adams. But I’ve watched Cardona’s career and find his personal story so compelling. He grew up in a Meriden housing project, in first grade his primary language was Spanish, and he graduated from a technical high school before earning degrees all the way up to a doctorate at Connecticut public universities. Can you imagine what that narrative would say to children across the country who want to believe anything is possible for them?
“Education is the great equalizer: It was for me,” Cardona said during his confirmation hearing as Connecticut’s education commissioner.
We should know soon whether he’ll be taking his inclusive approach to Washington.
The gift of a guitar
Back in the summer, a Bethel businessman had a great idea for helping local communities while empowering his staff. Mike Boyle, president of BASE Technologies, gave each of his 25 employees $500 to donate or use as they wished. Not one kept the money for themselves.
Instead the seed spread across Connecticut, and into New York, from food banks, to animal rescue places, to veterans, even to a Dunkin’ Donuts employee getting a surprise $100 tip.
In my Sept. 4, 2020 column, “How a Bethel businessman’s pay it forward plan spread across Connecticut,” you met Vinny Rodriguez in the company’s IT department.
He wanted to bring his love of music to children who could use a diversion in the pandemic. With his $500 he bought several guitars and through Facebook spread the word. At the time of the column, three children were gifted with guitars.
Update: As of Thursday morning, Rodriguez has given guitars to 26 children. He has 10 more to give away and enough money to buy 10 more.
“Each story is different and these posts generate more interest,” he said of his Facebook videos.
So far he has raised more than $6,500 for the cause.
“My friends want to see this continue and some have donated 2, 3, and 4 times. My high school math teacher donated 3 times, each one in the amount of a prime number, $111, $101, and $127,” he said.
Boyle, his boss, doubled the company contribution after finding out how successful the initiative has been, Corey Roy, the company’s marketing manager, told me.
It’s wonderful how the seed money has grown and people want to be involved in a good cause. I hope the pay-it-forward concept catches on with other companies.
Vinny has two more guitar give-aways scheduled for this weekend. The music plays on.
Get organized
In January I introduced you to Sue Duval, owner of Newtown-based The Organized Hive, who gave tips on how to get rid of clutter in your home and get organized. (“Tips on decluttering and reclaiming your space — and calm,” Jan. 10)
The average home holds about 300,000 items and the size of homes has tripled since the 1950s, Duval said. Then there’s self-storage units. Time to get control over our stuff instead of the other way around.
Clutter creeps in little by little, like unwanted pounds, so focus on progress instead of instant Pinterest-perfect results, she said.
“Stuff should serve you,” Duval said. “If you don’t love it, leave it.”
Update: The pandemic, what with forcing everyone to spend more time at home, has made people more aware of their clutter.
“I’m excited to share that I've earned the designation as a Certified Professional Organizer by the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers,” Duval emailed me the other day. “It’s one of the biggest professional achievements in the organizing and productivity industry and there are only 6 other CPOs in the state.”
Congratulations to a successful businesswoman who keeps achieving, even in difficult times.
What’s next
OK, this might be the perfect time for organizing stuff such as wrapping paper, but for today give yourself a break. Get outside, or pause to look out the window at the new landscape. What does the fresh snow reveal that you had never noticed before?
Jacqueline Smith’s column appears Fridays in Hearst Connecticut Media daily newspapers. She also is the editorial page editor of The News-Times in Danbury and The Norwalk Hour. Write to her at jsmith@hearstmediact.com
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