What Comes Around Goes Around: Teaching Caramel to 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders at Side By Side in Norwalk

Yesterday, I took an hour break from sabbatical writing to do a "Planting the Seeds For Writing" presentation to 48 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in Norwalk, Connecticut. It was the usual ruckus of humor, playfulness, inquisitiveness and youth, but not until I got to the end of the 2nd presentation that I had to laugh.

One of the points I wanted to make was that writing daily means you're writing your life before someone else writes it for you - if you don't write daily, then you easily could lose your sense of self and belonging in a complicated world. To prove it, I asked the youngsters what they were doing on September 28th, 2010. They had guesses and speculations: school, cartoons, soccer practice, but not one had a more detailed response. I, however, went through the blogs I've kept and showed them exactly where my brain was on this date. I went over the year of happiness, quirky, cacocophy, community, Connecticut, etc. I also mentioned Karma. I asked the kids if they knew what the word meant.

A young man raised his hand and said he did.

I hate karma. He said. It tastes horrible and gets stuck in my teeth. I don't even like karma apples.

He wins. My karma was given right back to me. Yet, even so, I left the workshops feeling really wonderful about the potential of what might come with these fledglings next.