Authentic Beings

On the way to the SUNY CAnton Sledding Hill.

When I think about authenticity, I consider how comfortable someone feels showing up as themselves. It's rarely straightforward—neurospicy people often don't feel safe letting their weird flag fly in unfamiliar places. Yet even when we're masking, fragments of our true selves slip through. Our core ethics, principles, and beliefs reveal themselves despite the mask.

This applies to neurotypical people, too. Based on behavior—not what people say but what they do—it's fairly easy to determine someone's morals. Though maybe that's just my particular flavor of neurospicy giving me a knack for seeing through facades.

I base my impression of how well a student is fitting into DRC on a few things, but the main one is their willingness to be themselves and stick to their moral compass. Sometimes it takes a while. Even though our environment is inherently designed as a safe space, we're working with real people who have real emotions, real history, and varied neurologies.

Being genuine matters because it makes connection easier—it inspires trust and paves the way for meaningful relationships. People can detect a fake from a mile away. Most of us relate to those who more closely resemble our own messy, chaotic, real lives.

Successful content creators and entertainers understand this instinctively. Bad Bunny—the Puerto Rican artist who is headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show and won multiple Grammys—exemplifies this principle. Despite industry pressure to record in English for broader appeal, he sings every song in Spanish and celebrates his Puerto Rican heritage unapologetically. He was told it would ruin his career. Instead, his commitment to his roots, culture, and mental health made him a global phenomenon. 
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The pattern holds true whether you're building a community, creating content, entertaining, or simply trying to connect with another human being. Authenticity isn't just morally right—it's practically effective. When we show up as ourselves, we give others permission to do the same. And that's where real connection begins.

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DRC News

Weekly Wrap-up

This week flew by—filled with plenty of activities and projects, such as a kitchen sink science activity that included making insulated containers to see how long they would keep snow from melting, and which material worked best. Each cup got 2oz of snow. And we have a control set out at room temp.

One of our Chromebooks had the black screen of death, and KP began the process of fixing it with the help of YouTube videos. He figured out that the OS was corrupt, uploaded a new one, and thought he had it, but then found an additional issue with the battery.  We purchased a new one, and he installed it.

We discovered that the scruffy old fake leather chair in the seedlings room, which had been shedding fake leather pieces for years, had beautiful upholstery underneath. J helped take off that ratty outer layer to reveal the new aesthetic. 

​On Friday, we welcomed our three SLU Community-Based Learning Volunteers for the Spring Semester.  In addition to going outside, they also had fun playing UNO with the Crew.

Oh, and on Monday, we celebrated the triplets’ 16th birthday!

The Crew even got in some quality outside time. Besides sledding earlier in the week at the SUNY C Hill, K & E decided to try out the cross-country skis. On Friday, K took them out again, with E (who had not skied in a couple of years), and two of our SLU CBL volunteers agreed to join them. After a bit of struggle to get the skis on, they enjoyed their very first ski adventure.

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Fundraiser

It is time for our annual Lotto Ticket Raffle. You can purchase tickets from any of our families or online by clicking the button below.

Thank you for supporting DRC!!!

Lotto Raffle Tickets