I’m home for a week — one of the last weeks that we’ll call this apartment and this city home — and I got to spend the day with Jakob and Kat. I’m looking forward to a week where the pace can be somewhat leisurely. I don’t know if that will mean more or less blogging, honestly.

But I’m sitting here thinking of the community of folks out there who all read the edu-blogs, thinking of Christian‘s call from the airport, thinking of working with Tom on SchoolTool, thinking of David‘s impending visit, thinking of when I’m finally going to get around to meeting Will — who really isn’t far away at all, and wondering if my path will ever (has ever?) cross with Ms. Frizzle or Nani or Tim.

And I’m realizing how my definition of "community" continues to expand and expand. It started more than a dozen years ago with USENET and continued with list-servs and IRC… and now it includes this group of folks out there in the ether who share their ideas on education with me on a daily basis. And I’m struck by how powerfully my thoughts on education are influenced by the folks in this virtual community.

To all of you out there who read what I write and who write what I read, I wish you all the most joyous of holiday seasons. May you get to spend your time with your loved ones– both on-line and off — and may we all continue to find new ways to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us.

Happy Holidays!

Terrell Pough was killed on Thursday night. Terrell was an eighteen year-old senior at a Philadelphia Charter School and the father of a two year old girl named Diamond. His story was told in People Magazine this summer as one of the success stories… a young man who was willing to turn his life around for his daughter, and by all accounts, he was well on his way.

We lost Terrell to senseless violence. He is not the first Philadelphia high school student we’ve lost this year.

I heard Paul Vallas speak about this on Friday. I watched a room full of Philadelphia principals nod in sadness… and with a familiarity as this was a story they had heard too many times before. And I listened to Mr. Vallas speak about our obligation as educators to reach as many of the Terrell Poughs that are out there.

And I worry. I worry that we are losing a generation of young men in our cities. I worry that so many of them want the best for themselves but don’t see a path ahead of them to achieve that. I worry that we lose kids like Terrell to the violence around them. I worry that we have a generation of young men and women who see the violence around them as a too real part of their every day lives.

And I think of the enormous task we have in front of us, as educators… as a whole society… to repair the damage that has already been done.

And if the words on the page are not enough to remind us of what we are losing, here is a picture of Terrell and Diamond at a Sixers game a few weeks ago.