It's Been Six Months

It’s been six months since I’ve felt like I had anything to say. What a weird change. For five years, I couldn’t keep up with documenting and sharing what we were doing in the classroom day to day. In other words, this blog has never felt like a comprehensive representation of the energetic, inspired, and inspiring work underway. But to go six months in total silence . . . how to understand that? Metaphors are almost never perfect, but they can help.

In one sense, Project Lab St. Louis had gone to ground, just plain disappeared from the scene as the school year got underway in the grip of the pandemic. But going to ground suggests some kind of chase or need to hide, and so the metaphor’s not apt.

In another sense, it’s felt like being in irons. Like being a little sailboat heading straight into the wind and stalling, unable to tack in any direction, maybe even drifting backwards. I’ve been in touch with beloved colleagues, with community leaders, and with students, imagining and proposing different ways we might do this or that project together. But one reason and another kept shifting the winds. And so a luffing mainsail.

Finally, in a third sense, I think of these months as Project Lab simply lying fallow, like earth that’s been plowed and left alone to rest. No achievements. No measurable outcomes. Nothing to “show for it.” Just resting. Taking stock. Marveling at the sky over Grand Basin in Forest Park. Lying fallow has allowed me to think about what in the world we’re going to do next and how we’re going to do it.

In the next post I’ll describe what’s underway. And in the meantime, I want to offer profound gratitude to our generous donors, who continue to believe in our mission and affirm their moral and financial support during these deeply challenging times.