This is NOT because I have too much time, rather too little.

It's easier to write one thing to many here, than to copy and paste forever. There are some general themes relevant to all my current priorities - to Atra Luce, to Choice thru Education, to local schools and politics, to online tutoring from the Philippines or East Africa, to fora on "public safety" that engage Geographic Information Systems for safer neighborhoods, to ending the AIDS/HIV epidemic. They all reflect strategies to distribute information, expression, and respect to, with, and for often ignored, rarely heard, and usually dismissed individuals and groups. That's a pretty broad spectrum, and finding and refining what they share is the challenge of a lifetime.

My primary concern now is helping to frame Atra Luce - a new, small, foundation leveraging huge change in teaching and learning with very, very modest tools. That leverage is a common pattern for which I have much affection - the AIDS epidemic lever is similar. It is not even interesting to change the world if you're a Bush or even a Blair, although the "unintended consequences" of their mucking about are worth considerable attention. It's much, much more fun, and more deliberately consequential to transform learning, art, politics, health or whatever, with a key insight, and then trace those consequences, reinforcing where needed, promoting or restraining where critical. Atra Luce seeks to transform education with a modest (as Swift might call it) proposal: critical thinking and grammar can transform how people communicate in any language, any subject, any medium. Latin - or algebra 0r geometry or any subject you don't use on a daily basis - can, like a touchstone, cause you to see and be seen differently.

I strongly believe in the value of pool or even billiards. Working the cushions to cause lots of action on the table transforms not only the target you intend for that round, but the whole game, each time you shoot. Latin is precisely the kind of subject that affects many other subjects quickly, profoundly, and with the kind of connection that could, should, might, and with the right tools will transform those subjects. The obvious ones are grammar and expression in writing or speech, but just as significant are science, math, and technology: where a well placed word or ending affects meaning, and that change in meaning transcends time and place.

The parallel with ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic is compelling. There are new tests to make it easy - and far less threatening - to find out if one's been exposed; new treatments now and on the way to reduce the impact of that exposure; new methods to redress immediate exposure to the virus and reduce the probability of infection to tolerable levels; new medications in the pipeline to even further reduce the probability of infection, available to either partner anonymously; and new means of delivering these key resources to increasingly complex but ready publics. Focusing on the changes alone makes the public aware of both the risks and the precautions available. Bringing hope does not increase risk, but quite the reverse. Presuming everyone has some survival skills, and building more skills on that scaffold, saves the public no less than the person. And linking all these transformations to the convenient coincidence of a universal health insurance program in Massachusetts, that needs incentives for full enrollment, and rewards and security for all members, multiplies any reduction in the rate of infection by many, many times.

Just as there is a difference between individual health and public health - justifying serious public investment in prevention while helping each and all know and manage their risks - so there is a difference between teaching and curriculum - justifying critical thinking in any subject while delivering a universal skill like the pleasure of grammar and confidence of communication in Latin. Just as a simple, anonymous, low cost test can give confidence and key health information, a relatively modest, insightful, and fun way to learn Latin can lever huge benefits in learning, in communication and in many other key skill-acquisition activities of a lifetime.

Enough facile analogs. It's time to realize them a little in some proposals. More later.