Three Weekends of Emily Newton: I Like To Watch Things Grow, Especially Brown School Things

Emily is entering her third week of Pilobus training, and once again she's spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Mt. Pleasant. Today, as we were jumping in the Hulk to go to the beach for volleyball, the first of my 'teacher' gladiolas bloomed (a gift I gave to student teachers upon completing their placements and a reminder of my Harold and Maude days). Nope, they're not daisies, but they are originals.

Emily told me today that on her graduation in 2007, she was in typical Brown mode and totally declined to order her graduation gown and follow the normal protocols for graduation. I told her, "It's okay, I have a gown in the costume closet you can wear and I think I have my high school tassel in a drawer in my desk."

I succeeded with both and sure enough, that's what she wore to graduation.

I remember in 1990 when I graduated I ended up on the west coast for my cousin's wedding...my first time in California. There, I met a girl he graduated with (from Brown) who only had one outfit with her and who was living in her car --- a total free spirit.

25 years later, another free spirit from the Brown School keeps the traditions alive: studying neurobiology, eating only foods with no sugar or additives, and taking dance lessons during her summer vacation with one of the most physical troupes in the nation.

And happy...totally happy. That, to me, is the Brown School. If you want to sing out, sing out. If you want to be free, be free. There's a million things to be, you know that there are. Yes, I know that there are."

Just B. Just Brown. Just Bryan. And wola! I miss the spirit of that place.