Head down on the on the wobbly desk in the third grade classroom, the steel chairs legs sterile against the tile floor, the windows crudely shaded with coarse black construction paper. Waiting for the TV to be wheeled into the room. Looking at the sun would make us blind forever, we were told. The only way to witness the only solar eclipse in Portland, Oregon until . . . well, forever . . . was to watch it on TV. And all that I had in my mind were questions. A thirst to know why we were locked inside with the most memorable astrological event we would ever witness.

I knew then what you know to be true: learning is worth discovering and worth pursuing.