Big Feelings

3/7/2026

Engaging all of our senses during the Kitchen Sink Science Experiment this week

Lately, it feels like we're living inside a slow-motion catastrophe — one that is somehow, at the same time, careening toward the edge. Every day brings fresh news from a government gone rogue that has abandoned any pretense of legitimacy: propaganda churned out on an industrial scale, accountability nowhere in sight, and the guardrails stripped away so deliberately it can only be by design.

I won't pretend this hasn't taken a toll. I fight daily to stay balanced, calm, and hopeful — and I'll be honest with you: this past week, I lost that battle more than once. Tuesday's full blood moon didn't help. The big feelings it stirred were real and widespread — frustration, anger, fear, anxiety — all of it feeding into how we moved through the day. There was sniping. There were sharp, critical words that didn't need to be said. A low-grade discontent settled over the Center like a weather system, and by the end of it, we were all depleted and desperate for relief.

Happily, it was just one day. By Thursday and Friday, we had found our footing again — equilibrium restored, the storm passed. But I keep turning over the same question: how much of that Tuesday, full moon aside, was collateral damage from the world beyond our walls? Our kids are taking in more than we realize. One teen asked, with complete sincerity, whether it was true that this was the beginning of World War III. They absorb everything — the anxiety threading through adult voices, the headlines half-glimpsed and half-understood, the ambient dread saturating daily life — without the context or tools to process what they're sensing. Without understanding that the chaos has architects. That propaganda is real. That we are all, in ways large and small, being played.

So what do we do with all of that? We keep showing up. We create spaces where kids feel safe enough to ask hard questions and honest enough to sit with uncertain answers. We model the thing we're struggling to practice ourselves — steadiness in the unsteady, hope that isn't naive, nor defeated. We name the dread without surrendering to it. The world beyond our walls may be chaotic by design, but what happens inside them is still ours to shape. That feels worth protecting. That feels worth fighting for — especially on the hard days when we fall down and fully surrender to the big feelings.

DRC News

Weekly Wrap-up

It was a full week! Monday passed in a blur with no photos taken.

As mentioned, on Tuesday, we were feeling some wild full moon energy at DRC. Phew! Lots of action and big(!) feelings.

Thursday at DRC featured tons of chill vibes and engagement. Our Kitchen Sink Science Experiment involved testing which carb makes yeast grow the best and making predictions. Conclusion: dark corn syrup, brown sugar, sugar, and honey all made significant CO2 in that order. Flour, corn meal, and milk had negligible growth after 45 min, and the control with just yeast and water had none. One unintended variable was the fact that the dark corn syrup contains molasses. Everyone was happily doing their thing, while cool conversations swirled all day long. B began making sourdough bread to be finished on Friday. They also made yummy paella for lunch. The three siblings were in the art room, buzzing with creativity. The middle sibling proclaimed herself the superhero maker and created her siblings’ superheroes, including a detailed list of powers, along with the youngest's costume, while the oldest designed his own. Digby even got in a few cuddles at the end of the day.

We had a well-deserved, very chill Friday, featuring beautiful homemade sourdough bread and drop sugar cookies, and plenty of independent projects and activities. B was very proud of their first effort in their sourdough adventure. It was delicious!