Clearwater Festival-- Part 1

Last year, Mikro was lucky enough to meet Dr. Jane Goodall and E.O. Wilson. Afterwards, he announced that the next person in his personal pantheon of heroes that he wanted to meet was Pete Seeger. Mikro loves the Hudson River and has been singing Pete Seeger's "My Dirty Stream" and Rick Nestler's "River That Flows Both Ways" since he was four...

We tried to explain that meeting even one person that inspirational is a rare thing, but he remained confident in our ability to make it magically happen. So, I knew I had to take him to the Clearwater Festival, and I told him that it wasn't likely that he would meet Mr. Seeger, but he would get to hear him sing.



My son has amazing luck. And Pete Seeger is an incredibly nice man, who took the time to talk to a little boy who loves the river, and sign his new CD.

More photos from the festival later, when I get a chance to edit them...

Peace Day with Dr. Jane Goodall

Dr. Jane Goodall runs an amazing organization called Roots & Shoots. It is sort of like scouting, but focused on service projects to help humans, animals and the earth. Every year they celebrate the United Nations' Day of Peace by flying giant peace doves at events worldwide. NYCHEA, one of our homeschool groups, has a Roots & Shoots club, though it is geared towards older kids. (One of my mama friends and I will be working on starting something up for the younger kids soon.) So Kev, Mikro and I attended the NYC event, which Dr. Goodall participated in. She gave a lovely speech and was warm and wonderful, with the kids especially. After the proceedings at Bowling Green, including making peace doves, recording pledges for peace, singing the Peace Dove song and marching in a parade around the park, we all boarded a ferry for Liberty Island and had a peace rally around the flagpole. Dr. Jane posed for pictures with the clubs, and Mikro was lucky enough to have Dr. Jane sign one of his books, Girls Who Looked Under Rocks, which profiles her. Roots & Shoots is a perfect fit for Mikro, who takes very seriously the idea of kids saving the earth. I have to get him involved in it.







I am just amazed that in the span of a couple of months, my kid has met and learned from E.O. Wilson and Jane Goodall, two of the premier naturalists in the world. Life can be full of amazing blessings and inspiring heroes. And the world would be a better place if more of us tried to emulate them. I am very proud to say, I think Mikro will. Whether in big ways or small, the boy will try to make a difference. He cares too much not to.