I pushed myself pretty hard last week—working into the wee hours of the morning, sleeping a handful of hours, and starting the cycle all over again. It definitely took a toll on my blog productivity. To the point that my friend Allison and I had this exchange:

The urgent commitments have been met and I should be able to return to a more regular blog-writing routine. There were so many things that I wanted to share last week but only two come to mind at the moment.
It finally happened. With the official “return to campus” for the UW system, more people were wandering the hallways between classes. After class on Tuesday, I was sitting at a table outside my classroom when a young man walked up to me. He asked, “Professor Quinn? Is that you? It’s me….” and he introduced himself just like I asked in May 7 Day 60: Are you my student? It made me a little bit sad. Here was a student that fondly remembered our class together yet I remember very little. Thinking back over the last two years, events and people are blurry. What did I teach? When did I teach it? Who did I teach? And perhaps most importantly, what did they learn?
Tuesday was also Lunar New Year, which Tacoma celebrates in style thanks to Ms. Monkey, her crew, and all the rouges out there. These generous artists hide glass floats and medallions throughout Tacoma (2500 pieces this year). Rouge monkeys hide their own creations. And the people of Tacoma wander parks and streets looking for treasures. My knee has been acting up, so I did not get to seek as much as I would have liked. But I loved talking with others on the hunt, seeing their successes, and enjoying all that Tacoma has to offer. That, according to Ms. Monkey, is the true gift of the Monkeyshine Project.



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