An Eastern Swallowtail

" 'I'll not punish you for having an imagination.'

Gently, Teacher explained the difference between a lie and a story. A lie was something you told because you were mean or a coward. A story was something you made up out of something that might have happened. Only you didn't tell it like it was; you told it like you thought it should have been.

As teacher talked, a great trouble left Francie. Lately, she had been given to exaggerating things. She did not report happenings truthfully, but gave them color, excitement and dramatic twists. Katie was annoyed at this tendency and kept warning Francie to tell the plain truth and to stop romancing. But Francie just couldn't tell the plain undecorated truth. She had to put something to it." -A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

My own teacher once cautioned me to use my quotes judiciously. He said, "They don't mean as much to other people as they do to you. I mean, I like them, but...well...anyway..." I think this quote from A Tree will mean as much to other adventurers as it does to me.

Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Sullivan sighed, but he did not argue. "I think I'll miss you, Johnathan," was all he said.

"Sully, for shame!" Johnathan said in reproach, "and don't be foolish. What are we trying to practice everyday? If our friendship depends on things like space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you thing we might see each other once or twice?" -Johnathan Livingston Seagull

This mosaic is made of pieces of the data that I worked on this past year for the Middle Grades Risk Prevention Project. My research partners and I presented this at the end of the year poster session to summarize our findings.