Proof That Your Past Influences Your Present

I learned about Beaverton's Arts and Communication Magnet Academy when student Austin Miller was killed by a bus while riding his bike. I hadn't realized that there was another arts-based high school so close to us and it sparked an idea.

I've been quietly campaigning (does brining home printed Web pages count as quiet?) for The Star to organize a school-to-school student exchange. I think it would be pretty cool for a few of the students in Beaverton, Oregon to spend part of a week here in Vancouver and then our students to go there. A micro-exchange, if you will.

I'm not sure what the ultimate goal of the program would be, but I'm all for stepping outside your comfort zone. I spent an entire year as an exchange student back in the mid-1980's. It put such a stamp on my life that my kids still think I'm part Finnish. But I think the root of my obsession with this school-to-school exchange ides is even older.

I spent fifth grade at Kenwood Elementary School (now a Storyline magnet school) in Bend, Oregon. My teacher was Bruce Reynolds. He was a hot, 23-year old with blond feathered hair and a Trans-Am. Fresh out of school, he had a fellow

[Edited on 3/15/11: pulled this out of my drafts folder. Unfinished, but not unloved.]