Susan Senator

I have restarted my column at the local paper, the Brookline Tab. You can read today’s column here. That is a really fun job. I get to write about the stuff going on in my heart and head, as long as I relate it to things going on in town. That kills many birds, happily, because I like talking about what’s going on around town. I like the opportunity to change people’s minds or make them think about something differently, or just from my perspective.

I have also mentioned before that I am now on the PTO board at Ben’s school, and that it feels surprisingly great. I am the communications co-chair, and so the newsletter described in the Tab column is my responsibility, as well as getting notices out to the Tab about important school events and speakers.

This job is far more geared to my skills and talents than being on the School Committee, which was largely a frustrating venture. There I learned all about being a “can’t-do” kind of person, where I learned all the things that that particular position could not, or was not supposed to, or people did not want you to, do. I felt like Chicken Little, always pointing out how the sky was falling (“There’s all these kids with autism who are not being well-served and it is going to be a crisis for the families and for the school system!” and “Social responsibility and social support need to be just as important as math and science and language arts!” and “If we don’t have enough money we have to go to the Town and scream for it!”) I also felt like the kid who said, “The Emperor has no clothes,” because it felt like so many others around me were all ga-ga over my school system — and as systems go, it is as very good one, of course, but far from Emperor- perfect — and I saw so many areas that needed work. Maybe I just groused too much. It was not for me.

But being in charge of a newsletter: YEAH!!! I get to edit awkward text to my heart’s content without having to present it first to a subcommittee, then to the full Committee for consideration, then wait another week for the full Committee to vote, and by then the issue would be a non-starter! On the newsletter, I get to decide what goes in and what stays out, and what gets premium, page one placement. And I have a vehicle for publishing Little B’s art! I scan it in, shrink it down, and stick it in. So much fun! I have asked for artwork from all kids, I hope that happens.

That’s all for today, folks.