Community

Northeast Wisconsin. The western shore of Lake Michigan. I live here. This is my community. As we are in the process of cleaning out our house to move, I sometimes question why. My family moved here in 1966 and I am the last one still in the area. Linda and I have owned this home for 31+ years. Lots of memories. Leaving will not be easy. Good thing I procrastinate so it will take me a while!

This morning I left the house before 6 a.m. on my bike. I took the long way to meet a friend for coffee. It has been a while since I've biked Mariners Trail in the early morning. The spirituality of the lake on such a peaceful morning helped to calm my overactive mind. (When a person gets up a 3 a.m., she has lots of thinking time in a quiet house, save the cat.)

I consider my dear friend, Judy Corrado, to be the Ambassador of Mariners Trail. We both were long time board members of Friends of Mariners Trail and we coordinated the flowerbed program at its inception. Judy has spent a lot of time on the trail over the years and she is a very friendly and gregarious person. I love all of the connections and stories she tells from meeting people from the trail. It is incredible! Well, today I can proudly say, "I pulled a Judy!" When I left Two Rivers, I was aided by a mild north wind and I felt like my bike was gliding along the trail. I noticed a couple of riders up ahead who had their bikes outfitted with panniers and packs. As I passed them I simply said, "Looks like you are passing through. Welcome to the area."

At the Spirit of the Rivers rest stop, I paused to refill my water bottle. They caught up and stopped there too. We chatted for a bit and I learned that they are from the Netherlands. They flew to New York City and biked to Wisconsin! They are in the process of biking to Chicago and then flying home. They commented on how this was one of the most beautiful trails, and they mentioned the flowerbeds. Of course, I had to give them a brief history of the trail, as Judy would have done. A little farther down the trail, I paused to meet up with Linda so I got their permission to snap a picture as they road past. Such a delightful part of my morning. Speaking of delightful, Linda joined me for the second half of my ride. If you know me, you know that biking is important to me. If you really know me, you know that I have had some health issues of late. Well, in truth, since the pandemic started, I haven't been taking the best care of myself. I have vowed to do better. Linda is my inspiration. I jokingly tell people that when I am sick, I will get no sympathy from her unless I've gone for a bike ride to feel better first. Linda bikes every day, all year round. I tend to balk with biking in high wind or thunderstorms but

she is undaunted. Since we are spending time in Manitowoc with the house, my biking habits have kicked into higher gear. I've been tracking my miles since March and for July, my goal was 15 miles per day. I'm happy to report that right now, my average in July is 16.38 miles per day. I've biked 135 miles in the last week and I've biked 40 of the last 43 days. I have Linda to thank. We both enjoy biking and for me, I get a chance to see my community up close and notice the natural beauty. I also am able to greet people and run my errands.

Our school system is an integral part of our community. I have serious concerns about the direction this new board is taking. In my opinion, they are taking an important, non-partisan role that is critical to the educational process and making it political. I am impressed with a local group, ALLY, in helping to hold the board accountable and do what is best for kids. Last night, I opted to speak to the board. There is talk of changing a policy about the teaching of controversial issues. I am concerned this is a foot in the door to put a restrictive curriculum in place. In my message, I shared my experiences and tried to make the case that we need to

be able to engage in controversial issues and that it actually aids in the learning, for a number of reasons. I suspect that some of my message fell on deaf ears. But it helped me to realize that this is still my community. I have some life experiences and I care about my colleagues. I also care about the students and I worry about their education being affected adversely. Apparently, community can get lost sometimes. Sometimes, I have to find community. Not sitting on my hands, speaking out, biking around for 25 miles certainly helped me to find community today.